Celebs can come in handy

The good thing about the culture of celebrity worship is that it helps keep me on the payroll here.

Page three is the most popular spot in this paper, I'm told, with reporting on the silly lives of showbizzy types contributing lots to keeping circulation figures buoyant. Beyoncé and Rihanna forever!

Other good causes also benefit from the public obsession with fame. Charity isn't a glamorous thing but attach fairy-lights in the form of a famous toothy smile and the moths fly in. Star-struck folk eagerly part with cash if a "Face" is holding the donation tin.

Johannesburg's Charity Mile cleverly leverages this phenomenon. Celebrities are linked to runners and to unsung charities. The nags battle it out for the "prize" - a donation of R100000 to the charity lucky enough to have drawn the speediest beast (and even R20000 for the slowest one). Celebrities get zilch, but bask in a philanthropic glow and public attention, which might be payment enough.

This feel-good, glitzy show pulls in generous sponsorship from Emperors Palace and a good crowd on the day.

Wait, there's more. The attraction for racing fans is that the Charity Mile is a Grade 2 event, a feature of the spring season, attracting some of the country's best horses. For the 2014 renewal next week Saturday, the likes of Louis The King and As You Like will line up.

Page three readers will instantly recognise the names of the 16 celebrities who'll grace Turffontein racecourse next weekend. I recognise four, but I am most grateful to the others for my supper.

A familiar one is Neil Andrews, the effervescent TV man who every year does a good job of leading the schleb contingent with humour and authority.

Sadly, another media celebrity will not be there. Jimmy Lithgow, Tellytrack presenter and Sunday Times scribe, died of a heart attack this week. People who knew Jimmy better than I have paid full tribute, so I'll just say I found him to be a charming gent with a deep love of racing.

Ben Bradlee also departed this week. The biggest print-journalism celebrity of them all, he changed the course of US history as the Washington Post editor who was instrumental in getting Richard Nixon driven out of office.

Bradlee and reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein transformed newspaper hacks into conquering heroes with their work on Watergate. The movie about the saga, All The President's Men, for a while at least, saw us lesser scribblers around the world admired and feted; we were celebrities! Well, almost.

On a point of clarity regarding last week's column. A story about a racehorse's "Plan C" trumping the plans of a jockey and trainer was a third-hand witticism that was related by British trainer George Bernet in an interview, he having originally heard it in a conversation with a Phillip England.