When BBC reporter Rory Cellan Jones uncovered a pile of old love letters under his mother Sylvia's bed after she died, he unearthed the secret story of his own life.

The result was a bestselling book of real power and intelligence, in which he reconstructs the scandalous relationship that created him - but that also limited his mother’s life choices and ensured that he would not know who his father was for many years.

Rory joins Phil to talk about his life, his mother and father, and the lost world of the 1950s and 60s - where smart young women could sometimes forge exciting careers but society looked very unkindly at love affairs that crossed age and class barriers.

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