• Issue 2
• The Making Of

I swear I saw Brad Pitt today: he was eating a bagel outside The Fish Shop on St John's Street.

 Let me first of all explain that I am not one that goes ga-ga for celebrities. I don't read celebrity mags, I don't know celebrity trivia (except for what I'll mention below), and I have never requested an autograph.

But this was friggin' Brad Pitt. I was riding my bike and I glanced to the left and just before I passed, it was a reflex, a reaction, in my head: "Oh, that's Brad Pitt". People of his status are just as recognisable  as close friends and family. Then I thought, "Whoa....photo-op for London Book Project".

I turned around a few minutes later and all I could think is, "how fast does Brad Pitt eat a bagel...please still be there...really, how fast does he eat a bagel?"  Unfortunately, he was gone but the question persisted.

Here's my shortlist (and their odds of winning) of celebrities who could eat a bagel the fastest:

-Brad Pitt (3-1)

In most movies he has at least three scenes of him eating due to those extraordinary jaws of his. For that reason he's blessed physically but people are actually filming him and coaching him on his eating - that's practice and practice matters.

-Gordon Brown (4-1)

The dude looks like he practices. His only real weakness would be once the eating contest begins he may feel inclined to say why he belongs there, how far he's come, how grateful he is, and how he has learned to eat bagels from his mento Tony Blair.

-Jade Goody (8-1)

If she can avoid making anti-semitic remarks regarding the eating fare then her mouth is large enough to drive a bus through.