Anwyn Moyle was born at the end of the First World War in a Welsh mining village. At 16, she went to London to be a scullery maid, and later became a lady's maid where she was expected to cover up her mistress's affairs. Her time there ended when she was caught with a young aristocrat in her room. However, she found her niche in the working-class atmosphere of the capital city's pubs and in her diary she richly evokes London between the wars and during the Blitz.