Surely all this artistically immaterial fascination with the private lives of creators and performers might be more productively aimed at friends, neighbours, and co-workers rather than at media-generated distortions of total strangers. Then if inquisitiveness about their assets, spending habits, and dietary proclivities seems intrusive and rude, we can appreciate how anyone in the papers might find the same prying equally uncool. Moreover, people whom we know want us to be interested in them, and take healthy curiosity about where they went to school and their favourite colour as a compliment.

Why not wonder about the background of that elderly gentleman across the road, to whom you've never thought to talk? Don't waste that curiosity on me.