When the rapper Eminem crosses swords with someone, you can usually guarantee that sparks will fly. So, understandably perhaps, there has been some uneasy shuffling over at the London-based publishers Orion during the past few days.
The company excitedly announced last week that it had snapped up a memoir from the controversial artiste to be called The Way I Am, and was planning to release it in October in time for the lucrative Christmas market. "It has an edge," said the firm's senior commissioning editor, Ian Preece. "It'll be one of the books of the year."
But the announcement has provoked a furious response from a member of Eminem's sizeable entourage, who is unhappy that the publisher decided to release information about the tome while it was still being written.
"There is a book in the works from Eminem, in which he details certain aspects of his personal and professional life. The book is still in the process of being written and edited," said an angry spokesman from Eminem's record label, Interscope.
"There is no firm release date scheduled. It's unfortunate that someone who does not have intimate knowledge of the book felt compelled to jump the gun on announcing it by delivering partial and inaccurate information."
When I call Orion's offices, a spokesman is unwilling to comment on the row. Possibly worried their new author might decide to "pop a cap".
Ronnie's boy has his old man's magnetism
Ronnie Wood's 24-year-old son, Tyrone, has clearly inherited some of the prowess that has made his old man one of rock's most accomplished swordsmen. Since last summer, Tyrone has been stepping out with British beauty Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, 20, a model who has appeared in campaigns for Ralph Lauren and Paul Smith.
The relationship was blighted slightly – he was based in London, she was in New York – but it now appears Wood's squeeze can't be without him. "Rosie's decided to come back to live in London," he told me at an exhibition for Paul Karslake at Mayfair's Scream Gallery. "She rang up the other day and said 'I wanna come home'."
Readers of GQ magazine will be familiar with Huntington-Whiteley, hailed as the next Kate Moss, after she posed for a raunchy photo shoot.
"Yes, my mates all saw that," Ty added proudly. "Let's just say I had one or two texts about it."
Dave misses his chancer
David Cameron took his family for a holiday on South Africa's Western Cape during the recent half-term break.
But whilst he was sunning himself in the swish Plettenberg Bay area, he missed a golden opportunity for some much-needed celebrity support for his party. Also spotted reclining on a sunlounger on the same beach as the Conservative leader was Coventry's Hollywood export, Clive Owen, who first shot to fame in the ITV television series Chancer.
"I don't think either of them met," reports a female mole. "Clive was also out there relaxing with his family. I must say, he looked rather more fetching in bathing trunks than David did."
Big softie
Further signs emerge that former England Rugby bruiser Lawrence Dallaglio is mellowing since his international retirement.
Just recently, I reported that he had been spotted learning how to ski on the baby slopes in the fancy Swiss resort of Verbier.
Now an invite arrives on Pandora's desk asking me to join Dallaglio this week as he unveils a new range of metrosexual male skin products by Vaseline.
Wuss!
Chant heard coming from visiting West Ham supporters on the terraces at Fulham, Mohamed Al Fayed's football club, on Saturday: "Que sera, sera/Whatever will be, will be/It's a fugging conspiracy/Que sera sera."
Blue scarf hides Ken's blushes
Ken Livingstone is happy to take the Tube over a cab, but as a mode of transport it does have its pitfalls.
At around midnight on Saturday evening, Ken, right, was seen hopping on to the Jubilee line at Waterloo with his family, presumably making their journey home. Naturally, the train was chock-a-block with many Saturday-night revellers.
A fellow passenger told me: "A group of blokes spotted him instantly and began chanting: 'Mayor of London, Mayor of London, you're not the Mayor of London in disguise.' Poor old Ken sat there covering his face with a blue scarf. He had to put up with this for three stops until these lads eventually leapt off at Bond Street."
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