George Michael sups with ‘the devil’

Pop star George Michael is to write his autobiography after signing "one of the biggest book deals ever concluded in UK publishing" with the Rupert Murdoch-owned HarperCollins - despite the fact that he claims to "hate" Murdoch. "I think Murdoch is the devil and has been for 20 years," he said in 2006. "The only dignity is in autonomy. I was so right about Murdoch. Twenty years later we have a media dictator."

Never mind. Murdoch's head of non-fiction at HarperCollins, Belinda Budge, is thrilled to have done the deal with Michael's manager Andy Stephens. She promises the book, when it appears in autumn 2009, will be a "no-holds-barred" account of the former Wham! singer's professional and private life. She also claims that Michael - real name, Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou - will not make use of a ghost writer but will pen the work himself.

Michael, 44, has sold more than 80 million records with hits such as Careless Whisper and Faith. He ended years of speculation about his sexuality by announcing he was gay after he was arrested in 1998 for engaging in a "lewd act" in a Los Angeles public toilet, having been caught in a sting operation by an undercover policeman.

He remains a regular in the tabloids. Last June he was banned from driving for two years and sentenced to 100 hours' community service after admitting driving when unfit due to drugs. The year before he infuriated mental health charities by claiming that regular cannabis smoking kept him "sane and happy".

He is happy to make fun of his own homosexuality: he made a single, Outside, about his arrest in LA (the video for which featured kissing
policeman) and he recently appeared in the final of Ricky Gervais's series Extras as himself - 'cruising' for action on Hampstead Heath.