Australia’s gossip queen, Ros Reines, has released a juicy new book that has more than a few people’s ears pricked. Here’s why…
She is the social diary queen – one of Australia’s best known newspaper gossip columnists. Ros Reines knows the backstory to scandals before the key players do, and she attends the most exclusive social events and VIP parties, where the guest list includes the rich, famous, beautiful, and eccentric. So it’s no surprise that Ros, whose Guess Who, Don’t Sue column in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph newspaper is the first read by goss-lovers, has seen and heard a few stories of excess, champagne indulgences and debauchery in her time. Too much not to share. Her second novel, The Social Diary, is fiction and set among Sydney’s A-list in the Eighties. It reeks of ‘80s excess, gossip and glamour, with the central hero, Savannah, returning to her home-town, Sydney, to edit the newly created Social Diary newspaper section after a music journo stint in London. Not dissimilar to Ros’ own career path. We couldn’t help but grill the gossip girl herself and uncover a few more interesting real-life parallels. Are you ready?
Q. How did ‘Sydney society’ and readers respond to your first book, Gossip?
A. “Gossip was pretty well received considering that it was a little odd ball with the main action taking place in a self-help camp near Byron Bay. However, people kept asking me to write more novels, so I take that as a good sign.”
Q. How much of this book is based on real life characters and events?
A. “It’s a novel but there are many recognisable characters because a lot of the main players in the eighties were so OTT, you just couldn’t make up some of that stuff. However, I have often combined a couple of people into one character just for fun.”
Q. You mention the central character, Savannah, was the editor of the newly created Social Diary – “Her days are spent battling old fashioned newspaper colleagues, who frown upon the so-called ‘women’s pages’ and tut when her stories make front page splashes.” Is that what it was like in the eighties newsrooms?
A. “Yes, in the early eighties, no young women wanted to write only for the women’s pages. It was almost an embarrassment writing there and the only thing that saved it was the foodie revolution, when it suddenly became cool to write about food (nouvelle cuisine had come into Sydney with a vengeance). So food and soon fashion started to be considered as an art form. At the same time, parties became so extravagant that they required social writing that would do them justice, and not just fawning copy about people with double-barrel names who were there.”
Q. How does Savannah deal with the chauvinists? What advice would she give to young female journalists working in newsrooms?
A. “Savannah had no fear when it came to pushing herself to her limits to get a good story. She had returned from London where she had flirted with danger, trying to cover the Brixton riots, so when it came to the social scene she was dedicated to telling it like it is. At the time her motivation was to be taken seriously as a journalist, so it was always going to be about the story. There is still a degree of chauvinism in newsrooms but not nearly as bad as it was – this is because there are many more female editors, producers and executives. Mind you, some of them are tougher than men, but at least they’re pretty good at listening to the people who work for them. Savannah would tell all young reporters, male or female, that they have to work hard. Media is much more competitive than ever before, but there is much more scope to write and be published. When you write for a blog you are in direct communication with your readers. The only warning with that is that it’s crucial to check facts before anything is published, even in a blog – and always get both sides of the story.”
Q. Savannah’s thrown into a world of “expensive champagne at the biggest and best parties the city as to offer.” Tell us about the most decadent events and the debauchery…
A. “It was an eighties style wedding with the special vintage Krug flown in from France and a budget of around one million dollars.”
Q. How close to ‘real life’ was this?
A.“The eighties, especially around the time of the bicentenary, was the birth of big flashy parties. Sydney started its love affair with massive firework displays then, the champagne flowed and a small hill of caviar was served to guests at the most talked about events. In the eighties I went to perfume launches which were held in Point Piper mansions and at the end of the decade, the Cointreau Balls were held where socialites and celebrities were driven in limos to a secret location and feted all night long in the most lavishly appointed spaces.”
Q. Who are some of the ‘larger than life’ characters Savannah meets?
A. “A couple of my favourite characters in The Social Diary are couturier Laurence Lavin, who started out dressing burlesque dancers and made the transition to socialites, and the crazy former model Scarlet Graham, who is hell bent on a trail of destruction when she discovers her husband has cheated on her.”
Q. Back to real life… Who gives you your Guess Who, Don’t Sue tip-offs?
A. “We cover anything juicy in Guess Who, Don’t Sue – affairs, career moves, fights, outrageous behavior… All sorts of people call me with goss because it’s part of human nature – a lot of us are really bad at keeping secrets. Sometimes people stop me in the street and tell me things. Last week, I was appearing on live TV and a member of the audience stopped me afterwards and told me some eye-watering goss. I check everything out but tend not to write anything in the column that might hurt someone when it comes to actually naming people. I leave terminal illnesses alone as I think these should be kept private, unless the person really wants to put it out there that this is something that they are facing. I have an inbuilt Erk! Detector and if it goes off, I back off.”
The Social Diary by Ros Reines, published by Allen & Unwin, RRP $29.99, is available online and through all good bookstores.
ABOUT ROS REINES
Ros Reines is one of Australia’s best known gossip columnists. A former music journalist in London, she has worked for several newspapers in Sydney including The Sydney Morning Herald and currently writes a column for The Sunday Telegraph. The Social Diary is set among Sydney’s A-list in the Eighties, and is her second novel after the well-received Gossip in 2005. She is currently working on the sequel, set in the present day. She lives in Sydney’s ‘East’ with her young adult son.
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