Auteur OJ

When in May 1995 I swam ashore to Bainbridge from the snakehead sampan, I was in total ignorance of one OJ Simpson and was bemused and curious at the front page treatment given to an athlete born under sunnier skies.

I caught up quick.

Being a booksy sort of chap, I noted that OJ had scribbled a few lines for some wide-boy publisher and looked forward to tracking its progress.

When the National Inquirer first reported on OJ's "If I Did It" chef d'oeuvre, legal eagle Yale Galanter (great name!) commented helpfully that,

"[he] is not writing a book. We haven't been paid 35 cents, much less $3.5 million" and "if anyone comes out with such a book, I'll go on every talk show and call it crap."

Eh bien, it seems that certain folks were economic with the truth, not least of whom Regan Books' fierce PR suprema, Suzanne Wickham.

I'm trying to put in context yesterday's announcement from Fox and Regan that they will air a two-part interview with Simpson and then release his book at the end of this month.

Silly retailers not having the balls to take Galanter at his initial word.