No defence for book flop Cole

We get our padded envelopes from Poundland - you can guess how much they cost. So, every couple of weeks, I pop in to buy a basketful. Poundland also sell books - remainders returned to the publisher and sold on for pennies, basically to save the cost of pulping. This week, I noticed a very high profile book - 'My Defence' by Ashley Cole (RRP £18.99, now yours for - obviously - a pound).

According to The Guardian, Cole was paid an advance of £250,000 (The Sun says £500,000), yet his book sold just 4,000 copies. So 'love cheat' Cole (The Sun again), by my reckoning, must owe his publisher about £245,000. Of course, they won't ask for it back. That's the nature of big money celebrity advances, although surely the Ashley Cole 'affair' will have caused major publishers to think before splashing the big bucks.

But did I splash a quid and buy a copy? No. To obscurely quote Curb Your Enthusiasm, 'I'm with Cheryl!'

Paul