Cocoa at Midnight: The real life story of my time as a housekeeper

Kathleen Clifford was born in a West London slum in 1909. Her family lived from hand to mouth in rented rooms near Paddington Station. At school she dreamed of working in Whiteleys, a glamorous department store, but instead she worked in service. After she retired from service Kathleen returned to Paddington – and got that job in Whiteleys! Kathleen Clifford died in 1989. Tom Quinn is the editor of the Country Landowner's Magazine. He has written several small books for small independent publishers. He has spent the last twenty years interviewing people who worked in domestic service, getting them to tell him their life stories.