Lynn Barber has seen the lot. Across six decades as a celebrity interviewer, she's navigated a death threat*, a stand-off with a star best known for playing an amiable TV doctor and a wild animal at the dinner table. Now, a sticky conversation with Joan Collins and a run-in with the actress's 'dragon' PR has led Barber to a stark showbiz realisation. Barber tells Sky News: 'I'm not up for celebrity interviews any more.
In fact, despite working for a men's magazine, Barber says she was rarely propositioned on the job - barring 'one footballer I seem to remember in the 1960s'. Barber doesn't remember his name - or is too discreet to mention it. But the power dynamic of a young, female reporter interviewing older men is not lost on Barber. 'I think the way editors saw it, was send a pretty girl to do the interview, and then they'll be butter in her hands.