Silver and gold

As we await the PAC, spare a thought for the subject of "Project Silver", Mark Byford. The exit strategy for the BBC's most recent DDG, and perhaps only Director of Journalism, has been subject to extraordinary scrutiny. We know about lump sums, payment in lieu of notice and in respect of holidays missed. We know there was no pension augmentation - so Mark either had to hang on for his full pension at 55 (birthday in June this year) or took it early at a discount, aged 53, when he finally handed on the candle of journalism in June 2011.  One presumes it was based on his full salary, rather than the part-time role he finished up with. By my calcs, his basic for 32 years' service without discount could be £250k pa - but it's likely he purchased additional years over time, and the maximum would earn him just over £316k pa.

Anyway, relief will be at hand in November, when Mark's first book, A Name on a Wall: Two Men, Two Wars, Two Destinies, about his father and a US Army victim of the Vietnam War with the same surname, will be published. Since I last mentioned it, the work has acquired some serious endorsements.

"One of the finest and most moving books I have read in a long time. It is calm and understated, and yet written with great emotional intensity. I found it hard to think about anything else for days after reading it" (John Simpson, BBC world affairs editor)

 "We gaze at the names on war memorials and wonder, and now I know the reason why. This book is meticulous in its research, compelling in its structure. A marvellous book" (Sir Michael Parkinson, broadcaster)

"Quite simply a beautiful book. Mark Byford has a curious nature and a tender heart. I shall never look at a war memorial again without wondering who was the young man whose name is on a wall" (Dame Jenni Murray, broadcaster and author)

 "A remarkable story that skilfully knits together heroic family history and the broader sweep of the tragedy of the Vietnam war. So moving and thoughtful, there has been no history of that conflict remotely like this one " (Andrew Marr, journalist and broadcaster)