Back to the studio. PR are there. The team. Gered's gang.Richard E is busy fiddling with the Thing. And The Thing looks even better. Mary McCartney turns up and does some very intriguing photography business, which gets even better after Bill and his majordomo Karen arrive and begin to build a relationship with the Thing. I occasionally find myself in the line of Mary's fire and do my best to look seigneurial, while holding my stomach in. But overall there is a great atmosphere and Bill seems happy enough with the Thing to do some novelty shots standing over, sitting in front of, and eventually lying in the Thing. The consummate professional. He's done this a million times before.

As the pound sterling signs flick past my eyes like one of those "calendar caught in the wind" sequences which films noir used to denote the rapid passing of time, I reach the conclusion that at least if everybody is happy with this situation then the book, and its cover, if not my career, is going to be a hit.

What will Sales and Marketing, PR, UK Publishing, International Sales et al make of it? The question remains, is it the Real Thing?