Breaking news: once one of the coolest women in the world, the 1990s supermodel Helena Christensen is set to become the face and presumably bikini-clad body of Thomson Holidays’ luxury arm. That’s a whole ton of sun. She’s not the only one to take the cash for a touch of naff… Read more here
The history of steel is the history of the British industrial revolution. Tuesday evening –which saw the decision by Tata to close all of its steelworks in the UK, consigning the production of the metal to potential oblivion- either marks a new chapter or is a concluding footnote. Niall Ferguson once used the term Killer…
It is open season for attacking the new series of Top Gear and the first shot has been fired. A former British military commander criticised one of the show’s hosts Matt LeBlanc and a professional driver who performed “doghnuts” near the Cenotaph in Whitehall during an interview with BBC Radio 5 live. Col Richard Kemp said…
No one seems to have gotten out of the Top Gear Cenotaph-gaffe unscathed. The presenters have been throttled into unreserved contrition. The BBC has been branded foolish for giving the go-ahead to the £100,000 stunt and Westminster council have been labelled naïve. The area’s commitment to low emissions also took a beating with the noxious…
Queen Elizabeth is a canny one. She always picks the winning side. She’s successfully backed Scottish Union twice. Her horses have won over 1,600 races. She came round to the Diana mania with grace and an Oscar via Dame Helen. Read more at http://www.prweek.com/article/1386638/will-suns-queen-backs-brexit-story-rock-eu-campaigns-pr-pros-give-views#V1hEULPfcxQaKbSO.99
She may be facing the biggest crisis of her career but Maria Sharapova gave a master-class in damage limitation when she announced she had failed a drugs test. For this story not to leak out beforehand is extraordinary in this era of innuendo, which shows the level of negotiating power that her management have. The…
In Hail, Caesar!, the latest zany yarn from the brothers Coen, a movie PR man called Eddie Mannix (played by Josh Brolin) attempts to divert attention away from a studio crisis by publicising the “secret romance” of two of his biggest stars. In the studio system of the early 50s this was normal – as a…
Oscar Wilde didn’t say all publicity is good publicity. It was another Irish cause célèbre Brendan Behan who coined the phrase (though he conceded that obituaries are best avoided). If this were true there would be no need for PR. Rather, Wilde wrote that not being talked about can be relatively worse than facing a…
Normally a potato-faced jock saying he fancies a bud is not worth much thought. But the Super Bowl isn’t normal. Peyton Manning, fresh from leading the Denver Broncos to victory over Carolina, told CBS he’s going to “drink a lot of Budweiser tonight.”With one seemingly impromptu slip –followed by a less impromptu-seeming second- Anheuser-Busch, his…
Elton John hit all the right headlines yesterday in time for the release of his new album ‘Wonderful Crazy night’. However with Sir Elton’s piano practice at St Pancras Station spontaneity seems to the be the hardest word. From the Guardian to the Evening Standard, the papers dutifully danced to the tune of a generic…