# Ruskin Park: Sylvia, Me and the BBC - Hardcover

by **Rory Cellan-Jones** (Author)

**'**_**Ruskin Park**_ **is so much more than a memoir. It is tribute to  
an individual woman and a whole generation and class.' - Justin Webb,** _**The Sunday Times**_

  
_'Ruskin Park_ **is Rory Cellan-Jones's touching tribute to  
both his parents, but particularly to the mother he came to know more fully  
from the letters she left behind' -** _**Daily Mail**_

  
**'A captivating family detective story and a  
poignant social history of Britain.' -** _Observer_

  
_\*\*\*_

  
**Can we ever really know the truth about our  
parents? From the popular journalist, podcaster and tweeter about his rescue  
dog #SophiefromRomania comes a moving memoir in search of the truth behind his  
isolated childhood and absent father.**

  
Rory Cellan-Jones knew he was the child of a brief love affair between two  
unmarried BBC employees. But until his mother died and he found a previously  
unknown file labelled 'For Rory' he had no idea of their beginnings or ending,  
and why his peculiarly isolated childhood had so tested the bond between him  
and his mother. 'For Rory, ' his mother had written on the file 'in the hope  
that it will help him understand how it really was ...'

  
This is a compelling account of what Rory uncovered in the papers, letters and  
diaries; a relationship between two colleagues (two romantics) and the  
restrictive forces of post-war respectability and prejudice that ended it. It  
is also an evocation of the progressive, centrifugal force at the centre of all  
their lives - the BBC itself.

  
Both tender and troubling, the drama moves from wartime radio broadcasts, to  
the glamour of 1950s television studios, to the golden era of BBC drama. His  
father may have directed _The Forsyte Saga_  
and Rory may have watched him from the corridors, but he would never actually  
meet him until much later in adulthood. Until then Rory's life was bound to the  
one-bedroom flat he shared with his mother in Ruskin Park ...

  
**'I loved this highly evocative, unpretentious  
memoir. It's a small-scale BBC drama in itself.' -** _**The Times**_

### Author Biography

Rory Cellan-Jones was the BBC's principal technology correspondent until 2018. He now writes an influential and fast-growing substack column on medical innovation and tech. Through his 320k plus twitter followers @ruskin147 and his thousands of Substack readers he spreads awareness of technological developments in the fields.

**Number of Pages:** 320

**Dimensions:** 1.2 x 8.6 x 5.6 IN

**Publication Date:** November 07, 2023

## Details

- **Price:** 24.95 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 24.95 USD | In stock |

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- Ruskin Park: Sylvia, Me and the BBC - Hardcover

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