Tom Bower (1) (1946–)

Page-turning, well-researched, gossipy profile, focussing on how Charles raises money for his charities (largely by giving access to the wealthy). And his strained relationships with the rest of the family & the press.

I had always wondered why the Paul Burrell court case ended so abruptly with the Queen’s intercession, & Bower goes into detail about this, basically an attempt to shut down damaging gossip (it didn’t).

Fascinating read, Charles unfortunately comes across as yet another show more entitled Royalty, blissfully unaware of his own hypocrisy (banging on about the environment but refusing to lower himself to commercial airlines being one).

At the heart, Charles comes across as a man trying to do good, but lacking the insight & management skills to always get there. show less

Very very well written account of Meghan Markle- from indulged child and teen to seriously shallow but utterly self important social climber. And then the fateful hook up with the gullible Prince..
I guess we already knew a lot of this, but Tom Bower collates all the snippets, interviews those around her - and, indeed, gives us a good picture of her pre-Harry. Doria Ragland had a more troubled past than I'd realised. Meghan (and Harry)'s incandescent rage at OTHERS using the media to tell show more their story (while they themselves do so constantly); the "racism" card being - tediously- employed, when anything stands in her way, and the pair's delusion that they have Something Useful to share with the world (from their ivory tower of "mental illness" and virtue-signalling twaddle ) REALLY became evident.
Others have commented on Bower's saying little about the children. But there is a question of whether he might write a sequel as more facts emerge... show less

I found Revenge by Tom Bower absolutely fascinating. From the very first chapter, it pulled me in with its mix of royal drama, personal ambition, and the clash between tradition and modern life. I’ve followed the royal family for years, and this book gave me a side of the story that felt raw and unfiltered. Bower’s research is impressive, you can tell he dug deep into sources and tried to piece together what was really happening behind palace doors.

That said, it’s definitely not a show more light read. The tone can feel a bit sharp at times, and it’s clear that Bower doesn’t hold back in his judgments. Some sections felt more speculative than factual, and I occasionally wished for a bit more balance, especially when it came to Meghan’s perspective. Still, that’s part of what makes the book so gripping; it doesn’t try to sugarcoat anything, and it leaves you forming your own opinions about everyone involved.

Overall, I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone interested in the royal family, media influence, or modern celebrity culture. It’s bold, dramatic, and full of insight, even if you take some of it with a pinch of salt. Whether you love or question the Sussexes, this book will definitely make you see the royal world in a new light. show less

Tom Bower is a really good writer - I have another of his books, Broken Dreams, about corruption in Football, which i really enjoyed. I saw this book in a charity shop for a pound, saw it was written by Bower and thought "I bet that might be worth reading".

And it is. At the same time, its quite an annoying book. Why? The subject slightly, but more the egotistical, self absorbed and vain people that inhabit his world. Few (well, none, actually) come across with any redeeming features. Cheryl show more Cole, Paula Abdul, Will.I.Am, Louis Walsh (actually he's not quite as bad as some), Sinitta and his other exes that he keeps as friends by seemingly giving them houses, cars and holidays. All pretty unpleasant people more concerned with their own "status" and place in their gilded world. Even David Walliams in a brief cameo comes across as clingy and insecure and desperate for approval; Sometimes I just had to stop reading as some of the characters were coming across so badly.

Cowell is incredibly vain and insecure; also far too bothered about money than is healthy for anyone. Would I want even a small percentage of his money? Of course. Would I want to be that kind of person to get it, loaded with his vanity and insecurity? No... To be driven so much by the desire to make money and get revenge on business partners he felt had cheated him in some way, is ultimately pretty unhealthy. Success was not enough. Achievements were never enough - its always working on the next thing that interested him.

In his favour, he clearly works extremely hard at what he does and is very focused. He also likes dogs and supports many charities, so clearly he's not a "bad person". Does he give a tinker's cuss for anyone else? Not many people no. 1 example: he spent millions changing a multimillion dollar mansion in LA, upsetting his neighbours with months of disruption (while he lived elsewhere) and he's quoted as calling THEM the neighbours from hell because they dared to complain.

He seemingly has very few friends, preferring to confide in a small network of trusted exes and fellow rich people. Clearly he's very good at what he does - developing those talent shows - and at least for many years found it hard to delegate, so ended up working long long days. But he's also a master manipulator - constantly feeding nonsense stories to the press to improve ratings, while bending his press chums ears to keep out any unsavoury stories about him (bad publicity is only welcome if its on someone else, clearly) - at least until this book was originally published and serialised in the press. He also constantly seemed to engineer tension between the judges on his shows, as it makes "better tv". So while its not all fixed and scripted, its definitely engineered that way - the animosity is real.

Bower has gone to great lengths in his research - Cowell (to his credit) was well aware of the book and met with Bower several times to answer questions and agreed not to have any editorial say over the book at all - so fair play to him for that.

If you like X Factor or any of the *insert countryname*'s Got Talent shows, this is a great read on what goes on to put those shows together. They don't rely on people coming for auditions - they have teams scouring the country for likely possible people, who are then persuaded to come along for audition. They don't just rely on getting awful people in front of the camera - they work very hard to find people with the possible star quality as ultimately that gets the ratings up - and makes him far more money.

X Factor is a machine designed to find talent, that he and his companies can then sell to make millions. He doesn't have much to do with the winners - they're ultimately product and when they stop selling he doesn't give them a second thought. They make money too - but ultimately he and his companies make far more from them.

Fascinating book, well written and excruciatingly well researched. An eye opener into how shows like that are created - not just his but The Voice and other shows; all fake and manufactured, with contestants and audiences manipulated for maximum effect. And just how vain (and awful) tv people can be, however you see them come across in interviews. And how people with that much money live. And about Cowell himself. show less