But in this instance, there seems to be zero humility from the author, or any sort of inward looking acknowledgement of his behaviour. In fact, its portrayal of college party life is still imitated on campuses across the country: toga party, anyone? I had expected to not like James whilst reading this book as I had a preconceived idea that he was cocky and egotistical and whilst he does continually refer to himself as both these things throughout the book I rarely saw it reflected in his behaviour. He genuinely means that last bit: a life in magazines might have left Brown feeling like a “beaten up old car”, but he seems to be doing pretty great at the moment.

Life at Condé Nast was a culture shock for Brown – suddenly he was expected to schmooze at fashion events and shake hands with advertisers. Brown is generous in the book when it comes to the staff whose talents made the mag what it was: Jon Wilde’s interview skills, say, or Rowan Chernin’s loved-up club reports. Brown's very personal story is as moving as his tales of debauchery whilst running the country's premier 'lads' mag are hilarious.Loaded‘s unexpected success legitimised (and paid for) James’s lifestyle, and it wasn’t until he crashed and burned at GQ, and went through rehab, that any sense of perspective kicked in. James started out as a gobby, sugar-fuelled hyper-active kid selling his music fanzine Attack On Bzag at gigs up and down the UK. It was the biggest noise in the golden generation of magazine publishing, rocketing from zero to half a million sales in a matter of months. Loaded did not so much revolutionise magazine publishing as send it rocketing into outer space, strapped to a Champagne Supernova fuelled on high-octane audacity.

Throughout his childhood, she suffered mental health episodes that landed her in High Royds psychiatric hospital in Leeds.By 2007, the magazine was taking its staff on a straight pride march around London under the editorship of Martin Daubney, now deputy leader of Laurence Fox’s Reclaim party.

Anyone who has had the pleasure of seeing Jalen perform live knows that he is one of the most captivating performers on today's soul scene. In between, his mother died in tragic circumstances and gradually his own drug and alcohol use began to take over.

If I didn’t have a nine-year-old son, or if I actually lived with him and his mum, I would have moved to New York or Tokyo by now. If you do nothing, you will be auto-enrolled in our premium digital monthly subscription plan and retain complete access for 65 € per month.