Thankfully they're getting reeled in nowadays, with phone hacking scandals curtailing the excesses of the British tabloid press. But in 'The Journey Home' they are a constant threat and a drive force behind much of the action, through their potential if nothing else. It is the glare of public interest that Lewis needs to escape from, and consequently leads him on the journey that will ultimately take him home. But it is Gavin Strang who first feels their bite...
Gavin returned to The Savoy shortly after the match in the company of Emma and his two minders. They were pursued across London by a pack from the press: snapping dogs and bitches, who cared not a jot about the Wimbledon result. That was for the sports correspondents to write up - these newshounds had a different story to sniff out. As Gavin got out the car at the hotel, he was confronted by a gauntlet of quizzical growls and flashing innuendo - more intimidating by far than the stage-managed catwalk of a House Enemy’s exit. This was a premier event that he’d got himself caught up in - a star studded West End show that everybody wanted to see - not some provincial wannabe pantomime on an out of season run. Here was a beast that no one could tame - and it scared the living daylights out of him.