Eithne has always wanted to achieve things young. She was first published aged 11, receiving £20 for a poem. At 21, she joined The Sunday Times, but took a break after a year to live in Paris and write.

Former EMI chief executive Jim Fifield today kept alive speculation that he might gatecrash an agreed £2.4bn (€1.8bn) takeover of the music giant.

EMI’s takeover by private equity firm Terra Firma survived a scare today after reports said a rival buy-out group planned to gatecrash the deal.

Marco Pierre White led a group of celebrity chefs today in forming a new venture to supply their branded products to supermarkets.