Brooke Magnanti

British writer

Brooke Magnanti (born 5 November 1975) is an American born naturalised British former research scientist, blogger, and writer, who, until her identity was revealed in November 2009, was known by the pen name Belle de Jour. Her diary, published as the anonymous blog Belle de Jour: Diary of a London Call Girl, became increasingly popular as speculation surrounded the identity of Belle de Jour. Remaining anonymous, Magnanti went on to have her experiences published as The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl in 2005 and The Further Adventures of a London Call Girl in 2006. Her first two books were UK top 10 best sellers in the nonfiction hardback and nonfiction paperback lists. In 2007 Belle's blogs and books were adapted into a television programme, Secret Diary of a Call Girl starring Billie Piper as Belle, with the real name Hannah Baxter. In November 2009, fearing her real identity was about to come out, Magnanti revealed her real name and occupation as a child health scientist. She is honoured in BBC's 100 Women in 2013 and 2014.

Magnanti's pseudonym was derived from the 1928 novel Belle de jour by Joseph Kessel and the 1967 film of the same name starring Catherine Deneuve, directed by Luis Buñuel. In the film, "Belle de Jour" is an expression translating literally as "daytime beauty", as Deneuve's character frequented the brothel during the daytime, when her husband was absent from home. The expression is adapted from the French phrase "belle de nuit", which translates as "lady of the night", i. e. a prostitute. The weblog Belle de Jour: Diary of a London call girl first appeared in October 2003 There was speculation in the media for several years as to the real identity of the author, whether Belle really was a call girl. Guesses as to who Belle was ranged from Rowan Pelling to Toby Young according to The Telegraph. In 2004 The Sunday Times featured a front page headline incorrectly identifying Sarah Champion as the author of the blog based on erroneous textual analysis by Donald Foster. According to The Guardian a fellow British blogger guessed her identity in 2003 but kept it secret. He made a page on his blog containing the googlewhack of Belle de Jour and Brooke Magnanti that allowed him to see if anyone googled the two names. In 2009 he identified IP addresses originating from Associated Newspapers that had accessed the page at which point he contacted Magnanti to alert her. Around the same time tabloid reporters had been escorted from the hospital where she worked for breaking into her office.