Sign Here FOR HAPPINESS .sx JUDITH SIMONS meets a woman who shares our happiest and our saddest moments .sx Life's greatest dramas- they're all in a day's work for Dorothy Taylor Horrocks .sx BACK in World War One an excited young mother entered the Registrar's Office at Ramsbottom in Lancashire .sx " I've had triplets , " she announced proudly .sx " I'd like to call them France , Belgium and Russia- after our Allies .sx " The Deputy Registrar , pretty young Miss Dorothy Taylor Horrocks , looked startled , but her voice stayed calm .sx " Does your husband like those names ?sx " " I haven't asked him .sx He's serving in France .sx " " Well , do write and see what he says before deciding , " Miss Horrocks advised gently .sx " When the boys grow up , those names might be an embarrassment .sx But of course , if your husband approves , we'll register the babies as you wish .sx " A lesson in tact .sx A week later the mother came back .sx " I'm glad you made me tell my husband before naming the boys , " she said gratefully .sx " We've decided to call them Frank , Charles and Richard .sx " Today , Dorothy Taylor Horrocks- now Registrar for Radcliffe , Whitefield and Prestwich- still remembers that early exercise in common sense and tact .sx " Though there are not many women registrars yet , I think we can give men registrars a lead in some ways , " she told me with a smile .sx " Men may be more efficient and businesslike , but on the personal side of Births , Deaths and Marriages women have a more sympathetic approach .sx " I could see Miss Horrocks' point .sx Neither her conventional , impersonal office nor her plain black suit could deflect from the warm personality of this woman who records the greatest dramas of our lives .sx With Miss Horrocks , her job is not just a matter of making an entry in an official book , issuing an official certificate .sx When a woman who is newly widowed comes to register her husband's death , Miss Horrocks can sense at once if she needs a friendly ear .sx " Don't worry , " she will say with gentle patience .sx " I'm here to help you .sx Now sit down and tell me about it .sx . " With a girl registering an illegitimate birth , her manner is similarly sympathetic .sx One such girl expressed the feelings of many :sx " When I walked in here and saw the registrar was this kind lady I was so relieved .sx " One reason , perhaps , why Miss Horrocks has this work at her finger-tips is that she was born into the business !sx Her father , too , was a registrar , and though she had originally hoped to be a nurse , Miss Horrocks found herself following in his footsteps .sx " It's in registering births that our real test comes , especially when the mother chooses an impossible name .sx Incidentally , it's always the Mums who are fanciful !sx Back to old names .sx " If the father is in doubt about the name , or perhaps doesn't even know the wife's choice if he is away , often I can influence the balance of opinion .sx But if both parents approve I must comply with their wishes .sx " One wife wanted to name her baby daughter Rowena- Ophelia- Elvira- Cardetta- Osberga- after the ships on which her sailor husband had served .sx In this case the husband was thrilled with the names , so I could do no more !sx " Miss Horrocks smiled .sx " Lately I've registered very few strange names .sx Even the fashion of calling babies after film stars isn't so popular these days .sx We seem to be having a swing back to the old-fashioned , tried and trusted names- especially Mark for boys and Jane for girls .sx " The next step on the path of life- marriage- is a routine job for Miss Horrocks , but it occupies most of her time !sx Apart from ceremonies conducted in her office by the Superintendent Registrar , each Saturday she's off on a round of Roman Catholic and other non-Conformist churches where it is necessary for a registrar to be present at a marriage ceremony .sx " I've spent more time waiting at the church than any other woman in Lancashire , " laughs Miss Horrocks .sx " When a bride is late I'm on tenterhooks- wondering if I'll be in time for my next wedding .sx " But I don't really mind .sx It's the bride's great day .sx " I have never been married myself , but if I had , I know I'd have been late , too !sx " I always enjoy watching a wedding .sx Today a great many of the girls are wearing those pretty Princess Margaret style bridal headdresses , and they wear more elaborate dresses than they used to do .sx But the grooms are usually more nervous .sx " Only one hitch in years .sx In her long career Miss Horrocks has known only one marriage hitch- last summer , when ex-assistant-hangman Brian Allen and his Spanish bride Angela Corillo went through a marriage ceremony at a Roman Catholic church , but forgot to inform Miss Horrocks .sx " They were therefore not legally married !sx " Miss Horrocks told me .sx " Still , it was all put right .sx They delayed their honeymoon and came to me for a special licence .sx " Miss Horrocks holds another record .sx One morning she attended a wedding , two and a half hours later she was informed the bride had given birth to twins and that one of the babies had died .sx So in the space of a day she had registered a marriage , two births and a death- all in one family !sx And what of Miss Horrocks' own life ?sx It is very much drama-free , she admits .sx She shares a house with a retired headmistress , belongs to an exclusive women's club , doesn't do much in the way of hobbies because she hasn't the time .sx " But after my daily panorama of the highlights in other people's lives , I'm perfectly content with a quiet life of my own , " she smiled .sx DID YOU KNOW the part a registrar plays in your life ?sx .sx BIRTHS .sx THE birth of a baby should be reported to the registrar within forty-two days .sx There is a fee of 3s .sx 9d .sx for a certified copy and 9d .sx for short birth certificate .sx [SIC] If you later regret your choice of Christian names and want to change them or make an addition , this can be done at the Registrar's Office within a year of first registering the birth .sx The birth certificate will then be amended for a fee of 1s .sx 6d .sx A Christian name or names can be changed , through baptism , at any time .sx MARRIAGES .sx For a marriage by certificate ( the usual form of marriage ) the registrar requires twenty-one clear days' notice .sx The fee is 3s .sx if the couple wishing to be married live in the same district , 6s .sx if they live in different districts .sx The fee for marriage at three days' notice is +2 8s .sx This covers the cost of a licence only .sx The licence for a church wedding without the waiting time for banns to be called costs +2 15s .sx ( Not under a registrar's jurisdiction .sx ) Contrary to popular belief , a special licence is not one which enables a couple to marry quickly .sx This special licence is granted by the appropriate Bishop only in exceptional circumstances ( for example , when a couple wish to marry in a district where they neither live nor worship or in a place which is not licensed for marriage- a college chapel , ) .sx There is no set waiting period before a special licence wedding takes place , and it costs +25 .sx DEATHS .sx When a doctor has issued a certificate showing the cause of death , this must be taken to the registrar , who will then issue an official burial or cremation certificate .sx This is needed before burial or cremation can take place and is issued free of charge .sx All certificates for personal purposes must be paid .sx The fee charged is according to the purpose for which the certificates are needed .sx Most of us have lived through it- that moment when all hope of happiness seems lost for ever .sx They said they'd NEVER LOVE AGAIN .sx " NEVER !sx I'll never get over him .sx I know I'll never love again .sx " The girl threw herself , sobbing , on the bed .sx For hours- or so it seemed- she lay there , the victim of a bleak all-enveloping despair .sx For the moment , at any rate , she knew that this man , who had so recently gone out of her life , would be in her heart for ever .sx She would never get over him .sx . This scene , which surely every woman has lived through herself , goes on everywhere , all the time .sx The broken romance , the terrible grief when you realise that the one you love has gone out of your life for ever .sx . But here is a heartening thing :sx to almost everyone who has ever loved and lost , there comes , in time , another love , another day when the heart sings through joy of loving .sx . Time , it is true , heals even the most bruised hearts .sx Time , and a second love .sx Those unlucky enough to be going through just this sad phase in life right now , may look at some of the great loves of recent years , loves that have come to nothing or have ended tragically and yet whose partners have gone on to love again- and take heart !sx Look first at the most ill-fated romance of the century .sx That of Princess Margaret and Peter Townsend .sx If ever there was a modern fairy-tale that went wrong , then Margaret's and Peter's must surely be it .sx After two long years .sx THEY knew each other for thirteen years , first met when Margaret was a boisterous schoolgirl and Peter the " new boy " at the Palace .sx When it was discovered in Royal Circles that they were in love , Peter was posted to Brussels as an air attache@2 .sx They had to be apart for two years , perhaps to test if their love was strong enough to bear the separation .sx It was .sx In the autumn of 1955 , Peter Townsend flew back home and went straight to Clarence House to meet Margaret .sx In New York the papers headlined the news :sx Only a Matter of Hours Now .sx But the hours spun out into days , the days into weeks .sx Indeed it was eighteen days before Margaret finally decided .sx During that time they were constantly in each other's company .sx Either at Clarence House or in the homes of their friends .sx Four private dinner parties were given for them in London .sx Twice they spent the weekend as guests of close friends in the country .sx They walked hand in hand under the trees aglow with autumn colours , and went over the problem endlessly , again and again and again .sx . It was no good , and they both knew it .sx Peter Townsend had been the innocent party in a divorce case .sx And that was enough to make him unsuitable by Royal standards .sx Their first meeting .sx ALONE in the Clarence House drawing-room on the day when she made public the renunciation of her love , Margaret read through once more the draft of a personal message , which in a hundred and fourteen words , told the world of her decision :sx " I would like it to be known that I have decided not to marry Group Captain Townsend .sx . " Few of us will forget the heartbreaking pictures of Margaret that were in the papers the following day .sx Bravely , she tried to show a face of composure to the world in true Royal Family tradition .sx But no camera could fail to record her grief .sx A little later came the story that Margaret and Peter had sworn never to wed .sx The Group Captain was quoted as having said :sx " As we cannot marry each other , then neither of us will ever marry anyone else .sx " But it was not to be .sx And a good thing , too .sx Nobody would wish these two young people to go through life alone for the rest of their days .sx Within five years from that fateful October evening , both of them had married other people .sx Peter Townsend , a pretty French girl , who looked so remarkably like the Princess ; and Margaret the good-looking photographer , Tony Armstrong-Jones .sx It had been three years though before she had found another love .sx Three years , while she nursed her broken heart and looked sadly on all the young men who asked to take her out .sx Then on the night of March 31 , 1958 , she went to a Hallowe'en ball at London's Dorchester Hotel with Billy Wallace and other friends .sx