NEWS OF THE WORLD - ORIGINAL COPY (not the story they ran in the end)

APRIL 13 TH 1997

EXCLUSIVE – COVER STORY

Telly star Clive James cheated on his wife with a busty blonde pop star, the News of the World can reveal today.

The tubby chat show host seduced former ABC vocalist Fiona Russell Powell with lashings of Aussie plonk – and ready-made diet meals.

Now angry beauty Fiona, 34, is threatening to sue Princess Di's close pal James, claiming he wrote about her troubled life in one of his popular novels.

“I feel hurt, angry and betrayed”, fumed Fiona who alleges she features as one of his main characters in his fictional novel called Brrm! Brrm!

“To open up a book and see all your private life there for every Tom, Dick and Harry to read really shocked me.

“Okay, so he changed my name but all my friends immediately knew it was me. How dare he do such a thing?”

“He has taken advantage of me and been making money out of me without my permission.”

Former wild child Fiona, whose friends include Boy George and actor Rupert Everett, met father of two James, 57, after quitting pop band ABC who had a string of hits including The Look Of Love and Poison Arrow.

But she continued living the rock and roll life style blowing all her money on cocaine and heroin.

In between drug binges, she began a new career as a writer and started doing a round of showbiz interviews.

She claimed she and James who has been married to his wife Prudence for 25 years clicked immediately falling into bed together at his flat in London's Barbican on their second meeting.

“We went straight to bed. He walked round to pick me up because he only lived nearby. He didn't drive then anyway although I think Stirling Moss gave him lessons.

“I remember he tried to put a condom on but he put it on inside out and threw it away”, she recalled.

“I was surprised because he knew I was living this really wild lifestyle and that I took coke and heroin and must have been a risk. I think he was excited by it, I was dangerous.”

She went on: “For the next few months when he was in town he wined and dined me. We were totally up for it but as for the sex he was pretty boring and conventional.

“But after the first night with Clive I certainly wasn't impressed.

“I wasn't satisfied as a woman that night. No way.

“For all his talk about not leaving a woman alone until she was totally satisfied...well...He didn't live up to his boasts. He couldn't seem to tell when a woman had climaxed or not.

“I wrote down in my diary that he was ‘adequate' as a lover. At the time I made a note saying he was a performer, he followed the script and afterwards I felt as if I ought to award him points. As far as I was concerned it was his ego that was all consuming not his passion.”

“As far as sex goes he is Mr Missionary position. And throughout the relationship he had the same routine in bed that he stuck to. He would give me oral sex then get on top in the missionary position.

“He didn't like me to take the lead with sex. He was old fashioned in that way. And to be honest I didn't really try. He turned me on mentally but not physically. He had a hairy chest, a bald head and it was very funny when I was feeling his body and I would suddenly hit this hideous chrome-dome at the top. It brings you back to reality.

“He was quite vain and took himself seriously despite his jokey image. Once I made a faux-pas and made a comment about a bald bloke.

“Clive said: ‘Not bald darling, just follicly-challenged.'

“We only used to do it once a night. And after we did it he would collapse like a whale snoring at my side.”

Acid-tongued wit James has become a household name with shows like Sunday Night Clive, Review of the Year and the popular Postcard series.

And Fiona said she gave him a secret code name called Mr Willoughby which he used to use when he left messages for her on her answer machine.

“He thought it was the Mr Willoughby in one of Jane Austin's novels but really I made it up from the name of the block of flats where he lives.”

Fiona admitted she had to turn to a younger man to satisfy her when James was abroad on assignments.

“With Clive, it was real standard, sort of meat and potato stuff. But I also had a very good-looking boyfriend who sorted me out in that department. When Clive went off on his trips I certainly wasn't an angel.”

She said she often used to turn up at his flat after a night on the town and he would pay for her taxi.

And she revealed he did have a big thing about her boobs.

“He had this thing about my breasts, he liked to look at them. He was very fond of turning all the lights off when the moon was out and getting me to sit on the sofa.

“Then he'd pull my jumper up to show my breasts and he would go and stand opposite me staring.

“I would be sitting there drinking or whatever. I thought it was a bit of a fetish. It happened quite a few times. He never said anything, he just used to put some opera on.

“Sometimes he'd want sex after that but it never improved.

“It was always in the bedroom. I used to try to stay downstairs for as long as possible. That room was just the sex room. When he was on his own he told me he used to sleep downstairs.”

Fiona said James lives in a comfy flat, split into three stages on a top floor in the Barbican.

She said he had a big balcony and two bedrooms, one with a single bed near his study, and a double bed at the top which had a large arch-shaped skylight.

She said it was fairly Spartan with ordinary furniture but the bathroom had a large bottle of expensive Joy perfume which apparently belonged to his wife.

In the mornings she usually had a bath and he always wanted to join her.

“It would have been like getting into a bath with a hippo, he was so overweight. I never let him get in with me because I knew it would have meant I would have to **** him again. Anyway, I'm never at my best in the mornings so he used to content himself with washing my back and my tits with soap. Actually, he was very gentle and he was quite good at it.

“He's a very talented and intellectual bloke but I believe all this sophisticated stuff is all a front. Underneath he is such an unreconstructed male. He's what you'd expect a typical bloke from Australia to be like. He loves sheilas with big tits.”

However, she admitted she enjoyed his entertaining company and revealed he was desperate to get a knighthood 10 years ago.

“It was his biggest ambition – and he seemed to think it would only be a matter of time.

“Clive was a great person to talk to. He really is a very interesting and cultivated man. A good brain turns me on. I like that so I get off on that. I also love to learn new stuff all the time and all his behind the scenes stories were great. I suppose if you've got someone flattering you and telling you you're brilliant you can fall for it. And I did. Hook line and sinker.

“I did enjoy the affection but the novelty wore off after five months. He was very touchy feely and enjoyed cuddling me. When I walked through the door he would put his arm around me and keep it round me when we sat down on his sofa.

“He would always make jokes about me dressing up in stockings, suspenders and high heels – really corny stuff. But I never did it. I just used to laugh at him.”

She went on: “He is actually quite a good cook but he never used to cook properly because he was always trying to diet. I think LWT told him he had to lose weight. They even bought him a membership to a local gym. So he used to make Lean Cuisine dinners. He used to slit the bags open with his own pudgy hands and put them out on a plate.

“I used to go round regularly and he'd do the whole bit, candles and opera playing in the background.”

But Fiona said she needed to get drunk before getting her kit off. “I never ever slept with him straight, could you?

“It's something a girl wants to forget really but I can't. I used to drink loads and sometimes even take sleeping pills to make me feel woozy. I used to think the sex was better then.”

She also revealed that James used to phone her constantly and leave love messages from all over the world.

“In the end I got sick of him calling, he was like a little puppy dog. I stopped answering my phone and used to leave the answer machine on.”

Fiona kept some of his messages in which he declares his love for her on several occasions.

1. Hello darling, it's Clive. I'll be going out about 7.30 if you could call me before I'd appreciate it. I want to hear your voice and make sure you're OK. Kiss kiss.

2. Are you there Fiona? Not even your machine sounds as if it's there. It's Clive. Just to tell you that I hope you are alive and well and happy and I am working away – I'll call you again soon.

3. Just wanted to hear your voice, hope you are well and happy. I'll try and ring you later. This is 3pm on Tuesday.

4. Hello, it's Mr Willoughby (a pet name she made up for him). I'm here working at the moment and back in town. I'm glad to hear your voice, which probably means that you are alive and well and I'll try and get in touch with you later. It sounds as if you are up and working. That's terrific news, great. Kiss Kiss (blows another kiss down the phone)

5. Hello, it's Mr Willoughby, it's 6.40. I'm going to be held up, I don't know when I'm going to get back. I've got an important meeting. And, err, so may be...I hope you get this message. If you've gone to my place and could not raise me and you're hearing this message now I can only apologise. Give me a call but not too late.

6. It's Mr Willoughby at twenty past eight. I'm terribly sorry. I hope you have not called on my door and been turned away disappointed. There was a meeting I just couldn't get out of...All sort of high-powered things going on and I was fretting and straining...I'm going to spend the evening working now and I hope you drop in on me. If you don't, I understand.

7. Hello sweet, it's Mr Willoughby in France. Just to say the sun is shining but there are no waves. I'm getting suntanned and writing a book. Missing hearing your voice. I hope you are well. Kiss, kiss.

8. Hello Fiona, it's Mr Willoughby at about ten to nine. I've been tied up all day and now I've got to sit up all night and try to finish my commentary for my documentary before I fly to Australia in the morning so I'll try and give you a call from the airport or call you from Australia or as soon as I get back. Be good, stay well. I miss you.

9. I'm back from Australia but I've got a terrible cold so I'm laid up. I'll call you when I'm feeling a little bit better and I hope to see you. I hope you are well – I've been well though I must confess. Je t'adore.

10. Mr Willoughby – I'm extremely busy today and I'm doing a big show. I just want you to know I'm thinking of you. I'll call you tomorrow.

11. ...I'm trying to control my sadness that Stephen (Fiona's flatmate) has disappeared. I hope you will give me a call some time because I am having quite a lot of difficulty getting in touch with you because you are out and about a lot. I hope you are busy and active and I adore you.

Fiona said James, who appears on the Clive James Show tonight, told her he had always carried a torch for brainy women and liked feminist Germaine Greer who he said went to university with him.

“He really admires brainy women – I think it's a control power thing as well. He seems to like the challenge; if he can have a brainy woman it is even better.”

Fiona and James eventually lost contact after she turned up very drunk at his flat in the early hours, saying he was furious that she had brought the taxi driver to the flat with her so he could pay the fare. James told her that she would have to lay low for a while as he was sure the taxi driver had recognised him.

Four years later, friends called her pointing out she appeared to be the subject of his latest fiction novel.

“I never bought the book and hoped it would all go away. But people keep bringing it up even now and I've had enough.”

Hitting out over the similarities in his book she fumed: “When Clive knew me I had bleached blonde hair and always wore pale foundation with bright red lipstick. I was, and still am, well-built, though curvy with large breasts. I have large eyes, extremely pale skin and very good small perfect teeth. I also have scars from slash marks on my arms.

“When he first met me, I was dressed all in black in tight black Jean Paul Gaultier trousers and a black cashmere jumper.”

In the novel Brrm! Brrm!, published in 1991 and re-issued two years later under the title ‘The Man From Japan' Clive James' heroine was called Jane Austen and his hero Suzuki.

On page 20 he wrote of ‘Jane': ‘Her spiky blonde hair was not a creation. It was an accident. It not only looked dyed, it looked dead.'

‘In a ghostly white face her large eyes were black rimmed.'

He continued: ‘Her mouth, painted crimson hung open as if she had to breathe through it. The teeth inside were the neatest thing about her...though her black T-shirt looked as if it might be covering very large breasts. A baggy black jacket, too heavy for a fine late winter day like this, covered the black T-shirt.

‘If the trousers had been baggy also, the ensemble might have looked intentional like something of a good Japanese designer.'

Fiona continued: “I trusted Clive with my deepest secrets. I told him that I had been a troubled teenager and how I had attempted suicide and cut my arms with a scalpel. I also told him I used heroin and cocaine.

“I can never forgive him for using those details in his book.”

On page 30 of his book Clive wrote: “When she was getting off the drugs, she (Jane) explained she had attempted suicide once or twice. Suzuki had already noticed her wrists. With her jacket removed her body had revealed itself to be built on a substantial scale. He had been right about her breasts. They filled out her T-shirt in an impressive manner. Her wrists however were the focus of his eyes. On her white skin the scars were brown like faded ink. They reflected her character by going in six different directions.”

Fiona said: “I lived, and still live, in a one-bedroom council flat near the Barbican station, at the junction of Aldersgate Street and Old Street, near City Road. My street is a narrow one-way street next to a warehouse of photographers' studios. My block is 11 storeys high. We have a metal entry phone panel and the lift is all metal with walls and a metal bark effect.”

On pages 25-26 of his book Clive wrote of his heroine: ‘Consulting his A to Z, he found that the girl had not been lying when she said she lived within walking distance...Suzuki walked up Aldersgate Street past the Barbican station and turned left at the crossroads. The address was a high-rise building in a narrow street behind City Road, next to a warehouse full of photographers' studios. There was a scarred metal panel of entryphone buttons.'

Fiona said: “I was a freelance journalist, writing for The Face, Blitz and I-D, among others. I went on to write for Arena. I was also in the pop group ABC, using the name Eden while I continued writing.”

On pages 29 to 30, Clive wrote: ‘...he was ordered to sit down on the bed whereupon he was supplied with copies of the magazines in which articles by Jane Austen had appeared. Apparently, her real name was Jane Osmond but she had changed it for professional reasons. Before becoming a writer she had been with a pop group which according to her testimony had been quite famous. As far as he could tell her articles were written with inside knowledge and some fluency but the magazines to which they had been contributed were for that part of the youth market where titles like Face, Blitz, ID and Arena covered the same few subjects at once...'

The similarities do not end there. Fiona says she was adopted and brought up in Sheffield before she returned to London as a teen runaway following arguments with her parents. She also counts Rupert Everett among her friends and found it amusing that James was intensely jealous of her friendship with the actor. In his book, Clive writes that the Jane Austen character was adopted but ran away from her home in the North because she couldn't get on with her parents. Also, Jane's best friend is a bisexual actor and pop star.

TV star James denies that he based the heroine of his book on Fiona. But he admitted: “Well, the slash marks I have to admit that I borrowed that, yes.”

He insisted in a taped phone call (in which he asked if was he being taped) : “I didn't base any character on anybody Fiona. Look, I'm sorry you're upset but the character is not you. The character is a character.”

But he admitted using some of her characteristics saying: “It's not you in that book, it's someone called Jane Austen. You've got the same hair and the same wrists and that's it.”

Last week James left a message on Fiona's answering machine saying he could no longer talk to her because of the threat of legal action. He said: “The only thing I can say privately is that, if your chief concern is about your reputation and you see yourself in this character, the book has not been in print now since 1995 and it's a sleeping dog and from that angle it would be best to leave it lie.

“But that's all I can say at the moment. I'm sorry honey but there it is so do what you think best.”

However, a stunned Fiona bought copies of ‘Brrm! Brrm!' and ‘The Man From Japan' from West End bookstores a day later.