Red Top

Red Top has everything an aspiring reporter needs to know about newspaper journalism. Written in easily digestible bite-size chapters, the book is packed with extraordinary stories that explain what it's really like to be a front-line reporter. Included is a full breakdown on the two key skills of how to interview and how to dig up exclusives. Plus tips on dealing with the mad-masters, the editors; writing a news story; and what the hell to do when a libel writ comes thudding onto your desk. Bill Coles has been a journalist for 25 years and was The Sun's New York Correspondent, Political Correspondent and Royal Reporter. He has written for a huge variety of papers from The Wall Street Journal to the Mail, the Scotsman and Prima Baby Magazine. He has also covered some of the world's biggest news stories - as well as some of the most bizarre -- Bill Clinton's year-long sex scandal with his intern Monica Lewinsky. - The Boston murder trial of the British nanny Louise Woodward (with five Sun front pages in a row). - Buying $10, 000 of lottery tickets in Miami- A blind-date with Ivana Trump - in a stretch limo. - Becoming one of Company magazine's Bachelors of the Year. - Flying from New York to the Inca trail in Peru - to eat a giant guinea-pig. - Posing naked for a Sun centrefold - with nothing but a copy of The Sun to hide his modesty.