[CharlotteSometimes]

I'm not sure about 'all of his clothes being brand new'. Makosi and some of the others were talking about his clothes a few weeks ago. They said that they were cheap and in a poor state of repair (I'm paraphrasing here, of course). And wasn't it on BBLB recently that they froze the picture to show a huge hole under the arm of the jumper that he was wearing? There's been another time when a similar hole was visible under the arm of something else that he was wearing, too.

He has said that he owned his own business, writing speeches for politicians, etc. He has been credited with doing so for William Hague, for example. And the late MP, Alan Clark, mentions Derek in his diaries which sold well and have even been dramatised by the BBC. He also had a conversation recently with Eugene, and said that he was a little worried that his involvement with BB may prejudice his future business interests. He said something about people being reluctant to call and offer him a place on the board of their companies. Okay, that could well be bluster on Derek's behalf. But it's also the kind of thing the media would've jumped on were it complete fantasy, too.

There was an article last week with comments from some of his friends about how he came to be the Derek we see now, although he was born into a working class environment. It wasn't too revealing, but it did go some way to explaining his interest in politics and his accent.