The Insider - Piers Morgan

...own showbiz column 'Bizarre' in The Sun. He was offered the job of Editor at the News of the World in 1994 by Rupert Murdoch, at the age of 28 - becoming the youngest Editor in over 50 years. The following year he became Editor of the Mirror and often ended up being in the newspapers himself. He finally lost his position in May 2004 after publishing photos of British Troops abusing prisoners in Iraq, which turned out to be fake.

In ...
...at 9-12 year olds. Over the years, Piers Morgan has also made many television appearances on programmes such as Have I Got News For You, Question Time and This Week. Piers Morgan has also starred in his own shows, such as 'Death of Celebrity', 'Tabloid Tales' and the current series 'You Can't Fire Me, I'm Famous...'


** About this Book**

I'll be honest - my expectations were that I was going to hate this book. ... more

I'm an avid reader, mostly of fiction. However, one night I felt like reading something a bit different. Rummaging through my chest of un-read books I came across Piers Morgan's book which I'd bought months earlier from Tesco, for £3.73.

**About Piers Morgan**

Piers Morgan began working in newspapers after studying journalism at Harlow College, and was given his own showbiz column 'Bizarre' in The Sun. He was offered the job of Editor at the News of the World in 1994 by Rupert Murdoch, at the age of 28 - becoming the youngest Editor in over 50 years. The following year he became Editor of the Mirror and often ended up being in the newspapers himself. He finally lost his position in May 2004 after publishing photos of British Troops abusing prisoners in Iraq, which turned out to be fake.

In 2005 Piers Morgan bought the Press Gazette in a partnership with Matthew Freud, and in 2006 launched a newspaper aimed at 9-12 year olds. Over the years, Piers Morgan has also made many television appearances on programmes such as Have I Got News For You, Question Time and This Week. Piers Morgan has also starred in his own shows, such as 'Death of Celebrity', 'Tabloid Tales' and the current series 'You Can't Fire Me, I'm Famous...'

** About this Book**

I'll be honest - my expectations were that I was going to hate this book. I only bought it because it was cheap! I read every night - usually getting through 2 or 3 books and it can get expensive having to buy books all the time, so if I see a cheap book I tend to buy it - whatever it is. I had no real opinion of Piers Morgan before reading this - I thought he seemed smug on Have I Got News For You, but then I quite liked him on Tabloid Tales. I am very much against the way the press intrude in people's lives though. Yes, there's a certain element of 'they should expect it if they're famous', but at the same time, I don't think anyone deserves to be constantly hounded by photographers and journalists - and the press do it to 'normal' people too. There's the whole arguement that newspapers wouldn't print it if it didn't sell, but I think there's a difference between reporting a factual story on a celebrity and sensationalising things to sell more papers. I particularly dislike hearing about photographers hiding up trees, etc. trying to sneak shots of celebrities, and words being twisted to make the story more interesting. I'd be lying if I said I never read celebrity stories - though I don't read them very often because I'm really not that interested - but I don't have anything against people who do read them. It's the 'papparazzi' that I dislike. Given my views, you can see why I thought I'd hate this book.

The book is written in diary form and covers the period from 10th December 1993 to 26th May 2004. Piers Morgan himself confesses he didn't keep a diary of his thoughts, but he kept notes of key moments, events, encounters and emotions over 11 years. He also told his PA to put anything of interest into a box. Letters, photos, cuttings, memos of calls or interviews, emails, faxes, taped interviews and the front page of every edition he ever edited were collected in boxes and stored away. Message books and office diaries were also saved. It is a combination of all these things that the information in the book came from.

In his introduction, Piers Morgan tells the reader that he wanted to be completely honest in this book, by not only detailing the good things, like huge stories he broke, and awards the paper won - but also the bad things - such as violent brawls he had and his lack of compassion on certain stories. He claims that you do get dehumanised editing on a tabloid paper, and that he should admit it. He does try to explain his behaviour by the stress of the job, and the incredible sense of power he felt. In his own words.."I defy anyone to be handed the biggest-selling newspaper in the world at 28 and not become a rather cocky little git". As for his aim in writing the book; he wants it to be "..informative, interesting and even vaguely historical. But most importantly, I hope it makes you laugh."

So, I sat down to read what he'd written. As it's in diary form you can read as much or as little as you want at a time. However, once I picked it up I found that I couldn't put it down, and finished it within a couple of hours.

The book has a prologue, detailing the events that lead to Piers losing his job at The Mirror in 2004, before going back in time to 1993 when he was still writing the 'Bizarre' column for The Sun. From the beginning, you get to see the politics with the newspaper industry and just how much competition there is between papers - even with those who have the same owner. I found it genuinely interesting to see how newspapers work, and how many stories that are attributed to 'friends close to the star' actually came from the star themself. I was also amazed, perhaps naively, at how closely the press and politicians work together. In fact the book is more about events and 'serious' figures like politicians, than it is about celebrities. This was a huge relief to me, as I thought it was going to be full of people like Jordan, and Big Brother contestants. Although there are mentions of many different celebrities, most only get a few lines in the book.

The most interesting thing to me was being reminded of news stories over the years, both big and small, and seeing how they were covered by the newspapers. There are many huge events that happen during the timespan of the book, such as Princess Diana's death, Dunblane, September 11th and the wars on Afghanistan and Iraq, and these are all covered - sometimes not in the way you'd expect. The war on Iraq plays a huge part in the latter part of the book, and Piers Morgan tells us of the struggle he had in editing the paper at that time - wanting to make it clear the paper was still seriously against the war but at the same time supporting our troops. He admits that he didn't always succeed.

I was impressed with Piers Morgan's anti-war stance. The fact that he stood his ground - even though he was put under pressure by both his boss and the Labour government to support the war - was refreshing to see. If we are to believe this book, he also regularly challenged politicians, and the Prime Minister, about the war and asked them about the 'missing' Weapons of Mass Destruction. He also seemed genuinely moved with the story of the little Iraqi boy, Ali Ismaeel Abbas, who lost both his arms because of a bomb, and it was The Mirror's campaign which got the boy brought over to the UK to have surgery and get prosthetic arms.

There are a couple of ironies in the book. One being that Piers Morgan complains about press intrusion a couple of times. Once when he was investigated for buying shares in a company that his own paper then tipped as a good buy, and on another occasion when he was romantically linked to Sheryl Gascoigne - when in fact he barely knew her. It also seems ironic that Piers Morgan complains that celebrities often want 'copy approval' of their interviews before they're published. Given how the tabloids twist people's words, I don't blame the celebrities. One story in the book centres around Richard and Judy, and their move to Channel Four after leaving 'This Morning'. They had been interviewed for The Mirror to promote their new show, but wanted copy approval. The journalist who interviewed them did a good write-up which was entirely flattering towards them. However, when it came back from Richard and Judy, over 800 words had been changed and it was full of praise for themselves. Piers snapped, and printed both copies in The Mirror showing the original, and what it looked like after Richard and Judy had done with it. There was uproar from Channel Four the next day, but surprisingly Richard phoned Piers and said although they'd been furious at first, they now realised how pathetic they were.

It's true to say there isn't a deal about Piers' personal life in the book, although his family is frequently mentioned and there's plenty about his career. I can't say we get to see the 'real' Piers Morgan, though he does appear more human after we hear about his son's meningitis scare, and the pride he felt in his children. The were certainly many things about Piers Morgan that I disliked - his smugness and delusions over his own self-importance for a start - but overall I like him much more now than before reading this book, if only for his sense of humour.

In his introduction Piers admits to name-dropping throughout the book and says at the time of being editor he saw his life as being completely normal - lunching with Princess Diana and Tony Blair. He now agrees it's proposterous. He is very self-depracating throughout the book, especially the latter part, and he questions his own behaviour several times. I may be gullible, but I genuinely believe that he regrets some of the things he's done, and the fact that he's prepared to admit when he's done wrong made him a bit more likeable in my eyes.

I do think you have to take some of the book with a pinch of salt. Even with all the material Piers had to base his book on, I find it doubtful that he'd recall entire conversations that happened years ago. Although, some people who are mentioned in the book, such as Greg Dyke, have confirmed that their recollection of conversations is the same as what has appeared in the book. I also think there's blatant hindsight coming into play, with Piers mentioning things that wouldn't have been important at the time, but would become important months later.

For someone in Piers' position it would be quite easy to try and paint people in a negative light, and there are stories about people, such as Ian Hislop, Jeremy Clarkson and Spike Milligan, that have a negative effect on how you think of them. In particular, the ex-Labour spin doctor, Alistair Campbell is shown in a bad light, though this is resolved slightly towards the end. On the whole though, Piers is quite positive about most people in the book, and people like Sarah Ferguson, and Victoria Beckham he couldn't seem to say a bad word about. He even reflects on how poorly the press have treated Sarah Ferguson over the years, and appears genuinely remorseful about it.

I do think Piers Morgan over-values his self-importance and influence in this book. In particular, he seems to suggest that he was a great help to Tony Blair's career, and to Labour in general, over the years. I've no doubt The Mirror helped Tony Blair, and so to that extent Piers did too, but to accept that Tony Blair was taking advice from Piers Morgan seems a bit unlikely.

Piers Morgan claims that in writing this book, he wasn't breaking any confidences. He says that people know a conversation with him would never truly be 'off the record', and that he's sure he'll be included in other's memoirs, such as Peter Mandelson's and Tony Blair's - though he admits he won't be as important to them, as they are to him. However, it strikes me that in certain situations, such as after having a few drinks, Tony and Cherie Blair probably wouldn't be so guarded in what they were saying and it's doubtful they'd expect to later read about it in a book. There's no harm done, and they come across in a positive way, but it's that old excuse 'they should expect it' that I dislike.

At the back of the book, immediately before the index, is a 'Cast of Characters'. The intention being that when certain people are mentioned only by first name in the book, you can refer to it to find out who the person is. I didn't actually know about this until I'd completed the book, and so in parts I was confused as to who Piers was talking about. I don't know entirely how useful the 'Cast of Characters' is, having never used it, but I think it's a good idea. The only problem with this is that many people have the same first name, so you would have to try and figure out from the context which one is the most likely.

It may seem that I've given a lot away in this review, but believe me, I've barely brushed the surface. There are literally hundreds of anecdotes about different people, and I've mentioned only a handful of the people included in this book. I'll leave the rest for you to read about yourselves!

So - did Piers Morgan complete his objectives with this book? Well, I certainly found the book informative and interesting, and it was historical. I cried at some parts, and got annoyed with Piers Morgan at others, sometimes getting so angry that I'd put the book down in disgust - only to pick it up again moments later. Most of all though, I laughed. I always sit on the floor to read, and there were several times when I was rolling around on the carpet laughing hysterically with tears coming down my cheeks. It was about 3am, so my neighbours probably weren't very happy! I don't laugh easily, at books or television, and there are only two other authors that have genuinely made me laugh out loud before, but I found parts of this book incredibly funny. I particularly liked the 'meetings' Piers Morgan had with Sophie Raeworth and Jeremy Bowen - the ex-BBC One breakfast show presenters. Also very funny was the story about Piers Morgan meeting Bill Clinton, which had me laughing for over ten minutes.

If you're after a serious book that documents the events over the time period the book covers, you won't enjoy this book. If you're after a political commentary, you won't enjoy this book. To the other end of the scale, if you're looking for gossip on Jordan, the Spice Girls, or Big Brother contestants, you'll also be disappointed. This book is an anecdotal account of Piers Morgan's life as Editor of two successful newspapers.You don't have to be a tabloid reader to enjoy this book , but it does have a kind of tabloid 'style' to it. There is a fair bit of bad language too, which doesn't bother me but other people may find it offensive. I feel that if people don't find this book funny, as I did, they may just be annoyed by it - especially if they dislike Piers Morgan to start off with. Personally I'm really glad I bought it, and will definitely re-read it at some point. It's one of the funniest books I've read - ever!

Whether you love Piers Morgan or loathe him, the book's a great insight on the news stories spanning 11 years, and the political and celebrity worlds, I'd definitely recommend people to give it a go.

**Book Details**

484 pages (including index)
First published in 2005 by Ebury Press, available in both hardback and paperback.
ISBN: 009190849-3
Available from Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0091908493/202-2774074-9583040?v=glance&n=266239 for £3.99 new or £1.40 from Amazon Marketplace (not including the £2.75 postage)

**Other Books by Piers Morgan**

Private Lives of the Stars (1990)
Secret Lives of the Stars(1991)
To Dream a Dream: The Amazing Life of Phillip Schofield (1992)
Take That :Our Story (1993)
Take That: On The Road (1994)
Va Va Voom: A Year With Arsenal 2003-2004 (2004) 

...less