Few people, surely, form feuds with quite the same level of gusto as the Mancunian miserablist Morrissey.
The singer, still locked in a dispute with the NME over remarks he made about immigration, is now publicly urging fans to snub his forthcoming DVD, Morrissey Live At The Hollywood Bowl, thanks to a row with its distributor, Warner Entertainment.
While the film is to be billed as a "career-defining performance", Morrissey has accused Warner of shoddy workmanship and broken promises.
"The slapdash release is being done by Warner without any consultation to me whatsoever," he rants on his fansite True To You.
"It is in breach of their terms as laid out by them in an agreement made with my ex-manager. Being Warner," Morrissey adds, "the sleeve art is predictably appalling. It is the work of cash-hounds, and I urge people not to buy it."
The former Smiths frontman, who parted company with his long-term manager Merck Mercuriadis earlier this year, goes on to claim to his fans that he will not be making a bean from the offending item.
"I am not signed to Warner, and no royalties from this DVD will come to me," he insists. "Please spend your money elsewhere."
Naomi's Egyptian encounter
Naomi Campbell is known for many things but not, it is safe to say, her expertise in Egyptology. Nevertheless, the supermodel received high praise from Zahi Hawass, the acclaimed archaeologist and secretary-general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, who recently gave her a personal tour of the Great Pyramid at Giza.
"She is particularly interested in the Great Sphinx of Giza," Hawass revealed at a conference this week. "She claims she feels a great spiritual connection to it. I took her to visit and she started talking to it."
As to what exactly Ms Campbell said, Hawass remains tight-lipped. "That is a secret. She wouldn't even tell me."
Still the wild one
Celebrity siblings Lily and Alfie Allen are a mischievous duo on the London party scene. Judging by their father's recent visit to Painswick Rugby Club in Gloucestershire, it's not difficult so see where they get it from. Keith Allen, who is is currently starring in the BBC's Robin Hood, made quite an impression at a club fundraiser, where he was asked what he liked best about living in the Cotswolds. After a moment's reflection, he replied: "It's the drugs."
All that glitters...
Given the media scrum surrounding his return to Britain, perhaps one thing Gary Glitter could do with is someone to manage his publicity. One person he needn't bother asking is self-styled "fame fixer" and former Glitter PR man Mark Borkowski."I wouldn't dream of it," spits an indignant Borkowski when I call his office. "I represented his tour ages ago. I could not think of anything worse now."
Songs in the key of life
With an estimated personal wealth of £160m, Dhani Harrison, the only child of George, has had little need to sing for his supper.
No wonder, then, that his band only perform for free. The so-called "newno2" have just released their debut album, but instead of the usual publicity rounds, they have opted instead for a round of free weekly gigs throughout September at the Key Club on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood.
Rantzen rants about Heather Mills
Never one to mince her words, Esther Rantzen surprised festival-goers in Edinburgh yesterday by launching into a detailed attack on her former ITV colleague Heather Mills.
"She lived in this half-fantasy, half-reality world," fumed La Rantzen. "When I worked with her, there was another journalist called Heather Mills who worked for The Observer and, for a time, my Heather pretended to be her. She wasn't liked by anyone on the team. The tragedy is that, at the time she married Sir Paul, there were two ways she could have gone. She could have become the person she said she was – the charitable work could really have taken off, but she would have had to leave behind the bullying and the anger, because she got very angry.
"I always say she is the most interesting person I've worked with."
pandora@independent.co.uk
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