Book excerpt: Stan Cribb begins work aged just fourteen when, much to the reluctance of his father, he joins the family business as an apprentice undertaker. The young Stan is soon burying victims of London's Blitz. His fascinating and at times hilarious memoir describes the East End way of death during the Second World War and the years after, when horses worked in partnership with their owners and funeral rites hadn't changed much since Victorian times. Stan takes us through ups and downs of the trade, with all its quirks and characters, and gives us a tour that is both memorable and moving.