Front Row has been keeping some questionable company this past week, shooting the breeze with writer Howard Marks during his lecturing visit to Cork. After the hot-cakes sales of Mr Nice, his pacy autobiography of dope-dealing and global intrigue, Marks tells us he's putting pen to paper once more. "But I'm not quite sure what it's going to be," he says. "It's not like I think I have a novel in me, there isn't a beast lurking in the cupboard."

It seems the public appetite for celebrities of indiscretion is insatiable, with Marks revealing he is about to undertake a 40 date tour of the UK, starting in the Shepherd's Bush Empire late in November. A one-man show, it will feature questions and answers and DJ-provided music, and might eventually wind up here. "A pop star at last!" beamed the boyish Welsh rogue, before popping off to Killarney for some much-needed R and R.