Alumni

Last night, ITV1 started a new 'reality' show called 'Deadline' where Janet Street-Porter rallies a bunch of nobodies, and relations of nobodies, into producing a weekly celebrity rag to be given away free with a proper celebrity rag. She is assisted in this task by Darryn Lyons (the head honcho at Big Pictures - the largest pap agency in the country, not to be confused with Big Pictures - and, by the way, one of the richest men out there. So why, when I ended up at his table in a club last year, was he so mean about who got to drink the decent champagne? Tightwad), and Joe Mott - from The Daily Star (and 'boyfriend' of Sarah Harding).

Now what baffles me (and an old friend), is the staggering rise in success (obviously, success is all relative) of people who were colleagues when we worked here back in 2001. This was where I cut my teeth in the heady world of showbiz journalism and I had a great time, well you would when you're about 23. My colleagues at the time included Joe Mott, Brit Award winner Amy Winehouse, Georgina and Patrick Littlejohn (wonder how they got their jobs, eh?) and we were all, erm, governed by Jonathan Ashby (the Fleet Street hack who broke the story of Boy George's heroin addiction in the 80s). Those were the days. Oh, and not forgetting CK, who still dines out on his infamous George Harrison interview that caused national headlines and made its way into a biography of the now deceased Beatle. Yes, heady days indeed.