Margaret Powell was born in 1907 in Hove, and left school at the age of 13 to start working. At 14, she got a job in a hotel laundry room, and a year later went into service as a kitchen-maid, eventually progressing to the position of cook, before marrying a milkman called Albert. In 1968 the first volume of her memoirs, Below Stairs, was published to instant success and turned her into a celebrity. She followed this up with Climbing the Stairs, The Treasure Upstairs and The Margaret Powell Cookery Book. She also co-authored three novels, tie-ins to the television series Beryl’s Lot, which was based on her life story. She died in 1984.

Praise for Margaret Powell

‘Anyone who enjoyed Downton Abbey or Upstairs Downstairs will relish this feisty memoir’

Dame Eileen Atkins

‘A nurse worked hard, but a skivvy worked harder – brought to life in this wonderful book’

Jennifer Worth, author of Call the Midwife

‘Margaret Powell was the first person outside my family to introduce me to that world . . . where servants and their employers would live their vividly different lives under one roof. Her memories, funny and poignant, angry and charming, haunted me until, many years later, I made my own attempts to capture those people for the camera. I certainly owe her a great debt’

Julian Fellowes, creator of Downton Abbey