Pandora: Dragons denial... the book is not about you, Duncan

As the star of the BBC's Dragons' Den, Duncan Bannatyne enjoys giving aspiring entrepreneurs a grilling, but the idea of seeing his own business practices put under the spotlight seems to make him jumpy.

The moneybags entrepreneur's former publicist, Richard Hillgrove, is about to publish The PR Secrets Of The Dragons, which details some of the public relations work he's done for Bannatyne, James Caan and Yo Sushi founder Simon Woodroffe.

When Bannatyne got wind of the book's title, he suspected it could be a hatchet job. Since Bannatyne dispensed with Hillgrove's services abruptly several years ago, he was understandably concerned that the book would be hostile to him. "Duncan rang James Caan up and wanted to find out what was in it, he was quite concerned," Hillgrove tells me. "I think he thought that I was going to be revealing secrets. But it's just a book about the public relations industry."

Bannatyne will probably feel an affinity for Fawlty Towers star Andrew Sachs at the moment.

His relationship with Hillgrove ended when the publicist appeared on Russell Brand's now-defunct Radio 2 show and allowed the "comedian" to mock his serious-minded boss.

Will seeks a taste of Bollywood

When the actor Will Smith announced earlier this year that he was keen to star in a Bollywood movie, cynics sensed it was just the Hollywood star embarking on a publicity stunt.

But by the sounds of things, Smith is deadly serious about the project. Danny Boyle, the British director who has just finished filming his movie Slumdog Millionaire in Mumbai, says he ran into him more than once in the sub-continent.

"While we were filming there, Will Smith came over twice," he tells me. "There's a massive coming together of Bollywood and Hollywood. It'll only take one person to bring them together and it will be huge."

Also on Smith's itinerary during his Indian sojourn was a visit to Bollywood megastar Anil Kapoor, who tells me: "Yes, he came to visit us. He came to my residence for dinner. Very nice chap."

Authorised – but probably not by Kate

Kate Moss is about to be subjected to another unwarranted intrusion into her private life.

Today sees the release of Spencer Honniball's Beg, Steal Or Borrow, an authorised biography of her ex-boyfriend Pete Doherty's rock band Babyshambles.

Although primarily it's supposed to document the band's history, details of the supermodel's ill-judged relationship with the drug-addled singer have not been glossed over.

A press release promises that the book will not stint on "the tabloid exposure with Kate Moss and relentless media coverage through to countless brushes with the law".

No doubt the notoriously cagey Moss, and dare I say it, her lawyers, will be leafing through it with extreme interest.

I want to be Nice, says Sean ... for once

Further to my story last week that Rhys Ifans, right, had signed up to play drug smuggler Howard Marks in an adaptation of his humorous memoir Mr Nice, news of another recruitment to the project.

"Sean Penn's on board in some way, but I honestly have no idea in what respect," says Marks. "He has come and had meetings about the film. At that meeting he didn't promise anything other than to help in whatever way possible." It would certainly mark a change of direction for Penn, who spends most of his time making terribly serious films about politics and chewing the cud with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Rear-Admiral in long sentence

Rear-Admiral Nick Wilkinson's official history of the MoD's D-Notice Committee (the body which acts to suppress media reports which could damage national security) hit the buffers last week, when the committee's current secretary Air Vice-Marshal Andrew Vallance decreed it "turgid" and "awfully written".

Chief amongst Vallance's complaints was that one sentence in the manuscript, entitled Secrecy And The Media, was 130 words long.

Says one insubordinate chum of Wilkinson: "He obviously has difficulty with long words and sentences. In the RAF they used to call him 'Granny' Vallance and now we know why. He can't chew anything unless it's in bite-sized chunks."

Marie receives a Press drabbing

Indignity for Marie Claire's outgoing editor, Marie O'Riordan.

News of O'Riordan's departure from the monthly glossy was announced in this month's Press Gazette, under the headline: "Marie Claire editor O'Riordrab moves on."

Merely a typo, I'm sure.