A NEW book by a retired print journalist lifts the lid on half a century of close encounters with so-called celebrities.

Multi award-winning writer Nic Outterside – who was editor at the Denbighshire Free Press between 2006 and 2013 - quit his 28 year career in newspaper and magazine journalism following a nervous breakdown in June that year.

His latest release - ‘The Man’s a Tart and Other Stories’ details his 50 year journey through life, meeting the famous and infamous, celebs and non celebs, lovable and poisonous, beautiful and ugly.

Denbighshire Free Press:

All the while peppered with unexpected communication breakdowns, weird reactions and audacious name-dropping along the way.

Among notable encounters are; the day Nic poured a large glass of whisky down former Prime Minister Edward Heath’s Savile Row suit, his “bite my tongue” interview with fellow PM Tony Blair, meeting musical hero Lou Reed in a London hotel lift, a fireside chat with his Olympic hero Steve Ovett and sharing sleeping arrangements with David Bowie’s former cohort Dana Gillespie.

The title of the book comes from Nic attending the wedding of a famous sporting star and mishearing another journalist’s description of the groom.

During his years as a journalist, Nic scooped more than a dozen major press awards, including Scottish Daily Journalist of the Year, Scottish Weekly Journalist of the Year, North of England Daily Journalist of the Year, and in 1994 was given a Judges’ Special Award for Investigative Journalism.

In 2015, he set up his own publishing house – Time is an Ocean – and his new book is his 13th paperback publication. Two earlier books – Death in Grimsby and Bones both became Amazon best-sellers.

Wolverhampton-based Nic said: “The idea for this book came to me earlier this year while piecing together material for my previous publication Contacts, which was a collection of 18 investigations I undertook as a reporter.

““Then while proofing the manuscript I realised how privileged I was to also enjoy so many light-hearted moments meeting and interviewing famous people during my life.

“In some ways The Man’s a Tart is a companion piece to Contacts, but it also a stand-alone romp through the funny and ridiculous."

The Man’s a Tart and Other Stories is now available worldwide both as large format paperback book (£8.99 on Amazon) and as a Kindle e-book (£4.99).