A Peek at the Top Shelf – 2

Let joy be unconfined. Richard “Dirty” Desmond has just lost his libel action against author Tom Bower. The Guardian has the story here. It’s also covered in the current issue of Private Eye (number 1241).

It is surely the right verdict: Desmond has denied, under oath, that he ever interferes in editorial policy at the Daily and Sunday Express, which has then been shown to be untrue. And, as Roy Greenslade has pointed out, a lot of evidence was for whatever reason ruled inadmissible (so, for instance, the well known Nazi style tirade never got mentioned).

The cost to the Great Pornographer? A snip at one and a quarter million quid.

The follow-up? Bower is believed to be writing an unauthorised biography of Desmond (which surprised me, because, as I said previously, I didn’t think that Desmond was important enough).

Desmond’s expression? Priceless.