A Hollywood Summer saga
How paps work , Issue 1503

IN THE fortnight since 24-year-old Summer Monteys-Fullam split from 53-year-old Great British Bake Off judge and walking mid-life crisis Paul Hollywood, after he asked her to sign a non-disclosure agreement requiring her not to reveal details of their relationship, an enormous number of articles have appeared in tabloids and online revealing details of their relationship.

Several of them have shared a curious characteristic. The five photographs accompanying the Sun’s 4 August scoop, that Monteys-Fullam took her dogs for a walk “after rowing about their custody”, all carried a credit which read “STRICTLY NO BYLINE”. A photograph of her loading suitcases into the back of a van on the Mirror website the following day carried an identical message.

“STRICTLY NO BYLINE” also appeared on a photo on the Mail website the same day, illustrating how Monteys-Fullam was “moving into her mother’s house”, and beneath another photograph of her which accompanied a 15 August Sun story detailing how she planned to sue Hollywood for defamation for his suggestion that she had been “making money selling stories and continuously courting the paps.”

Complete mystery
Why should the agencies which supplied several of the photographs, Flynet and their sister business Splash News, have come over so coy? After all, they have happily advertised themselves as taking photographs of Monteys-Fullam in the past, including several shots of her out shopping the day after Hollywood finalised his divorce in July, a series of snaps of her pulling him in for a kiss at Chester racecourse in May, and even what Flynet boasted were the “Exclusive first pictures of Paul Hollywood’s girlfriend Summer Monteys-Fullam seen out and about” in April 2018. It is a complete mystery.

If the name Flynet seems familiar, it may be because it is the agency which the Eye revealed in 2016 was paying a retainer to publicity-hungry Labour MP Simon Danczuk and his ex-wife Karen in return for regular tip-offs about when they might be doing anything worth photographing.

More top stories in the latest issue:

JET STEAM
The Sun joins in the fun berating eco warriors Harry and Meghan for their private jet habit – but what of the paper’s own enthusiasm for private flights?

HORSE’S MOUTH
Why Racing Post hasn’t had a word to say about the legal spat – and bizarre horse-trading – between Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed and his estranged wife.

A-LEVEL PLAYING FIELD
How the Telegraph’s Allison Pearson changed her tune markedly over Michael Gove’s tougher A levels as the reforms hit the columnist closer to home.

BETTING SLIPS
The Mail and Telegraph put the boot into Wayne Rooney for his tie-up with a betting firm – but both know all about ‘capitulating to the gambling giants’.

CAP IN HAND
Due to ‘cost pressures’ News UK hacks get a pay rise capped at 2%... but no one is banking on the top managers showing similar restraint this year.