Memories of London during the V1 attacks - "A nice cup of tea"

My mother, then Mavis Hewison, worked in Downing Street briefly during the war. She was 18 when war broke out and had entered the civil service.

This day on her way from the tube to work, the droning sound of a V1 flying overhead suddenly stopped as its engine cut out. Those few moments of silence as the bomb fell to earth were terrifying for anyone below. In this instance my mother was one of the lucky ones, just far enough away to be unharmed. She spoke about that day from time to time, and always injected the spirit of the war by saying "Well, you just had to get on with it".