Max Clifford will address the Oxford Media Society in Vaults & Garden, University Church at 8.30PM tomorrow (Wednesday 27th). All welcome: £2/event or £10/year. There will be free wine and nibbles, sponsored by WPP.
What do Marlon Brando, Jade Goody, Simon Cowell and The Beatles have in common? They've all been represented by the celebrity publicist Max Clifford. The "king of kiss-and-tell" and PR guru, Max claims to be responsible for 170 national newspaper front pages in the last 18 months and boasts that his company, Max Clifford Associates, has never had to pitch for business since its creation in 1970.
A media phenomenon, Clifford was born in 1943 into a poor family as the youngest of four siblings. Raised in London, he left his local secondary comprehensive at 15. His first job was at a department store in Wimbledon. As he admits, it was totally unsuitable for someone with his temperament and attitude to authority and he was soon sacked. Subsequently, he got a job through his brother's contacts as an editorial assistant at the Eagle comic but when the publication moved premises, Clifford took redundancy and started his journalist training with South London Press.
In 1962 Max left the world of journalism for the glitz of the pop world, joining EMI as a press and publicity man. As the youngest and the only trained journalist in a team of four, he was given the task to promote an unknown Liverpudlian group called The Beatles, including their first tour of the US.
At the age of 27, Max set up his own PR company, which redefined the industry. He fed numerous celebrity stories to journalists (most famously "Freddie Starr Ate My Hamster") and negotiated mountainous fees for "kiss-and-tell" revelations (Rebecca Loos and her affair with David Beckham). Although he is mostly famous for selling stories, he claims that the bulk of his work comes from damage containment.
Whether you love or loath this brand of media manipulation, there is no doubt that Clifford is its founder and chief practitioner. Come and hear him speak tomorrow and quiz him about his astonishing life in the media.
No comments:
Post a Comment