Reg hack beats 'Belle de Jour' sex rap
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Posted in Bootnotes, 16th November 2009 14:45 GMT
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A Reg hack breathed a huge sigh of relief this weekend, as the self-unmasking of Belle de Jour finally refuted allegations by newspapers that he was a blogger.
In 2004 The Independent repeated claims in the Evening Standard diary that following his career as an expensive prostitute, Andrew Orlowski had abandoned his morals to write the Diary of a London Call Girl blog.
"Mr Orlowski has a record of cultured sex writing on the internet," wrote Jonathan Brown, confidently putting our man in the frame.
"Yesterday, however, he was not taking any calls," Brown added, sounding a note of suspicion.
As a result, El Reg's US bureau was staked out by paparazzi.
Orlowski took to these pages to deny the allegations, saying "to be accused of being a whore is one thing, but to be accused of being a weblogger is actionable".
But the stigma of suspected blogging followed Orlowski until yesterday, when Dr Brooke Magnanti, a Bristol research scientist, outed herself in The Sunday Times.
Today our man, who is rarely mistaken for Billie Piper, declined to comment from his North London brothel. ®
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