My Past Loves - January 2005

From The Star - Malaysia - January 25, 2005

GETTING NAOMI TO GRACE YOUR CATWALK

If you are ambitious and planning a fashion extravaganza, you might be wondering what it would cost to have, say, Naomi Campbell grace your catwalk. KEE HUA CHEE speaks to a modelling agent in London.

TO PAY RM570,000 for one model seems ridiculous until you realise that is the cost of just three haute couture gowns or one very elaborate wedding trousseau. A Hermes full crocodile Birkin or Kelly bag costs 100,000 euros (RM530,000) while a single ruby of incredible colour and fire from Cartier weighing 25 carat is still available at 10mil euros (RM53mil).

If you think paying RM570,000 just for Naomi Campbell to wear a minimum of three and a maximum of five of your dresses is extravagant enough, worse is to come. Her manager, Chris Owen, expects to be paid as well. “That US$150,000 (RM570,000) is for Naomi. My fee is 20% on top, which is US$30,000 so the total fee is US$180,000 (RM684,000).

You can continue holding your breath as RM684,000 is only for Campbell and Owen’s fees. “In addition, you have to pay for Naomi’s first-class return ticket from wherever she happens to be, usually London, New York or Milan. It must be the airline of her choice and not some grotty, no-frills carrier. Plus another four business-class tickets for her entourage of make-up artist, hairstylist, PR person and PA. That should be all unless she requests another first-class ticket for her boyfriend who might be accompanying her.”

The accommodation must be a suite for her and four superior rooms for her hangers-on in some snazzy five-star hotel like the Shangri-La or Mandarin Oriental lest you are thinking of your guest room. While it is safe to assume she eats like a bird, this need not apply to Dom Perignon or Moet & Chandon champagne. Mind you, her staff may not be on a diet. And it is going to be tough chasing after her in the lobby for unpaid phone calls, spa treatments and laundry.

“Since Naomi hardly hangs around South-East Asia, it will take a whole day to fly there and another day to return so you need to put her up for a couple of days,” continues the affable but matter-of-fact Owen whom I have known for seven years. “Really she needs to take four to five days off her working schedule.”

As Malaysia Airlines costs RM24,200 (first class) and RM16,200 (business class), that’s already RM 89,000. If the hotel bills add to another RM 15,000, the final sum will be around RM788,000.

“Her fee of US$150,000 is non-negotiable though if you are nice to me, my commission need not be 20%,” says Owen, grinning.

Fine. What if a Malaysian organiser/designer fits his fashion show to coincide with Naomi’s holiday. “Obviously if a Malaysian designer wants Naomi to model during London or Paris Fashion Week, that would be impossible as she would be committed to these important events. But if she is on holiday or in between work, maybe she can consider a, ahem, special deal?” I enquire innocently.

The wretched man almost falls off his chair with laughter. As he wipes mock tears from his eyes, he chuckles: “If you want Naomi or any supermodel to work during their time off, their fee is US$300,000 (RM1.14mil) – double their usual rates! These girls work back to back and guard their holidays jealously. Remember Linda Evangelista declaring she wouldn’t get out of bed for less than US$10,000 (RM38,000)? To get Naomi out of bed during her holiday will require US$300,000.

“It’s pointless harping on how expensive she is. That’s how market forces work. It’s supply and demand. If she gets this kind of money elsewhere, why should she settle for anything less in Malaysia? As far as she is concerned, if she models during, say The Star Fashion Week (sic), she will not get any more famous but The Star Fashion Week will benefit. She adds credibility, clout and prestige to the show and you can be assured of international coverage if she appears on the catwalk.”

If she appears on the catwalk?

Which brings up more caveats. Naomi Campbell does not have a reputation for being the easiest, sweetest and most chin-chai model to work with. Her tantrums are legendary. “Naomi will not simply wear any outfit you give her,” says Owen warily. “The clothes must fit her image as a sophisticated, worldly-wise girl. She models for the world’s top 20 designers and not small, unknown ones. I don’t think she will recognise any Malaysian designers however famous he may be in your country. If she doesn’t like the dress, she won’t wear it. Or if she thinks she doesn’t look good in it. Or if she thinks it doesn’t fit her to perfection.”

Obviously, it does not matter a hoot what the designer or the one signing her cheque thinks. It is what she thinks that counts. The outfits will have to be sent to her in advance for her to try and approve. “Naomi won’t wear outrageous, kinky designs or elaborate national costumes or bikinis or any outfit inconsistent with her position and image,” warns Owen. “No dodgy designers even if they pay.”

For payment, it’s cash upfront! The RM684,000 must be remitted into Campbell and Owen’s accounts before she tries on the clothes and boards the plane. Even Owen concedes it is a possibility she might “miss” her flight for whatever reason. “You will be refunded but your fashion show and gala will be ruined if the main attraction fails to turn up.”

As for other big names, Owen says: “Claudia Schiffer has just delivered a baby so she is out for the count. I know Christy Turlington won’t be interested. Ditto for Linda. Cindy Crawford may be available. Is Giselle big in Malaysia? Rachel Hunter will settle for US$100,000 (RM380,000) but you might as well get Holly Valance of Kiss Kiss fame for the same price. She sings, dances and can emcee your show. Her show comes with six dancers and road manager. Or how about Jennifer Love Hewitt the actress? She can be the MC for the whole series of shows for US$100,000. Excluding my commission, that is.”

Finally, there are the so-called “aristo” models – blue-blooded, genuine noblewomen born into royal or princely families. Eloise Anson is not only an aristocrat of the top drawer but also a debutante. So is Lady Victoria Hervey, daughter of the sixth Marquess of Bristol. One of the most photographed faces in London, she even has her own social column, Party Animal, in the (British) Sunday Times. Despite their noble pedigree, these aristocratic models are among the ‘cheapest’.

“Around ?10,000 (RM73,000) plus my 20% commission,” says Owen with a grin.

From The Toronto Star - January 22, 2005

THE WAGES OF TELEBRITY
He laughs all the way to the bank

by Rita Zekas

He's a household face.

You've seen him as The Giant Yellow Toothbrush railing against tooth decay and gingivitis on Listerine commercials and as the guy on the subway fantasizing about getting naked in those Tostitos ads. He's the dude in Molson Ex beer ads and the guy with the subversive laugh on the MSN Messenger commercials. He's plugged Halls, Nicorette and Kraft Dinner Easy Mac, the microwaveable meal in a box.

And now that he's getting raves on the CBC hockey comedy series The Tournament, people will be able to put a name, Christian Potenza, to the face, though everyone on the Montreal set of the series referred to him as "The Tostitos guy."

He has TV and film credits up the yin-yang: The Tuxedo, The Jimi Hendrix Story, Forever Mine, Mutant X, Degrassi: The Next Generation, The Famous Jett Jackson, La Femme Nikita and Riverdale.

He lives in Port Credit with his girlfriend, Becky, a model, and their seven-month-old daughter Teagan, which means "special little poet" in Welsh.

Q: Is Welsh in your roots?

A: No, I'm Scottish/Italian. I'm 32, born in Ottawa, moved to Tweed, Trenton, Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie. My dad's a bank manager and they stuck him in steel-mill towns to fix troubled banks. I'm like an air force brat moving every three years but we were in the financial army.

Q: How long have you been in Toronto?

A: Thirteen years. I moved here to do theatre school. I was 18, 19 and a lot went over my head. I partied. I wasn't retaining anything. I didn't want to learn to dance around in tights and learn Shakespeare. I quit in the third year; I fired myself and I went to the school of life. By this time, I was offered indie films and commercials. Then I landed a role in Riverdale.

Q: Can you make a good living doing commercials?

A: After the Receiver General, my agent and my lawyer get through I'm not left with much. I have enough to take cello lessons if I want and I don't have to wait tables and I can do indies and produce my own shorts.

Q: What are the downsides of commercial success?

A: I've worked with Billy Zane (in Jimi Hendrix) and I've punched out Jackie Chan (in Tuxedo) but everyone sees all the commercials and it's, "You're that guy!" Or "Oh, you're the `Let's get naked' guy" or "You're `The Toothbrush.'" I'm a telebrity. I'm "That Guy!" I'm that guy who lives for 30 seconds or 22 seconds at a time on every channel 24 hours a day. I get recognized everywhere I go.

It doesn't bother me but there are times when it gets a little too much. You're a target everywhere you go. I gotta get diapers and some guy says, "Hey buddy, do the (MSN) laugh." And if you don't, they get mad and think you're a jerk. I've been punched out. I had a guy on me all night long (at a bar) just bugging me. I was with the Toronto Rock, a lacrosse team. I learned something that night. When you say "You better watch it" and he says, "Go ahead, let's step outside," don't just walk away. He'll hit you twice as hard.

Becky and I are in North Bay, pulling into a gas station in a small town and it's "Hey, it's the Halls guy!" And you're signing autographs for the gas guy. At the hospital, she's delivering (the baby), I'm getting ice and the nurses want autographs.

Q: Why are you so successful? Is it your Everyman look?

A: I'm not ugly but not handsome. I'm not tall but I'm not short. I'm not fat and I'm not thin. The girls think I'm cute and the guys think I'm cool. The characters I play are not smart but not stupid.

Q: What kind of characters do you play in film and on TV?

A: My commercial characters are all based on comedy and most of my film and TV characters are dramatic. I started out with dark character roles: demented criminals and drug addicts. My commercial characters are non-linear, all based on one laugh. I walk into casting sessions for voice stuff and they just want to hear the laugh.

Q: But you got to punch Jackie Chan in Tuxedo.

A: Jennifer Love Hewitt was in it and I had a couple of scenes. It's the first on my reel --- how a pudgy white guy from Toronto punched out Jackie Chan and he kicks me. I'm bugging Jennifer and she presses his (custom made) tuxedo and that sends the tuxedo into kick mode. I do the laugh and I get kicked into a pool of snakes.

Q: Eeeeeew. Real snakes?

A: Real snakes and some rubber ones.

Q: What about stand-up?

A: I don't do stand-up. Everyone thinks I do. I thought about it but I wasn't committed to that crazy world. I love comedians and I hang out with them. All they do is PlayStation, watch porn and get high and cut each other up. They don't shut up.

Q: How did you get the Tournament gig?

A: I auditioned for the lead and they said I was too young. But the people in Montreal wanted to see me. . . . I put myself on tape and got a call back with the producer and director.

Originally, there were two hockey-dad parts and I'd only be in one episode. Would I take these two parts and combine them into one? I would have to work as a local (actor) and so I had to drive myself and my family to Montreal, pay my own way and stay in a motel. I got no per diem; when everyone else was going out for sushi, I was going home. I didn't care I make enough from commercials. I would do it all over again. I got to make up my own lines because the character didn't have any. But I go in for two lines and end up being in every scene.

Q: What's your character like?

A: I had to come up with his bio. His name is Doug. I don't even know his last name. He is Barry's (the lead character) kick dog. He is Ed Norton to his Ralph Kramden. Doug is a yes man, always there. I needed to kick it up a notch so I figured, let's make him drunk or hung-over. I play him semi-glassy-eyed and I always had a flask with me. I had a Vancouver Canuck hat (for wardrobe) so okay, he's from Kelowna. He meets this girl who is picking fruit in the Okanagan and he gets her pregnant on his lunch hour. He follows her here. He has a snowblower business and this year, he'll diversify and sell pumpkins and Christmas trees. I figured I'd keep talking until they said "don't" but they let me riff. The first day of my script there was no Doug and they wrote him as I progressed.

Q: What's the girl like?

A: You will never see this girl. She's like Maras in Frasier. We have the fat kid on the hockey team that can't skate.

Q: Did you base the character on anyone living or dead?

A: I based it on many people I grew up with. He's your hoser. He's "That guy."

Q: What do you want to do when you grow up?

A: I want to make a chopper bicycle shop for all the kids in the neighbourhood just so they can get into bikes and build their own bike. They can customize them, make them tough. I'm going to buy a bike.

Q: What do you have coming up?

A: I'm auditioning for pilots for the U.S. and I'm doing voice work. I do the cartoon 16 where I am a recurring character. I play Jude, the skater dude. All my voice work stuff involves the word "dude." I have the film King's Ransom with Jay Mohr opening, I'm also in talks with Discovery Canada for an upcoming show and I'm working on new projects through my company, Phodeo Productions. And I'm watching kid shows with my daughter.

From The Tennessean - January 22, 2005

HUT'S RECORDING DAYS HOLD
HISTORIC MUSICAL MOMENTS

by Peter Cooper
Staff Writer

Improvised studio produced No. 1 hits for almost 30 years

Music Row wasn't a row at all in 1956 when little Brenda Lee stared up at the building where she was about to make her first recordings.

''It was weird-looking to me,'' remembered Lee, now a member of the country and rock 'n' roll halls of fame. The place was a Quonset hut built for producer Owen Bradley and his guitar-slinging brother, Harold, and the structure's odd curves were disconcerting to the 11-year-old.

''It was strange on the outside,'' she said. ''But once I was inside it was so intimate and the sound was so great. That room was magic, and those walls have memories.''

Lee would record classics including I'm Sorry and Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree in that room, which opened in 1955 as ''Bradley Film and Recording Studios'' but quickly became known to musicians and music fans simply as the Quonset Hut.

A major factor in the development of Nashville's music industry, the Hut was the spot where Patsy Cline recorded Crazy; where George Jones sang He Stopped Loving Her Today; where Bob Dylan recorded his Blonde on Blonde, Nashville Skyline and John Wesley Harding albums; where Loretta Lynn made her first Nashville recording; where Ray Price committed his famously influential 4/4 country shuffle songs to tape; where Marty Robbins, Charlie Rich, Johnny Cash, Tammy Wynette and other luminaries raised their voices in song and altered the course of American popular music.

''I liked it out there, a lot,'' said Merle Haggard, who often recorded at the Hut in the 1970s. ''It was impossible for me not to be aware of the history of the place when I was recording there in the 1970s. When I walked in there, I always realized, 'Hey, this is where they cut I Fall To Pieces. If you're at all interested in country music, you know about the Quonset Hut.''

Sometimes falsely credited as the first recording studio on what is Music Row, the Hut was actually built behind a house at 1804 16th Ave. S. where the Bradleys had begun operating a studio in 1955. The studio was built in part to accommodate Decca recording artists, as Decca head man Paul Cohen promised he'd send his country artists to the Bradleys if they built a sufficient studio. In that house — which was long ago demolished — hit records including Gene Vincent's Be Bop-A-Lula and Gene Allison's You Can Make It If You Try were recorded.

Led by Owen, who held a 90% interest in the Bradleys' company, the brothers built the Quonset Hut with hopes of turning it into a film production studio. When the house's basement studio proved too small for some recording sessions, Owen Bradley began experimenting with the Hut for music production.

''The sound wasn't great when we first started there,'' said Harold Bradley, who now presides over the Nashville Association of Musicians union and who has played on more recording sessions than any other guitarist. ''The tile floor had a 'ping' to it. But they did a Stars of the Grand Ole Opry film there and put wood along the side. When they put the wood in there it evened out the sound to where it was fantastic.''

The Castle Recording Studio downtown was Nashville's first professional recording service and it helped establish Nashville as a prime spot to record country music. In 1956, as the Bradleys' Quonset Hut began to earn notice, Castle was shuttered and the Bradleys' studio was drawing artists including Lee, Robbins, Price and Eddy Arnold.

Other businesses' buildings — including RCA's famed facility now known as Studio B, which became the Hut's chief rival — sprang up in the area, and the Bradleys' business was the embryo of a part of town that now exists as the nerve center of the country music industry.

''It was such a great location that Owen picked,'' Harold Bradley said. ''You could be in town in five minutes. The area was not very expensive at the time, so you could buy houses or put up buildings.''

Columbia Records purchased the studio in 1962, but it remained open to artists not affiliated with Columbia. Owen Bradley continued to make classic records there, and Harold Bradley was among the ''A-Team'' of session players who helped define the ''Nashville Sound'' and who frequently recorded at the Quonset Hut. According to Hut engineer/producer Lou Bradley (no relation to Owen and Harold), Columbia initially considered knocking down the unsightly metal building, but outcry from the music community caused the company to connect its headquarters to the Hut rather than destroy the studio.

Country music wasn't all that was made at the Hut, and the A-Team was versatile enough to play on albums for pop and R&B artists as well. Bobby Vinton's Blue Velvet was among the big pop hits recorded at the Quonset Hut, and Harold Bradley recalls playing at the Hut in sessions for Connie Francis, Dusty Springfield, former Drifter Clyde McPhatter and others, and Bob Dylan recorded several albums.

Later, Columbia added another studio upstairs, where string sections often were recorded. Producer Billy Sherrill kept an office at Columbia, and mixing and mastering facilities throughout the building ensured that the label headquarters bustled with activity.

''It was amazing back then,'' said Margie Hunt of Sony/BMG, who has worked in the building since 1976.

''You'd walk down one hall and bump into Marty Robbins, then you'd go down the next hall and bump into Johnny Cash.''

Harold Bradley and Brenda Lee recalled the days when Kris Kristofferson worked in the building as a janitor, with Bradley remembering that the musicians would curse the future Country Music Hall of Famer for not keeping the studio coffee pots filled.

''Bad janitor, good writer,'' Bradley said.

Columbia stopped making records in the Quonset Hut in 1982, and John Anderson's Swingin' was the final No. 1 hit recorded there. After that, the label's Creative Services department was housed in the Hut.

''I was in there not too long ago and there was a girl in the art department that had a cubicle, there in the Quonset Hut,'' said Lou Bradley. ''She had Patsy Cline pictures all over the wall. I said, 'If you're a Patsy Cline fan, come with me.' I walked her just a few feet away and said, 'That's where Patsy Cline stood and sang, right there.''

Most of George Jones' greatest musical moments were captured in the Quonset Hut, and Jones is concerned that the history-drenched building could fall into uncaring hands.

''It's a shame if they can't keep it up as a shrine,'' Jones said. ''More hits have come out of there than anybody's ever known. Tear the whole d—n building down, but leave the Quonset Hut alone.''

Jones is not alone in his assessment of the Hut: WSM-AM air personality and country music historian Eddie Stubbs shares his concern.

''A state marker should be in front of that building,'' Stubbs said. ''For those of us who know and understand and love Nashville music, that site is sacred.''

Who recorded in the Hut?

Between 1952 and 1982, a who's who of country and popular music artists used Owen Bradley's Quonset Hut recording studio on 16th Avenue, now known as Music Row. Here is a partial list of artists who recorded there:

Roy Acuff

Bill Anderson	Lynn Anderson
Eddy Arnold	Bobby Blue Bland
Bobby Bare	Harold Bradley
Owen Bradley	Anita Bryant
JJ Cale	Johnny Cash
Ray Charles	Patsy Cline
Elvis Costello	Floyd Cramer
Jimmy Dean	Bob Dylan
Ferrante & Teicher	Dan Fogelberg
Connie Francis	Hank Garland
Bobby Goldsboro	Lloyd Green
Merle Haggard	Bobby Helms
Buddy Holly	Johnny Horton
Burl Ives	The Jordanaires
George Jones	Stonewall Jackson
Merle Kilgore	Kris Kristofferson
Brenda Lee	Loretta Lynn
Barbara Mandrell	Jimmy Martin
Charlie McCoy	Clyde McPhatter
Roger Miller	Bill Monroe
Bob Moore	Willie Nelson
Buck Owens	Johnny Paycheck
Peaches & Herb	Carl Perkins
Webb Pierce	Ray Price
Johnny Ray	REO Speedwagon
Marty Robbins	Jim Reeves
Charlie Rich	Leon Russell
Billy Sherrill	Simon & Garfunkel
Dusty Springfield	Mel Tillis
Ernest Tubb	Conway Twitty
Bobby Vinton	Kitty Wells
Andy Williams	Hank Williams Jr.
Johnny & Edgar Winter	Tammy Wynette

SOURCES: Sony Music Nashville Archives, Harold Bradley Session Books And Staff Reports

From The Times UK - January 10, 2005

MUSICIAN WHO IS WISE TO THE SCORE

Subject: DEBBIE WISEMAN

MBE 2004. Composer and conductor, film and television scores, since 1984; b 10 May 1963; d of Paul Wiseman and Barbara Wiseman; m 1987, Tony Wharmby. Educ: Henrietta Barnett Sch.; Trinity Coll. of Music, London (Saturday Exhbnr); Kingsway-Princeton Morley Coll., London; GSMD (GGSM 1984). Film scores include: Tom and Viv, 1994; Haunted, 1995; Wilde, 1997; Lighthouse, 1998; Tom’s Midnight Garden, 1999; Before You Go, 2002; Freeze Frame, 2004; Ars?ne Lupin, 2004; television scores include: The Good Guys, 1992-93; Warriors, 2000; Judge John Deed, 2001-04; My Uncle Silas, 2001; Othello, 2001; He Knew He Was Right, 2004. Vis. Prof., Composition for Screen course, RCM, 1998-. Recreation: swimming. FORTUNATELY for her neighbours, Debbie Wiseman lives in a detached house. When she is on deadline with a film score she is tied to her Yamaha piano and her bank of keyboards, sampling machines and synthesisers, night after night, all night. Her composing room is not a soundproofed studio but an area off her living room; however melodious her tinklings, they might not seem quite so appealing at 4am.

Wiseman, 41, is one of the very few women composers to have cracked Hollywood: she lives behind security gates in a large house in Highgate, with an indoor swimming pool and a sleek sports car in the drive. The only person who might be disturbed by her nocturnal composing is her husband, Tony, who helps her with the technical side of her work and is “so used to it that it doesn’t bother him anymore”.

Wiseman, whose numerous film scores include those for Tom & Viv (starring Willem Dafoe and Miranda Richardson) and Wilde (Stephen Fry and Jude Law), was appointed MBE by the Queen last year.

She started learning the piano aged eight in her North London home. She found that playing was “completely natural” and by the age of 13 she had passed Grade 8. She was a Saturday Exhibitioner at Trinity College of Music and then studied formal composition at the Guidhall School of Music and Drama. Here she learnt her most valuable lesson: “write something every day to keep your creative juices flowing, even if it is rubbish and you throw it out.

If I don’t do that I feel really odd.”

After college she sent out 100 cassettes to directors and producers and, months later, received one positive response from a director making a film about the miners’ strike for Channel 4. She hasn’t looked back. Tom & Viv was her first feature film score and she has composed about 150 others for film and television. Her favourite is “the last one I have finished”. She has just written the music for two forthcoming movies, The Wedding Date and The Truth About Love, starring Jennifer Love Hewitt.

She believes the music in a film “is very important because it’s the one thing that gets right to your heart. It’s a wonderful communicator. You believe the music. Nothing much may be happening on screen but the music may be very tense and so you know that something horrible is going to happen.”

She often visits a set while the film is being shot and has meetings with the directors, but starts working in earnest only when an almost completed copy of the film is available. She had to write the music for Wilde in three and a half weeks. “I was writing all day and night to get it finished.” she says. “But the adrenalin gets you going to get it done. And that’s when you produce the best work.”

However, as she works away beneath the gaze of a Beethoven portrait and framed posters of films she has scored, she has learnt “never to get too emotionally tied to a piece”. Scenes or sequences are frequently cut or scrapped entirely. It often takes her a while to second guess exactly what is in a director’s head. “Sometimes I write a theme for a character that I think is perfect and the director doesn’t think it is right and says ‘can you try something else?’ ” Composing is all-consuming. “Even when I’m not actually at the piano — I’m out for dinner or going for a walk or in the car — I’m still working on it. Friends must wonder why I’m staring into space on occasion.”

She says it is true that women composers of film scores are a minority. “But I’ve never found it a problem at all. There are few women for the same reason that there are very few women directors and camera people.” She doesn’t know what that reason is.

“For me the best thing of all is when I have written a piece of music, the moment before I hear it played beautifully by an orchestra for the first time. It’s a huge buzz and the pressure is off.”

Star sign: Aries. (According to the zodiac, not an ideal match for Delta's Scorpio.) 1/10

Relationship history: formerly married to ex-Atomic Kitten Kerry Katona. They have two daughters. (Has demonstrated commitment, albeit shortlived.) 7/10

Favourite food: McDonald's. (Simple tastes don't promise exciting dining and could make travel to exotic places difficult.) 4/10

Favourite film: Titanic. (Soppy chick-flick a winner with young women and their mums.) 9/10

His ideal woman: Jennifer Love Hewitt. (Unusual choice.) 5/10

Claim to fame: sings, plays guitar and piano and was voted Dad of the Year in Britain in 2003. (Shared interests a plus, with added benefit of good family values. Danger of competition coming between the pair.) 9/10

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS

Age: 28. (Maybe we're just being protective, but a little too old for Delta, we think.) 7/10

Born: Melbourne, Australia. (Common upbringing, but nothing exciting there.) 7/10

Height: 193cm. (Who can't resist a tall strapping lad?) 9/10

Tattoos: Alexander the Great tattoo on his right arm. (At least there's some meaning to it.) 8/10

Star sign: Scorpio. (Both Scorpios, the rules of the zodiac say the pair were likely to fall wildly in love but not a good match.) 1/10

Relationship history: has had reported flings with a series of famous women, particularly "It" girls Paris Hilton and Tara Reid. New addition to the arm is American model/actor Alexis Barbara. (Not good material for the folks at all.) 3/10

Favourite food: Spaghetti with chicken mince, but also loves Japanese and Chinese. (Points for not being afraid to try new things.) 8/10

Favourite film: Jerry Lewis movies, Point Break and other action movies. (A tad macho, which could make video night a little dull for the woman in his life.) 6/10

His ideal woman: Who knows. 5/10

Claim to fame: has a serve like a scud missile and used to be a top 10-ranked tennis player.

Last year, his tennis took second place to seducing pretty young things, driving very fast cars and even faster motorbikes.

(Official rating: Not boyfriend material!) 1/10