mark howard was alan howard's son from his first marriage to laura. tall, blonde and self-assured, he arrived without any announcement at number 11 one night in october 1970 to the amazement of stepmother elsie, who was totally unaware he existed in the first place. mark was 18 years old and studying textile technology at college for three years. he had chosen that over civil engineering to be near his dad, keen to rebuild their relationship which had been fractured after his divorce from his mother, who had refused to allow father and son to see each other. elsie and mark were studiously polite to each other – her thoughts were preoccupied with the fact that alan had been keeping secrets from her while he seemed to find it difficult to warm to the woman who had supplanted his mother in alan's affections. nevertheless, she agreed to mark staying with them while he found digs, while letting rip at alan for not being truthful with her.