Palin Away
“I want you to get out in the real world and marry a rich man,” Joan Rivers told Big Brother contestant Emilia Arata earlier this year, when she took part in the show’s Celebrity Hijack. “If you’re smart, get a man with a heart condition, walk behind him, go ‘boo!’ and you’ll be set for […]
Hockey Mom on Twitter
I don’t believe it, Sarah Palin is on Twitter http://twitter.com/Sarah_Palin Frankly I am more interested in the fake Palin http://twitter.com/FakeSarahPalin
Anatomy of a showmance: Why Kelly Brook plus Danny Cipriani equals glamour
Take two young stars, add the perfect styling, and what do you get? An A-list couple By Sophie Morris Thursday, 11 September 2008 Mark Borkowski, founder of Borkowski PR and author of The Fame Formula “The picture strikes me as an experiment from their publicists and agents to see whether these two have the commercial […]
Ritsaert Ten Cate: A Memorial
“The reproductions are ubiquitous. A real sunset is infinitely more difficult to experience, even when it blazes before us. “ Death can be really cruel: last week it robbed us of the comic, anarchic life-force that was Ken Campbell and then swiftly tore the unique, reassuring and incandescent presence of Ritsaert Ten Cate from the […]
New Media Couple?
Pictures of Danny Cipriani with Kelly Brook adorn the papers today and I’ve had numerous calls from the media wondering whether Kelly and Danny are now the new golden couple. What are these pictures that are strewn over the papers today actually saying? Basically I think these pictures are saying here are two people and […]
The celebrity publicist who broke the rules
This article, on the betrayal of Heather Mills’ secrets by her publicist, was published, in edited form, in today’s Guardian. This, however, is the unedited version. Michele Elyzabeth’s kiss-and-tell all story about her working relationship with Heather Mills in The News of The World is probably the most heinous crime that any publicist can ever […]
Ritsaert Ten Cate – RIP
Cruel times, only seven days after the death of Ken Campbell another somber bulletin echoes around a wet and miserable Sunday. The dismal tidings came, this morning, from Rose Fenton who called to tell me that Ritsaert Ten Cate has died. Ritsaert was the artist, inventor and director of the Mickery, an extraordinary centre of […]
There is more to fame than Big Brother
Big Brother’s latest series ends tonight, bringing to a close another marathon session of ogling at a group of people desperate for fame but with nothing to recommend them but dysfunctional personalities, loud mouths and deep wells of (often misguided) self-belief. It really doesn’t have to be that way, as this entry to the Fame […]
EA prove any publicity is good publicity
Hats off to Electronic Arts for having the balls to stage a marvellous publicity stunt. You know they are onto a winner when a stunt is branded “irresponsible” by MPs. The PR caper was to give away £20,000’s worth of fuel at a petrol station in north London as part of a promotion for a […]
The Palin Factor
“Most people have this image in their heads of tobacco executives jet-setting around the world on private planes, eating foie gras as they count their money. Not me. I like to ride with the people. Know your clients. My people cram themselves into a tiny seat, pop a Xanex, and dream of the moment when […]
High diving stunts and carnival stuntsters
The extraordinary pictures that adorn both the broadsheets and tabloids of Darren Taylor belly-flopping into a tiny paddling pool to break the high diving record may be astonishing, but they would depress any of the old stuntsters. They grab the attention but what is more arresting is the pathetic crowd gathered to marvel as Taylor […]
Long unseen Ken Campbell video
Ken Campbell, who died on Sunday, August 31st 2008, was a great man and a real friend to The Fame Formula. Not only did he help me launch the book at the beginning of August, but much of his inspired work echoed the work of some of the great publicists detailed in the book; most […]
Ken Campbell: a tribute
Genius is an attribute thrown around like confetti in this very modern media age. Few individuals adhere to that particular molecular wonder, but the late Ken Campbell had genius burnt into his DNA. If ever I daydream about who would make up my ultimate fantasy dinner party or who be a great companion for a […]
Ken Campbell RIP
I have just had a bad news phone call that has rocked my weekend. The comic genius Ken Campbell has died. Its seems unreal, the theatre and entertainment world has lost an extraordinary man. Ken was a dear friend and he had helped me launch of the Fame Formula at the Riverside three weeks ago. We had so […]
The Fame Formula
I’ve just been told by my publishers that The Fame Formula is currently the lead feature on the Yahoo home page. http://uk.yahoo.com/
Saving Britney
I noted a wire story this morning that suggested that Britney Spears is “highly unstable” – the singer is “sensitive” and “insecure” and is in the last chance salon (AGAIN!). Flip back to the wire reports that were circulating about Barbara La Marr back in the 1920’s, and a story I mention in The Fame […]
The Artless selling of the iPhone
News has come in that Apple are attempting to sell iPhones in Poland by paying actors to queue outside the stores to whoop up interest in the all-singing, all-dancing phone which is released there on Friday. According to Reuters, a spokesman has said: “We have these fake queues at front of 20 stores around the […]
Olympians v "Z list" reality show throwaways
I scribbled an opinion feature for the Sunday Times on the Olympic hoo-ha, which fell by the wayside. I think it addressed the issues that had been missed as euphoric rapture asphyxiated the nation and completely overshadowed the Olympic scale of the Chinese Olympics propaganda. In the rush to enjoy Team GB’s Olympic success, let’s […]
WiFi access and other frustrations at the Edinburgh Festival
John Pinette is one of the funniest stand ups I have seen in years. This oversized routine is dominated by frustrations about food cafeteria lines and the modern day morons. After 24 hours in Edinburgh, I’m beginning to turn into him! Pinette talks about someone in a restaurant queue saying “how big is your small?” […]
Ready, steady, go – the race to turn gold into millions
By Amol Rajan Tuesday, 19 August 2008 Britain’s Olympic heroes in Beijing are being circled by increasing numbers of sports agents, multi-nationals and image consultants desperate to cash in on their new-found fame. Behind the scenes in China’s capital, newly crowned champions, from the swimmer Rebecca Adlington to the cyclists Bradley Wiggins and Chris Hoy, […]