I had planned to write the odd book review on Red Alert as I planned to use this break to read all the books I have bought at airport bookshops over the past year.
Disappointingly I have only read two books since Christmas but I enjoyed them both. I started with a total no-brainer – a few years ago Piers Morgan wrote a book called The Insider: The Private Diaires of a Scandalous Decade, which is what encouraged me to buy Don’t You Know Who I Am? Insider Diaries of Fame, Power and Naked Ambition.
Piers Morgan is a clever writer – he knows how to string together a good yarn and and despite his loathing of politicians, (which seems to me comes from a sense of having been personally let down by Tony Blair over the decision to go into Iraq), this politician loves reading his stuff.
He understands all to well the superficiality of ‘celebrity status’ and yet in a self-deprecating manner describes how he gets to splash around in the depths of that particular bird-bath.
There is something quite human though underneath the bravado and I get the feeling that there is more to him than meets the eye as I scan the words on the page.
But let’s not go there. Let me instead quote my favourite paragraph from the book. This will appeal to all of you who enter quiz evenings where as Morgan says ‘they all pretend it’s not competitive, but of course it is. Everybody there wants to win’.
On this occasion Morgan’s team has managed the ring-in of all times – the 2004 winner of Mastermind, Shaun Wallace – they cream it.
And as Morgan accepts the trophy he boasts ” I stand here rather as Douglas Jardine stood in Australia at the start of the 1932/3 bodyline series. As the bouncers started, one member of the crowd shouted, ‘you won’t win many friends playing like that Jardine,” to which the great man turned with a bemused look on his face and said haughtily, “my dear fellow, I haven’t come here to win friends. I’ve come to win the Ashes.”
Sounds great.
I love that you’ve read this, it confirms my sense of your humour.
Piers Morgan’s book is full of sloppy errors – see Private Eye passim (sadly not available online). And given his track record, it’s probably full of fabrications anyway!
Oh Dorothy!! They cleared him of that!! ha ha ha ha (it’s in the book ~ lol)
I would love to read your life Lianne . Hope you decide to domit sometime . Dont forget to mention the Cambridge Branch still going after 45 years when it was predicted that we would not last a few months.