Late in 1916, Tom Jones was drafted in as an Assistant
Secretary to the Cabinet Office - an institution devised by Lloyd George to cope with the exigencies of wartime government. It was a temporary appointment, and one which the ex-professor of economics didn't think would claim his long career, a career which led to the description of 'fifth most powerful man in Europe'. He kept a diary from the beginning, which charts his fascination with the process of government and also creates a portrait of an outsider who, despite attempts to leave the job after two years, was still an extraordinary civil servant - and Welshman - when the next world war began. Reader IOAN MEREDITH
Compiled and presented by Sian Lloyd BBC Wales