For years her identity was one of the biggest secrets in the literary world, but earlier this month the real woman behind Belle De Jour was revealed. Tonight Dr Brooke Magnanti gives her only TV interview to The Book Show, check out our sneak preview of what's in store.
Dr Brooke Magnanti is Belle De Jour, the research scientist who moonlighted as the blogging world's most erudite prostitute.
It was in 2003 that the world first became aware of Belle De Jour, a witty and NSFW blog written by a high class call girl who chronicled her adventures under a pseudonym. Her accounts of doing unmentionable things to all manner of men for £300 per hour gathered a huge audience, led to two books and a TV spin-off, and set off a chase among the press to discover the true identity of Belle.
With the threat of an ex-boyfriend outing her, Brooke Magnanti, now working as a researcher in child health at Bristol University, revealed her true identity earlier this month and tonight she talks exclusively to Mariella Frostrup on The Book Show about her double life.
"The photographer that took photos for [the escort agencies] website, she really amused me," says Magnanti of her reasons for starting the blog. "She was very demanding; almost like something out of a domination/submission fantasy. I thought, I find this hilarious, but I can't really tell my friends about it, so thought it would be a funny story for other people to read. And that's why I kicked it off."
She also says she misses parts of her life as a call girl, which she gave up after 14 months having used it as a means of supplementing her income while studying for her PhD. "I miss the moment when you walk into a hotel and get that feeling of 'I'm about to do a job and I'm about to do it well'", she says.
Watch a clip below and then see the full interview this on Sky Arts 1/HD on Thu 26 Nov at 7pm.
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