'Take off your coat, ' said the doctor. I took it off. 'And your dress, ' he said. 'It's too dangerous - the folds may catch in the debris and bring the whole thing down.' I took off the dress. 'Fine, ' he said shortly. 'It'll have to be head first. We'll hold your thighs. Go down and see if it's possible to give an injection. Can you grip the torch with your teeth?'

Frances Faviell lived in Chelsea before and during the London Blitz, having became a Red Cross volunteer when World War II began. Chelsea was particularly heavily bombed and the author was often in the heart of...