LONDON -- The front page of Wednesday's Daily Mirror said: "Angus Deayton is a coke-snorting, hooker-hiring, three-in-a-bed love rat . . ." The front page of the Daily Mail said: "John Leslie is a vile, arrogant man who despises women . . ." Both men were sacked by their TV employers the same day.
If you have never heard of either of them, don't feel ashamed. They are minor TV celebs, known to those who watch their programs, but otherwise famous only because they have entered the weird world of Celeb Tabloidistan.
If you only read a broadsheet newspaper and watch documentary programs, this world is more mysterious and incomprehensible than a minor Caucasian republic. It is peopled by men and women you have never heard of, famous for achievements you do not recognize and distinguished primarily by the fact that they are under 40 and good-looking, if in a rather bland and vapid sort of way.