Both were then in their mid-20s and law undergraduates in Cambridge. Both were in love. They had made up their minds about each other.

"What was the alternative? To 'cohabit' as they say now, or 'to live in sin' as they would have said 50 years ago?" asks Mrs Lee, or 'Choo' as her husband, the Senior Minister, refers to her in his memoirs.

Mrs Lee, however, was hesitant about whether her husband should write about their secret marriage in his memoirs.

A deeply private person, she was reluctant initially. "I was afraid the press would make a big fuss about it. That would give me goose pimples."

But she weighed the implications: if the secret was suppressed and found out later, it would be said that Mr Lee might also have hidden many other facts when writing his memoirs.

Like her husband, she believed that there was no point in writing a biography unless the truth -- the whole truth -- was told.

So while they decided to tell the story of how they were married quietly in Britain, Mr Lee had deliberately written about it in a "cool, factual way", she notes.

Indeed, this is how Mr Lee recounted their big day: "Once we arrived (in Stratford-on-Avon), we notified the local Registrar of Marriages of our intention, and after two weeks of residence were duly married."

Just as the recent decision to make public their secret was made carefully, so it was with their decision to keep mum about it 51 years ago.

The reasons: Mrs Lee's parents would have beenupset had they been asked, Mr Lee revealed in his memoirs. Girton College, where she was studying as a Queen's Scholar, might not have approved. The Queen's scholarship authorities might have raised difficulties.

Reveals Mrs Lee: "We both knew our minds. We kept it secret even after both his parents and mine had passed away. It was no longer relevant to anyone."

About three years after their secret marriage, they went through a second ceremony at the Registry of Marriages upon their return to Singapore. Their parents held a reception for relatives and friends at the Raffles Hotel.

In his book, Mr Lee adopted the same matter-of-fact approach when writing about their courtship. There were no "moonlight" or "balcony" scenes in the book, his wife notes.

"Yet these words found their way into some reports."

While she does not identify the publications, they might include the Sept 25 issue of Asiaweek which relates how their relationship "blossoms to the point where Mr Lee makes a midnight balcony proposal to 'Choo' in a scene Shakespeare might have penned".

This is how Mr Lee had in fact recorded their commitment to each other:

"Just before the party broke up, I led her out into the garden facing the sea. I told her that I no longer planned to return to Raffles College, but would go to England to read law. I asked her whether she would wait for me until I came back three years later after being called to the Bar ... She said she would wait."

No moonlight, no balcony, no goose pimples.