For decades my name was synonymous with Sydney gossip. I became quite nimble at stepping into places I wasn’t welcome

At the dawn of my career as a tabloid gossip columnist, I rang Lachlan Murdoch’s office to inquire whether he was still engaged to Kate Harbin. The two had met at Princeton but I’d heard the relationship was not progressing. Anticipating a “no comment”, I started mapping out my story and was startled to pick up the phone to an unfailingly polite Lachlan Murdoch himself. The 24-year-old confirmed the engagement was off.

Flustered, I urgently tried to summon the right etiquette for the call before awkwardly commiserating with him and probing what had gone wrong. Perhaps it was the distance?