The dog didn't eat Jeremy Paxman's homework, he was just too busy to finish it. The Newsnight presenter admits in the acknowledgments to his bestselling art history title, The Victorians, that he "simply did not have the time" to "finish the thing", and so called on the Irish writer Neil Hegarty to help him out.
Despite this, Paxman is cited as the sole author on the book's dust jacket, and is the only author assigned copyright, with Hegarty only acknowledged at the end of the book. It was published last month as a tie-in to the BBC series of the same name, in which Paxman uses Victorian-era paintings by artists including Ford Madox Brown and Elizabeth Butler as his starting point to explore the life and culture of the time.
The book's publisher, BBC Books, said in a statement this morning that "in order to help shape the text he had already begun", Paxman "worked with Neil Hegarty to bring the book to completion", and that Hegarty's "role in editing Jeremy's own material and supplying additional research is fully credited".
But in the book itself, Paxman had already gone further, writing that all television is a collaborative exercise, "so it is rather silly for this book – which accompanies a television series – to appear with only one name on the cover".
For a long time, he said, he "resisted attempts" by his editor to finish the book, because he didn't have the time. "In the end, the solution arrived in the form of the young Irish writer, Neil Hegarty," he wrote. "Quite apart from pulling together the various elements – scripts, research notes, ideas and other material – his creative talents ensured, I hope, that the book is a worthwhile thing in its own right. He is a gifted writer and we shall, I think, hear much more from him."
Lisa Jardine, centenary professor at Queen Mary University, London, said that Paxman had been "typically scrupulous" in acknowledging Hegarty.
"It's a far fuller acknowledgement than the very many busy presenters and broadcasters who are fortunate enough to have researchers and writers give," she said.
Clare Alexander, the leading literary agent and former publishing director of Viking, agreed, saying that it was "very common" for there to be a co-writer on books of this sort, but that it was unusual for Paxman to be so "honest".
"Usually the principal doesn't acknowledge it," she continued. "It is done with utmost secrecy."
"Especially for celebrity authors who also have a day job, and where time is of the essence, [this] goes on quite a lot. I think it's rather terrific of Paxman to come out and acknowledge it, and particularly to name the person who's done it."
Reviews of the book – a bestseller – have been mixed. The Sunday Times, while praising Paxman's ability to "turn a phrase", overall found it to be a "flimsy and unimportant book that trips through its material at autocue pace and offers no semblance of deeper insight into the real issues of art". AN Wilson, in the Observer, called it "a real contribution to art history" that "always has something interesting to say, skilfully drawing out the contradictions at the heart of Victorian society".
Hegarty is the author of two books, a history of the Irish capital, Dublin: A View From the Ground, and Waking Up In Dublin, an exploration of the city's music culture. He also writes short stories, and his radio play, The Story of Peggy Mountain, was shortlisted for the RTE PJ O'Connor award.