Belle de Jour (writer)

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Belle de Jour
Born Brooke Magnanti
Occupation Research scientist, blogger, former call girl
Notable work(s) The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl
Official website

Dr Brooke Magnanti is a research scientist, blogger and writer, who, until her identity was revealed in November 2009, was known by the pen name Belle de Jour.[1] While completing her doctoral studies, between 2003 and 2004, Magnanti supported her income by working as a London call girl. Her diary, published as the anonymous blog Belle de Jour: Diary of a London Call Girl became increasingly popular, as speculation surrounded the identity of Belle de Jour, and whether the diary was even real. Remaining anonymous, Magnanti went on to have her experiences published, as The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl in 2005 and The Further Adventures of a London Call Girl in 2006. In 2007, Belle's blogs and books were adapted into a television series Secret Diary of a Call Girl, starring Billie Piper as Belle, with the real name Hannah Baxter. Having also written as a newspaper columnist, Belle also moved into fiction publishing. In November 2009, reportedly fearing an ex-boyfriend was about to reveal her real identity, Magnanti revealed to a newspaper her real name and current occupation as a researcher in child health at Bristol University.

Contents

[edit] Identity

[edit] Pseudonym

Her pseudonym recalls the 1928 novel Belle de jour by Joseph Kessel and the 1967 film of the same name starring Catherine Deneuve, directed by Luis Buñuel. In French "Belle de Jour" is an expression translating literally as "beauty of [the] day," as opposed to "femme de nuit" or "belle de nuit," women of the night (common references to prostitutes). "Belle de jour" is a play on the phrase, possibly a reference to the daylight rendezvous made by some call girls, including Belle de Jour herself.

There was speculation in the media for several years as to the real identity of the author, whether Belle really was a call girl and whether her diary entries were based on fact or entirely fictitious. Guesses as to who Belle was ranged from Rowan Pelling to Toby Young according to The Telegraph.[2]

According to The Guardian a fellow British blogger guessed her identity in 2003 but kept it secret. He made a page on his blog containing the googlewhack of Belle de Jour and Brooke Magnanti that allowed him to see if anyone googled the two names. In 2009 he identified IP addresses originating from Associated Newspapers that had accessed the page at which point he contacted Brooke to alert her.[3]

[edit] Revelation of identity

On 15 November 2009, The Sunday Times revealed in an interview that Dr Brooke Magnanti is the author's real name.[4] Magnanti was 34 years of age at the time she disclosed her identity and had blonde hair.[2] The Guardian's Paul Gallagher described it as the revelation of "one of the best kept literary secrets of the decade".[5] The Daily Telegraph's Stephen Adams said it had been "the new millennium's equivalent of the 1980s' search for the golden hare".[2] The Washington Post's Paul Carr wondered if The Times had forced her to give her story like it had done with his friend Zoe Margolis, writer of the Girl with a One-Track Mind blog, in 2006.[6] Such was the nature of the secret, Magnanti's work colleagues did not know until one month before she went public, her publishers had been unaware of her true identity until the previous week and her parents only found out about her past on that very weekend.[5][2][7] Even after signing her first book deal and starting writing articles for newspapers, only two other people became aware of her true identity. Namely her agent Patrick Walsh and her accountant, who handled the financial transactions via a shell account.[8][9] Magnanti commented that she had thought a former boyfriend was on the verge of outing her.[10][7]

Writing on her blog on the day of the revelation, Magnanti stated:

It feels so much better on this side. Not to have to tell lies, hide things from the people I care about. To be able to defend what my experience of sex work is like to all the sceptics and doubters. Anonymity had a purpose then - it will always have a reason to exist, for writers whose work is too damaging or too controversial to put their names on[10]

A spokesperson for Bristol University stated "This aspect of Dr Magnanti's past is not relevant to her current role at the university", while her publisher said "It's a courageous decision for Belle de Jour to come forward with her true identity and we support her decision to do so".[10]

[edit] Career

[edit] Diary of a London Call Girl

Magnanti says she worked for 14 months as a £300-an-hour prostitute for a London escort agency in 2003, while she was writing her PhD thesis.[5][5][2] She did so due to lack of funds during her studies at the University of Sheffield in 2003.[2]

Her story found its way onto a blog,[5] having previously been a science blogger.[5] Diary of a London Call Girl was voted Blog of the Year by The Guardian newspaper in 2003.[11]

[edit] Later work

Belle has always maintained that she is who she claims to be and her publisher, Orion Books, continues to print her first two books as part of its "Non Fiction/Memoir" line.[12] Her third book, however, has been classified as fiction and purports to represent a fictional continuation from the first two. From November 2005 until May 2006, Belle contributed a regular column in The Sunday Telegraph.[13]

[edit] Scientist

After her pseudonymous publishing career Belle was identified as a research associate in developmental neurotoxicology and cancer epidemiology at the Bristol Initiative for Research of Child Health (BIRCH), part of Bristol University's Centre for Nanoscience and Quantum Information. Specifically she has researched a possible link between the occurrence of thyroid cancer in women in Cumbria and fallout from Chernobyl in Ukraine and also the policies for assessing the risks of organophosphates.[5][14]

[edit] Novelist

Belle is currently writing a novel,[5] due to be published in 2012.[9]

[edit] Secret Diary of a Call Girl

A television series loosely based on the first book was in development with Channel 4 in the UK, but eventually aired on ITV2 as Secret Diary of a Call Girl. The first series aired from 27 September 2007 to 15 November, 2007 starring Billie Piper as Hannah Baxter (Belle). It is now being shown in the USA on Showtime. The second series commenced broadcasting in the UK on ITV2 on 11 September 2008.

The third series is scheduled to be broadcast in the UK in 2009 and will also be shown in North America.

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Belle de Jour". Orion Books. http://www.orionbooks.co.uk/11455-0/author-Belle-de-Jour.htm. Retrieved 21 November 2007. 
  2. ^ a b c d e f Stephen Adams (15 November 2009). "Belle de Jour author unmask herself amid 'perfect storm' of feelings". The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/6573504/Belle-de-Jour-author-unmask-herself-amid-perfect-storm-of-feelings.html. Retrieved 15 November 2009. 
  3. ^ Addley, Esther (18 November 2009). "I guessed Belle de Jour's identity, blogger reveals". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/nov/18/belle-de-jour-identity-secret. Retrieved 2009-11-18. 
  4. ^ India Knight (15 November 2009). "I'm Belle de Jour". The Sunday Times (Times Newspapers). http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article6917495.ece. Retrieved 15 November 2009. 
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Gallagher, Paul (15 November 2009). "Scientist announces that she is call girl and blogger Belle de Jour". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/nov/15/belle-de-jour-blogger-prostitute. Retrieved 15 November 2009. 
  6. ^ Paul Carr (14 November 2009). "NSFW: 'Tis Pity She's A Success ? Belle de Jour and the Impossibility of Anonymous Blogging". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/15/AR2009111500111.html. Retrieved 14 November 2009. 
  7. ^ a b "Belle de Jour lifts her veil". CBC News. 15 November 2009. http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2009/11/15/belledejour-prostitute-magnanti.html. Retrieved 15 November 2009. 
  8. ^ Ryan Hagen: A Few Questions for Belle de Jour, Call Girl and Scientist - Freakonomics blog (accessed 2009-11-21)
  9. ^ a b Arifa Akbar (16 November 2009). "Exposed: The most intimate secret of erotic blogger". The New Zealand Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10609564. Retrieved 16 November 2009. 
  10. ^ a b c "Belle de Jour drops her anonymity". BBC. 15 November 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8361557.stm. Retrieved 15 November 2009. 
  11. ^ "British Blog Awards 2003". Guardian Unlimited. http://technology.guardian.co.uk/online/weblogs/story/0,14024,1108883,00.html. Retrieved 21 November 2007. 
  12. ^ "The Intimate Adventures Of A London Call Girl". Orion Books. http://www.orionbooks.co.uk/MP-42688/The-Intimate-Adventures-Of-A-London-Call-Girl.htm. Retrieved 21 November 2007. 
  13. ^ "Belle de Jour - Diary of a London Call Girl". http://belledejour-uk.blogspot.com/. Retrieved 23 June 2008. 
  14. ^ Rowan Hooper (20 November 2009). "Belle de Jour: On science and prostitution". New Scientist. http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2009/11/belle-de-jour-on-science-and-prostitution.php. 

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belle_de_Jour_(writer)"