Darryn Lyons (born 19 August 1965) is an Australian paparazzo, media personality and entrepreneur, best known for his work in Britain.

Early life[link]

Lyons' grew up in a "cathedral-like" house, designed by his father who was an architect, in Melbourne, Victoria.^[1]

Career[link]

Born in Geelong, Victoria on 19 August 1965, Lyons graduated from Geelong East Technical School, then began work as a professional photographer at the Geelong News and Geelong Advertiser. At the age of 22, he moved to London, where he gained a job at News of the World after a chance meeting with Rupert Murdoch. Two years later, he left to take a position with the Daily Mail, for whom he provided coverage of the Bosnian War.^[2]

In 1992, Lyons founded the picture company Big Pictures, which supplies paparazzi-style photography for news organizations. He gained widespread media attention when his company sold a photograph to News of the World, which was used to support a claim that football star David Beckham was having an affair with his personal assistant Rebecca Loos.^[3]

In 2005 he appeared in the Australian version of the TV show Dragons' Den. Despite the show's success overseas, the Australian show suffered from low ratings and was promptly cancelled.

In 2011, he became a housemate in the UK version of Celebrity Big Brother on Channel 5. He entered the house on 18 August 2011 and left during the final night on 8 September. He came in 6th place.

Media[link]

Lyons often appears on radio and television programmes to speak about celebrities and news coverage of them. He has a slot every Monday morning on LK Today called Caught On Camera where he talks about the latest celebrity news and pictures. He was one of the five "business experts" on the Australian reality television program Dragons' Den, which went for one season and ended in 2005, and featured on the fly on the wall television series called Paparazzi about Lyons and Big Pictures.^[4]

He stars in a weekly online and mobile Mr Paparazzi Show, produced by Big Pictures Productions.^[5] Each one is approximately 5 minutes in duration and is available for viewing on the Mr Paparazzi website. He has recently appeared in the reality television show Deadline as a picture-editor along with editor-in-chief Janet Street-Porter. The show saw ten celebrities producing their own celebrity-based magazine, where Lyons would have to teach them to use a high-tech camera. On 9 May 2007, Lyons appeared on British television show Through the Keyhole. In 2007 Lyons also appeared on 'Tycoon' which was produced and developed by Peter Jones.

He was also featured in an episode of Top Gear, season 16 episode 2, in which he had control of the throttle and brake pedal, but not the steering wheel, of a double car race in an automotive variant of "Ashes".^[6] He dyed his hair the colors and pattern of the Australian flag for the event.

Darryn participated in Celebrity Big Brother 2011 (UK). Within a few days of entering the house, Darryn unveiled his cosmetically altered 'sixpack' which has caused much media coverage for being "sculpted six pack seemingly implanted atop his generous gut".^[7] He came 6th in Celebrity Big Brother 2011.

In 2012 Darryn was a contestant in Excess Baggage Australia.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Darryn Lyons at the Internet Movie Database
• Big Pictures - Celebrity Stock Photos "Big Pictures", Lyons's company.
• Mr Paparazzi - Celebrity Gossip for Mr Paparazzi's celebrity blog

Ajay Rochester (born in 1969 in Sydney) is an Australian actress and author. She was the host of the Australian version of reality weight-loss television series The Biggest Loser which she hosted between 2006 and 2009.

Family and personal life[link]

Rochester was adopted as a child, and was emotionally and physically abused by her adoptive mother. She located her birth mother in 1992 after years of searching, although her mother committed suicide a year later.^[1]

Rochester has a son Kai, he was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome at the age of five.^[1] She was engaged to British-born telecommunications manager Martin Gleave, but called off the wedding and ended the relationship in August 2007.^[2]

Weight loss work[link]

Rochester suffered from obesity, which she attributed to the death of her birth mother and her estrangement from her adoptive mother. She resolved to lose weight following the birth of her child, and shed over 50 kilograms since giving birth.^[1]

Since then, she has been involved in several weight loss projects, most notably hosting The Biggest Loser on Network Ten. She founded a website, "The Healthy Body Club", and authored the books Confessions of a Reformed Dieter, Blubberguts and The Lazy Girl's Guide to Losing Weight and Getting Fit.^[3]

Ironically, Rochester has joined a Weight Loss Reality Show as a contestant, Excess Baggage which broadcasts from January 2012. After leaving Biggest Loser she gained some weight, and has admitted she used to starve herself to keep her presenting job. ^[4]

Other television work[link]

Rochester appeared on the reality television series Celebrity Dog School with her Pomeranian, "Bootsie".^[5]

Rochester was also the co-host of 'Mum's The Word' on the SBSTV series.^[6]

In April 2012 Rochester appeared on a US television show bagging out an Australian city, Canberra, where she had spent little time, causing considerable hurt, and egging actor Guy Pearce to do the same. Guy Pearce later apologised for his abuse in an open letter to Canberrans. Ajay Rochester has not apologised.

Charity work[link]

Rochester is the ambassador for the Eating Disorders Foundation. She has worked with The Make A Wish Foundation and is an advocate for breast cancer research lending her time to multiple breast cancer charities including the Field of Women and BCNA. Rochester is also the face and ambassador for Triathlonpink.com and walked the Great Wall of China to raise funds to build the Olivia Newton John Wellness Centre.^[7]

Short film work[link]

In the late 1990s, Rochester also co-wrote and produced several short films while she was working the comedy circuits in Australia. Her 1998 Film BruiZer won the best short at the Scenefest Short Film Festival and was the runner up at the Brisbane Schlock-fest Film festival.^[8] She also had a weekly comedy segment on AM Adelaide on Channel 7.

Early acting work[link]

Rochester started her career as an actress in the film To Make A Killing. Her next film was The Crossing, which starred Russell Crowe.^[9]

Best-selling books[link]

Rochester's first book 'Confessions of Reformed Dieter' is now in its third print run.^[10] She then wrote a children's book: "Blubberguts".^[11] In 2005, Rochester's book 'Lazy Girl's Guide to Losing Weight and Getting Fit' was published by Random House and made the Sydney Morning Herald top five best seller list.^[12] Her first book 'Confessions of a Reformed Dieter' was nominated for an Audie award for most inspirational talking book – bestowed annually in the USA for outstanding audiobooks but was beaten by Dr Phil's 'The Ultimate Weight Solution'. 'Confessions' was also published in Thailand, UK, Canada and is about to be released by Random House UK as an E book available on iTunes and Kindle. Her most recent books were published by New Holland publishing and are "The 5 Minute Diet book' and a recipe book called 'Food you love'. Ajay is now living and working in the USA and working on her latest books to be published there and is currently represented by literary agent Jennifer Unter from The Unter Agency in New York. Her next book, which she says will be her final weight loss book is titled Been There Done Fat (tm) and the other work in progress is a book on her son's autism called "Coming to the rescue".

Fraud charges[link]

In June 2008, Rochester was due to appear in a Sydney court to face nine charges of receiving a financial advantage from a Commonwealth entity and fourteen charges of dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage, namely claiming a single parent payment between December 2001 and December 2005, for which (it was alleged) that she was not entitled. On 8 July she pled not guilty,^[13] based on a technicality. The matter was stood down until 9 September 2008. She later pled guilty to a reduced 14 counts of being overpaid. Her lawyer told Downing Centre Local Court that she had paid back all of the overpayment well before the court case ever eventuated, which averaged out to be an overpayment of $70 per week over 5 years of payments to which she was entitled. Ajay was given a 12-month good behaviour bond and no conviction was recorded. ^[14]

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Official Webpage of Ajay Rochester
• Ajay's personal blog
• Ajay's Club for women looking to lose weight and change their lives
• Ajay Rochester at the Internet Movie Database

Sally Morgan (born 20 September 1951^{[citation needed]} and also known by her stage name Psychic Sally) is a British television and stage artist and author who claims to have psychic abilities.

Career[link]

Morgan alleges that she had her first psychic experiences aged nine months, and saw her first ghost aged 4. Later, she turned what she saw as a psychic talent into a career as a professional medium.

Morgan has appeared on the ITV2 programme Sally Morgan: Star Psychic, Sky Bio channel programme The Psychic Life of Sally Morgan, as well as the Sky Living programme Psychic Sally: On the Road, of which (as of 2011) there have been three series.^[1] The series have also been released on DVD, along with Psychic Sally's Big Fat Operation, which was also broadcast on Living.

Morgan has also authored a number of books: Life After Death (2011), Healing Spirits (2009) and the autobiographical My Psychic Life (2008).^[2]

Controversy[link]

Before Morgan did a reading for Big Brother winner Brian Dowling on ITV2 in 2007, she claimed she did not know him.^[3] In fact, she had done a prior reading for him in 2005 as reported in the News of the World.^[4] Regarding this she later said in a 2008 article for The Independent that "I did it because the director told me to".^[5]

During a show in Dublin, Ireland in September 2011, Sally Morgan was accused of receiving information about her audience members from an offstage confederate, which she then repeated in her "psychic readings". Following a show at the Grand Canal Theatre, several callers to radio network RTE reported that they had overheard a male voice relaying information to Sally from the control room at the rear of the theatre. A caller said, "The first half of the show went really well but when the second half started we could clearly hear a man's voice coming from the window behind us. Everything he said, the psychic would say 10 seconds later. It was as if she was having the information relayed to her."^{[6][7][8][9][10]} Sally Morgan responded to The Guardian's report on her web site denying the involvement of all Grand Canal Theatre employees and stating that her head microphone was a one-way device.^[11]

The Merseyside Skeptics Society and Simon Singh promoted a test of Sally's psychic abilities, set for 31 October 2011.^[12][13] Morgan did not attend.

Mentalist Derren Brown states that it is possible that Morgan is being honest and not receiving hot-readings from her staff. He believes that psychics, just like your plumber and doctor, should be checked to see if they have passed their exams and their credentials examined. He hopes that Morgan will agree to be tested, and that if she passes she will work with scientists to "advance our race, help us find peace amongst ourselves and understand the nature of eternity, rather than merely pass on bland condolences or upsetting revelations from the Other Side."^[14][15]

Magician Paul Zenon writing for the Mail Online states that stage psychics use cold reading and Internet tools like Google maps to fool audiences into parting with their money. He writes "if ... performers like Sally Morgan aren't actually talking to the dead, then I think the public has a right to know".^[16] Citing "substantial damage to her reputation, as well as hurt, distress and embarrassment" Morgan sued Associated Newspapers for £150,000 over Zenon's September 22, 2011 article.^[17] JREF President, D.J. Grothe, writing for The Huffington Post, states that he wonders why she would sue for £150,000 when she can prove her ability by winning JREF's "Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge"? "It makes one wonder if even Sally Morgan believes that Sally Morgan's powers are real."^[18]

In a Guardian article Simon Singh describes an incident in which Sally Morgan gave a reading to two members of the audience, Drew McAdam and his wife Elizabeth. The reading described a man called Toby who had died in an explosion. However, prior to the show, Drew and his wife say they fed Sally this information by emailing her website and leaving notes in a box provided in the foyer for so-called "love-letters". Toby was also a fictional character who died in an explosion in the 1970s BBC drama, Doomwatch.^[19]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Sally Morgan website
• Sally Morgan at the Internet Movie Database

Richard Quest
Quest volunteering with Habitat for Humanity in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 2007
Born	Richard Austin Quest (1962-03-09) 9 March 1962 (age 50) Liverpool, United Kingdom
Education	University of Leeds Vanderbilt University
Occupation	Journalist
Notable credit(s)	Business International and Quest Means Business.

Richard Austin Quest (born 9 March 1962) is an English journalist and a CNN International anchor and reporter based in London. He anchors Quest Means Business. In addition to anchoring the five-times-weekly business program, Quest hosts the monthly program Business Traveller.^[1] He formerly anchored the monthly show Quest and the daily show CNN Today which was geared towards morning audiences in Europe.

Early life[link]

Quest is a native of Liverpool, England, having been born and partly raised there. He was educated at the state comprehensive Roundhay School in Leeds, followed by Airedale and Wharfedale College and University of Leeds, where he studied law, taking his degree in 1983 (Law LLB Hons.), and was called to the Bar.^[1] He had already gained broadcast experience when he spent the 1983–84 academic year at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. As news director for campus radio station WRVU, he built the reporting staff from scratch.

Journalism career[link]

Quest interviews Stuckist artist Ella Guru at Spectrum London gallery, 2006

Quest and Lisa Neideffer of WRVU-FM broadcasting at Vanderbilt University, 1984

Quest then became a trainee journalist at the BBC in 1985, joining their financial section in 1987, and moving to New York City in 1989 to become their North America business correspondent.

Quest later worked for the BBC from the USA as part of their then fledgling BBC News 24 channel. He was their business correspondent reporting on, and discussing the world stock market in a regular segment entitled World Business Report usually aired between 2:00 and 3:00 a.m. (GMT), a programme that he presented alongside Paddy O'Connell. He was also an occasional presenter on the BBC's early morning Business Breakfast programme.

Quest joined CNN in 2001 for the launch of Business International. Since this time Quest has covered a variety of different events for CNN, amongst others an analysis of the U.S. elections as American Quest and the start of the circulation of euro banknotes and coins on 1 January 2002 and the last official commercial flight of Concorde. He has also headed up CNN’s coverage of several events involving the British Royal Family.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Richard Quest at the Internet Movie Database
• CNN staff biography
• CNN Business Traveller
• CNN Quest