Posted: Wednesday 20th August 2008

The Celeb Diaries is the story of the inexorable rise of this thing called celebrity - and Mark Frith has had a ringside seat. With unprecedented access to some of the biggest stars and most sensational stories of recent years, he is now, for first time ever, opening up his diaries. As Editor of celebrity bible Heat magazine, Frith has had firsthand experience on the rise and rise of celebrity.

The Celeb Diaries is addictive reading, as Frith lifts the lid on the UK's celebrity culture and the celebrities who inhabit it - some more reluctant than others. Packed with first-hand anecdotes and insight and quotes from actors, musicians, singers, politicians and the stars of reality TV - this is how celebrities don't want to be seen. And there's nothing they can do about it.

Written in diary form, the book covers eight explosive years from 2000 onwards as Frith takes up the reins at a magazine that was just two months away from closure with weekly sales of only 38,000 copies. Frith was tasked with turning round the magazine's fortunes and given the (seemingly impossible) mission of getting sales above 100,000 copies a week.

He did it by sweet-talking Victoria Beckham into giving them an interview, stealing a Robbie Williams exclusive from another magazine and trying every (dirty) trick in the book. But it didn't stop there. As the celebrity obsession took hold and became big business, sales soared past 200,000 then 300,000 before topping half a million a week. Heat won every award going in the world of magazines, and Frith even got to present his own TV series.

Frith has seen celebrity grow into the decade's biggest obsession. He was there when the cracks began appearing in a certain mega-celeb marriage. He knew TV presenters were going to be fired before they did. One world-famous pop star wanted children with him - but had to settle for having her picture taken on his shoulders. Another world-class star wanted him dead. TV presenters screamed at him down the phone and his arch-enemy, in the form of an A-list Hollywood actor, very nearly managed to run him over with his car.

Because of Heat magazine's outspoken nature, Frith and his team found themselves in the news too and very frequently in the firing line - from celebrities, other members of the press and even politicians. Not before too long, Heat became a magazine other people wrote about.

His journey through celebrity has been an incredible ride and the book reveals all on what it's like to work in a fast-paced office, and run a magazine hailed by many as the ‘celebrity bible'; the characters who work there, the people who pass through Heat Towers, the arguments, the great times and the moments when everything stops as some disgruntled famous person calls in to complain. The Celeb Diaries is set to be the inside story of the celebrity decade.