Viticulture

June 7th has been set as publication day for Jeremy Vine's memoirs, entitled "It's All News To Me", with the tag line "How I got trapped inside the BBC for 25 years".  How many BBC appearances will Jezzer make to whip up a storm of interest ?

I clearly don't understand modern publishing; the jacket price for the hardback is £18.99, yet it's available to pre-order on Amazon for just £9.50, or £9.99 on a Kindle. Jeremy is now with Simon & Schuster, but his two previous oeuvres were published by Hodder Christian Paperbacks. "The Whole World In My Hands", a novel about rival male and female vicars, is available from 1p secondhand, plus delivery - but should you want a mint copy, the price goes up to £127.95.

"Forget Heaven, Just Kiss Me", is from 1993, "The Rev Mark Empringham takes up a job as assistant vicar in one of the biggest churches in the country. Very soon, he is propelled into the top job and an elaborate web of deception, for he has a secret - he has no faith at all. But in the end, he encounters the God he has derided".  Again, it's yours, secondhand for 1p, but an untouched edition runs at £24.37.

• The cover endorsement of the memoirs is from Andrew Marr. "Witty, self-knowing, and sometimes delightlyfully acid", all good so far, "This is the ultimate insider's account of today's BBC" - is that ultimate as in brilliant, or most recent, Andy ? - "Jeremy Vine shows himself as good a writer as he is a broadcaster". So do you like the show, Mr Marr ?