Ex-prostitute is festival ambassador

By FRANK URQUHART
Published on 17/03/2012 11:47

THE author of two bestselling books about a high class call girl has been named as this year’s Ambassador to the Highland whisky festival.

Dr Brooke Magnanti was the anonymous author, Belle de Jour, whose sensational books about life as a London prostitute were adapted for the ITV2 series Secret Diary of a Call Girl starring Billie Piper. Her identity was revealed by The Sunday Times in November 2009.

She agreed to become the Ambassador for this year’s celebrations of Scotland’s national drink after being approached by Yvonne Murray, the co-director of the festival, on Twitter.

Ms Murray approach the best-selling author after learning of her affection for whisky after reading a blog post she had written about the drink.

She said: “Brooke has a well publicised affinity with whisky, not least because it was through a blog post about the ‘water of life’ that revealed her true identity to the public.

“One of the greatest literary secrets of all time was exposed after an eagle-eyed blogger recognised the style in which the whisky blog had been written, and alerted Belle de Jour that the press were about to publish her real name.”

Dr Magnanti’s first two books, The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl, published in 2005 and The Further Adventures of a London Call Girl, published a year later, were both UK top ten best-sellers.

She was 34 years old and working as a research scientist, specialising in neurotoxicology and cancer epidemiology, at the Bristol Initiative for Research of Child Health, when her secret life was first exposed.

She admitted that she had spent 14 months as a prostitute in London, working with an escort agency, after she ran out of money during her studies.

She had been charging £300 an hour for her services and had slept with “between dozens and hundreds” of men.

A spokeswoman for the festival said: “She will be attending the festival to promote the delights of whisky, as well as launching a limited edition booklet featuring the original blog article she wrote.

“It will also feature her own drawings of botanical flowers, together with a fantastic insight into why she wrote the blog, and what living in Scotland means to her. It will be exclusively available at the festival.”

Belle de Jour’s blog had first become a hit on the internet in 2003. Her name – meaning “beauty of the day” – was the title of a 1920s novel and 1967 film starring Catherine Deneuve.

After revealing her true identity, Belle de Jour wrote in one of her final posts: “Belle and the person who wrote her had been apart too long. I had to bring them back together. It feels so much better on this side. I am a woman. I lived in London. I was a call girl.”

The festival is being staged at Bogbain Farm, south of Inverness, on 6 and 7 April.The author of two bestselling books about a high class call girl has been named as this year’s Ambassador to the Highland whisky festival.

Dr Brooke Magnanti was the anonymous author, Belle de Jour, whose sensational books about life as a London prostitute were adapted for the ITV2 series Secret Diary of a Call Girl starring Billie Piper. Her identity was revealed by The Sunday Times in November 2009.

She agreed to become the Ambassador for this year’s celebrations of Scotland’s national drink after being approached by Yvonne Murray, the co-director of the festival, on Twitter.

Ms Murray approach the best-selling author after learning of her affection for whisky after reading a blog post she had written about the drink.

She said: “Brooke has a well publicised affinity with whisky, not least because it was through a blog post about the ‘water of life’ that revealed her true identity to the public.

“One of the greatest literary secrets of all time was exposed after an eagle-eyed blogger recognised the style in which the whisky blog had been written, and alerted Belle de Jour that the press were about to publish her real name.”

Dr Magnanti’s first two books, The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl, published in 2005 and The Further Adventures of a London Call Girl, published a year later, were both UK top ten best-sellers.

She was 34 years old and working as a research scientist, specialising in neurotoxicology and cancer epidemiology, at the Bristol Initiative for Research of Child Health, when her secret life was first exposed.

She admitted that she had spent 14 months as a prostitute in London, working with an escort agency, after she ran out of money during her studies.

She had been charging £300 an hour for her services and had slept with “between dozens and hundreds” of men.

A spokeswoman for the festival said: “She will be attending the festival to promote the delights of whisky, as well as launching a limited edition booklet featuring the original blog article she wrote.

“It will also feature her own drawings of botanical flowers, together with a fantastic insight into why she wrote the blog, and what living in Scotland means to her. It will be exclusively available at the festival.”

Belle de Jour’s blog had first become a hit on the internet in 2003. Her name – meaning “beauty of the day” – was the title of a 1920s novel and 1967 film starring Catherine Deneuve.

After revealing her true identity, Belle de Jour wrote in one of her final posts: “Belle and the person who wrote her had been apart too long. I had to bring them back together. It feels so much better on this side. I am a woman. I lived in London. I was a call girl.”

The festival is being staged at Bogbain Farm, south of Inverness, on 6 and 7 April.

All in a day’s work for Belle de Jour

‘He asked me to undress to underwear (bra, stockings with suspenders, knickers over suspenders – so the stockings could stay on during sex). Then he asked if I would undress him. That was when I noticed. The odd angle of his shoulders, his narrow chest, gouge-like scars. I didn’t ask. He asked me to swing his legs on to the bed, and when I did, I saw the walking sticks next to it. He enjoyed the sex.’

‘My ex, known here as the Boy, is a PC user. I am a Mac user. This week, in a misguided attempt to win me back, he posted a birthday gift – a 320-gig external hard drive with the entire digital record of our time together. Photos, videos, the lot. What do you think I found alongside the soppily renamed, weren’t-we-great-together rest? Only the Recycle Bin folder. Which he had neglected to empty. Oh, PC. You aren’t very clever, are you?’