Status anxiety

Me in Who’s Who? Until I see the 2008 edition, I’ll assume it’s a hoax

8 December 2007

Toby Young wonders if he really is a someone now

When the letter arrived last April I thought it was a joke. ‘Dear Sir,’ it began. ‘On behalf of the publishers A & C Black, I am very pleased to invite you to compile an entry for the forthcoming edition of Who’s Who . . .’

Was this a cruel prank being perpetrated by the editors of the Guardian’s G2 section? In a couple of weeks’ time, the ‘entry’ I had submitted would appear alongside those of other ‘luminaries’ they had gulled into playing along such as Jordan and Vernon Kay. This unforgivable act of vanity would then haunt me for years to come, with my father-in-law producing the article every Christmas Day and reading out the ‘entry’ to my extended family. After much hilarity, he would return the article to his pocket and say, ‘Maybe next year, Tobes.’

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Herbert Thornton

December 6th, 2007 5:07pm Report this comment

What a delightful piece.

From now on I shall try to turn dinner party conversation to the same topic, hoping that somebody will then ask me whether Who's Who have ever suggested my being included.

I shall then put on a slightly puzzled expression and say -"Oh, I really wouldn't remember. Whenever that sort of thing arrives, I just throw it in the waste paper basket."

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