Scenes from the Grantham girlhood of Margaret Thatcher

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The other day I was chatting to someone who grew up in Grantham. He told me two tales he heard from older relatives:

• When Alfred Roberts, Margaret Thatcher's father, was in charge of the post office counter he would throw the money on the floor if customers came in to cash unemployment cheques.
• The young Margaret once attended a children's party and illicitly helped herself to a second piece of cake, which she concealed in her knickers.

And then there was Rotten Borough, the 1937 novel about corruption in local government in Grantham, that was withdrawn after threats of legal action.

In those days Alfred Roberts was chairman of the town council's finance committee.