Margaret Powell was born in Hove in 1907 and became a kitchen maid at fifteen, eventually progressing to cook. In 1968 the first volume of her memoirs, Below Stairs, was published to instant success, turning her into a celebrity. She followed this up with Climbing the Stairs, The Treasure Upstairs and The Margaret Powell Cookery Book as well as co-authoring three novels, tie-ins to the television series Beryl's Lot, which was based on her life story. She died in 1984.