Anyone cocooned, marooned or feeling like some diversion can tune in to a conversation with one of Fleet Street’s finest foot soldiers next Monday.
John McEntee’s devout mother once spent EUR 1,000 on having masses said in Catholic churches throughout Ireland for his salvation and the Hollywood actor Richard Harris sued him for libel following which they became bosom boozing pals. Sean Connery had him turfed out of a drinks reception and the author of Angela’s Ashes, Frank McCourt almost throttled him over some mildly amusing remarks John made about his writing skills. John once had to pick up the bill at that famous London hostelry El Vino after a drunken Kingsley Amis spent an afternoon working his way through the whiskey menu.
Those were the days when being the last incarnation of the famous William Hickey on the Daily Express meant something or at least came with a large expense account. John abandoned the life of a news reporter covering serious stuff like the IRA bombings to panhandling for gossip on the celebrity circuit in London’s West End and elsewhere. He now plies his trade under the odd moniker of Ephraim Hardcastle on the Daily Mail. Despite his hectic social life he managed to also review the weekend newspapers on Sky Television for 15 years until he was fired in a vendetta with a sensitive individual who objected to John’s humorous musings about his weight.
Monday 6 April 2020, 20:00 CEST
You can join the event by clicking the link below before the event begins. It will enable you to download and install the Zoom application, which you can also use to submit questions to the author.
We will also stream the event live on our Facebook page.
Reviews for “I’m not one to gossip but…”
“John is one of the funniest men in the world and he has written a gloriously gossipy, very funny and lovely memoir.” Jilly Cooper
“One of the highlights of my morning for a few years was pulling up my bedroom window in Kensington and yelling, ‘Whose life will you be ruining today?’ to a distinguished figure passing by. It was John McEntee. He would be making his way to work to practise his trade as a mischievous gossip columnist, a job for which wit, charm and insatiable nosiness are vital. McEntee has all three in lorryloads. He is one of the Titans of his trade.” Anne Robinson