Sharon Marshall

JOURNALIST Sharon Marshall might hobnob with the rich and famous and have a plum job as soap opera pundit on ITV's This Morning, but she hasn't forgotten her Blackburn roots.

Writing her new book, The Naughty Girl's Guide to Life, with Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, the only disagreement the pair had was whether or not to include a reference to a kebab.

"In the section about what to do when you've been dumped our advice was to go out with all your single mates and bitch about everyone you know in couples - how they're not really happy and she's put on a bit of weight.

"I said that afterwards you have to stop off somewhere like The Godfather in Blackburn to buy a kebab, but Tara thought that was ridiculous.

"She said no girl would do that. They'd just go home and drink champagne.

"It was the only argument we had about the book - I was adamant the kebab should go in and in the end it did.

"I suppose that's the good thing about the book - we cover both ends of the spectrum and all the tips are tried and tested.

"Tara tells you how to snog celebrities and hitch rides in private jets and I know how to sulk with a kebab."

So how did a girl from Blackburn end up being mates with the country's most famous IT girl?

"I did a media course at Blackburn College - but this was before we had video cameras and all that sort of thing.

"We only had a cupboard. Then I did work experience at the Blackburn Citizen, where they taught me how to write."

After that Sharon moved to London and spent 10 years working on Fleet Street.

"I met Tara when I interviewed her for the News of the World.

"I did some ghost writing for her and we ended up becoming mates."

The idea for the book came about after both Sharon and Tara were dumped by their boyfriends at around the same time and met up to lick their wounds.

"We had one of those meetings where you're checking the other one to see if they've grown a moustache or started wearing tights or, worse, flat shoes," laughed Sharon.

"We were both in a bad way. Tara had actually started growing a moustache and I'd literally been to work in my slippers.

"We started talking about how rubbish men are and we jokingly said we should write all of this down - then forgot all about it for a while."

Tara happened to mention the idea in a chance conversation with a publishing agent at a party and he called back a week later saying he had six book deals on the table.

"It was one of those really funny things that just happened," said Sharon.

"Every Monday night we'd get together at my house or Tara's with a Chinese takeaway and a bottle of wine and talk about a subject.

"We'd say 'OK, this week we're talking about best methods of revenge' and then I'd set a tape recorder up and we'd chat away."

The pair's showbiz pals even got involved in coming up with ideas for the book.

"Phillip Schofield came up with the tip of ordering a £1,000 bottle of wine for your last date when you know you're going to get dumped, and my favourite tip of all for revenge came from the This Morning gardening expert who said to write something very rude on his lawn in weedkiller."

The pair also come up with "naughty girl" tips on how to pull a sickie, throw a party, cope with smug couples, stop your flatmate from borrowing your clothes and make everyone in the office think you're a sex siren.

"Every tip in the book is tried and tested. And we do it all on a budget.

"Tara herself is all right but a lot of the aristocracy are really quite poor because their ancestors have gambled and drunk away all the fortune.

"We give you some great tips on how to throw a great party on a tight budget and to make sure whenever you have men visiting you at home make sure they sit on the sofa, so all the pound coins will roll out of their pockets down the back ready for you to retrieve when you're skint.

"Everyone thinks of Tara as very posh but she's normal really.

"When I go round to her house she doesn't have staff serving canapes.

"She's just like the rest of us, except she's snogged half the people on my iPod."

Sharon admits her life new seems glamorous, but she says it's not a million miles away from her old life in East Lancashire.

"I suppose I do get to work with Phil and Fern on This Morning and travel, but everyone's pretty normal really.

"Even famous people stay in to watch Bullseye and eat takeaways.

"As far as the work is concerned, once you've done a vox pop on King William Street, in Blackburn, you can do anything.

"Approaching famous strangers at a showbiz party is just the same thing really.

"I do miss Lancashire, though. I miss potato pie and peas.

"We get pies from Greggs down here but they're not the same.

"I miss those butter pies with the hole in the top that you put the tomato ketchup in."

Sharon's day job is to review soaps on This Morning, which she says is the best job in the world.

"I never get sick of watching the soaps. I was raised on Corrie and Emmerdale.

"When you get to go to Ken and Deirdre's wedding, how can you not love your job?"