So what attracted you to the multi-millionaire…?

Sian Lloyd and new husbandWe often read about whirlwind celebrity marriages taking place in Hollywood, Pamela Anderson’s nuptials to Rick Salomon being a recent example, one that has already come close to breakdown.

This sort of thing doesn’t happen quite as often in the UK, so the news that ITV weather presenter Sian Lloyd has got hitched so quickly is a slight shock.

For those of who don’t keep up with Heat, OK or The Sun’s Bizarre column, Sian has just married racing-car boss and entrepreneur Jonathan Ashman after a relationship of just a few months.

You may remember that Sian stepped out with Lib Dem oddity Lembit Opik for a while, before they split and he transferred his allegiance to Cheeky Girl Gabriela Irmia – you couldn’t make it up.

Now I’m sure Sian and Jonathan are very much in love and they will have a long and happy life together, but one wonders what the haste to get spliced is.

Fortunately, given that there were only 7 people at the ceremony, we may be spared the technicolour glory of the marriage in the pages of OK or Hello.

Tony Blair bags a whopping cheque!

Mister Tony BlairSo Tony Blair is being paid a whopping £5m for his memoirs, covering his time in Parliament and the 10 years he spent as Prime Minister.

I know this is pretty run-of-the-mill stuff nowadays and many of these weighty tomes are successful. Bill Clinton’s autobiography, My Life, flew off the shelves when it was released in 2004, for example.

But it feels different for our esteemed former PM. Not only has his beloved wife recently revealed that she is going to publish her memoirs (probably before hubby), but we’ve already had diaries from the likes of Alistair Campbell and David Blunkett, both of whom were very close to Tony Blair, during his time in No.10, while John Prescott’s thoughts (unsurprisingly ghost-written by Hunter Davies) are coming out in June 2008.

Surely, there can’t be much more to read about that time, other than Tony’s night-time thoughts about his wife, or what he really thinks about George Bush. And, given that Blair is staying in the public eye with his new role as Middle East Go-Between, or whatever it is, he’s not going to want to say too much, for fear of looking a little silly at that next ambassador’s drinks reception, is he?

And what’s with the £5m? Are Random House mad? Do they genuinely think that they will sell enough copies of his book to justify that sort of money?

OK, so Bill Clinton got £6m, but that’s rare. I mean, Jerry Hall only got £1m, and I’d far rather read about her life with Mick Jagger, than I would Tony’s with Cherie and Gordon. wouldn’t you?

Who’s calling Christian for PR?

Christian O’ConnellVirgin Radio’s breakfast DJ Christian O’Connell is currently in the midst of his annual competition called ‘Who’s Calling Christian?’

The simple premise is getting members of the public to encourage celebrities to call in to the show and be entertaining. The winning celeb (voted for by the public) gets £20k for their charity, while the persuasive punter gets £20k for himself.

It’s a clever premise and one that O’Connell pioneered himself, but not on Virgin Radio. In fact, he started it some years ago, when he was on XFM and it was far more imaginatively titled ‘Bounty Hunter’.

In the days when it was on a ‘local’ radio station, the callers were usually very funny, spontaneous and simply willing to do it for a laugh.

The problem is, now it’s on a national radio station and is a successful format, it seems to be being abused by the celebs who ring up, desperate to get a plug in about their latest project.

In its early XFM days, one caller almost won when she got Dame Judi Dench to call up, having spotted her in the Returns department of Ikea in Croydon. Simple as that. Dame Judi was lovely to chat to and didn’t try to shoehorn her latest (probably Oscar-nominated) film into the conversation.

Now you just get the impression that agents invent friends or members of the public who then cajole the celebrity into calling up, all the while knowing that Mr O’Connell will almost inevitably ask the old chestnut: “So, what are you up to at the moment?”

Shame on you, Christian. I always thought you’d sold out when left XFM and now it’s pretty obvious you have!