Victorian Britain hid an underworld of poverty, vice and squalid living. Until a brave writer called Henry Mayhew brought the scandal of inequality to light in a series of searing and inspirational publications. Who knew the secret world of the Royal bug destroyer? The sewer "Toshers" who fought hungry rats to grub a living deep in the underbelly of London? Even the collectors of dog turds who sold their goods on to the tanning industry? Journalist Henry Mayhew made polite society only too painfully aware of the secret world around them.