«Red Top» by Bill Coles

Red Top has everything an aspiring reporter needs to know about newspaper journalism. Written in easily digestible bite-size chapters, the book is packed with extraordinary stories that explain what it’s really like to be a front-line reporter.

Included is a full breakdown on the two key skills of how to interview and how to dig up exclusives. Plus tips on dealing with the mad-masters, the editors; writing a news story; and what the hell to do when a libel writ comes thudding onto your desk.

Bill Coles has been a journalist for 25 years and was The Sun’s New York Correspondent, Political Correspondent and Royal Reporter. He has written for a huge variety of papers from The Wall Street Journal to the Mail, the Scotsman and Prima Baby Magazine.

He has also covered some of the world’s biggest news stories – as well as some of the most bizarre –

– Bill Clinton’s year-long sex scandal with his intern Monica Lewinsky.
– The Boston murder trial of the British nanny Louise Woodward (with five Sun front pages in a row).
– Buying $10,000 of lottery tickets in Miami
– A blind-date with Ivana Trump – in a stretch limo.
– Becoming one of Company magazine’s Bachelors of the Year.
– Flying from New York to the Inca trail in Peru – to eat a giant guinea-pig.
– Posing naked for a Sun centrefold – with nothing but a copy of The Sun to hide his modesty.