Writer Walter Ellis reveals to Arcati that Tina Brown is happy to delve into Diana's entrails but is less keen to allow others to delve into hers and Harry's ....
"A few years ago, while at a low ebb, I approached Ms Brown in New York to ask if she would consider assisting in a biography of her and her husband, the Blessed Harry, that, Gawd help me, I thought might pay the rent for six months. She did not reply. Her secretary at Talk magazine did, however, email me to say that la Brown was resolutely opposed to any such biography and would instruct her friends to render no assistance. Happily for her, friends of the Princess of Wales presented no comparable obstruction, and today, having pocketed a million pounds plus for telling the untold story of Diana (again), Ms Brown is free to concentrate on the awesome material of her own life. I Iook forward to the result and hereby authorise her to use the above material in whatever manner she considers appropriate."
4 comments:
She can dish it out but...
Well, it is hardly likely that Diana would have given permission, were she alive, for HER biography, is it? Anyway, there is already an excellent biography of Tina and her husband, Tina & Harry Come to America by Judy Bachrach. I believe Ms Bachrach wrote this successfully despite exactly the constraint of which Mr Ellis complains.
You are right, dear Nonymous, to remind me of Judy Bachrach's biog, which rather sank without trace back in the summer of 2001 – as, no doubt, would mine have done. But in fact, my request for cooperation preceded this.
You are wrong to say that the PoW would not have approved a biography of her. She cooperated with authors all the time. My point was that Ms Brown revelled in her contacts, whom she milked ruthlessly for information, but was unprepared to help anyone write about her.
Nope, I still don't see your point. I'm sure that, like any journalist, you "revel" in your own contacts. Bachrach produced an excellent biography of both Brown and Evans, without any co-operation from her subject. Evans has obviously received no co-operation from the (deceased) subject of her Diana biog. It's perfectly possible to write a good biography without co-operation, as both authors seem to have proven, but that is a route you eschewed - perhaps because your own contacts were not good enough? The only true point of comparison would be if Brown had refused to help you in writing a biography of a third party!
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