Bond Street Story

Bond Street Story brings to life the chaotic glamour, gossip and romance of the elegant Rammell's department store. This charming, nostalgic glimpse of post-war London follows the hopes, dreams and exploits of a host of memorable characters from the prodigious Bond Street establishment.

Irene, the whimsical shop girl, yearns for the bright lights of the stage; senior floorwalker Mr. Bloot drifts into a disastrous second marriage; Marcia, Rammell's long-serving model, knows her beauty is waning, and Eric Rammell, the harassed Managing Director, seeks to escape the social life his wife so unremittingly organizes for him. Each of their stories of work, relationships and petty jealousies is skilfully intertwined in this irresistible tale.

First published in 1958, Bond Street Story is a classic novel that still resonates today.

Norman Richard Collins was born in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, on October 3, 1907. By the time he was nine years old, at the William Ellis School in Hampstead, he displayed a talent for both writing and publishing. In January 1933, when he was twenty-five, he became assistant managing director in the publishing house run by Victor Gollancz. In 1941 Collins was forced to move to the BBC due to increasingly poor relationship with Gollancz, who resented Collins' talent and saw him as a rival. During this time he became known for his innovative programming which included Woman's Hour, which still airs today on BBC Radio Four. He rose to Controller of the BBC Television Service, later leaving to co-found what is now ITV after deciding a competitor to the BBC's monopoly was needed.

Alongside his busy career, Collins wrote fourteen novels and one work of non-fiction in his lifetime, most of which were popular successes, published begrudgingly by Gollancz. Collins also became well known for his innovative programming at the British Broadcasting Corporation during the late 1940s, and later for advocating and leading the movement toward commercial television broadcasting in Great Britain.

An unmistakable mark of Collins' power of application and creative energy was that he continued to write fiction throughout such an active working life. Although never a full-time writer he was a fluent and prolific author with sixteen titles and two plays to his credit between 1934 and 1981. An autographed edition of twelve of his novels was published during the 1960s.

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