Notebook:

ONE OF those silences has descended upon the world of publishing over the putative memoirs of Terry Venables, the former Tottenham Hotspur footballing supremo who has run into some controversy over the alleged involvement of Italian restaurateurs and the like in his transfer dealings. Michael Joseph, in particular, seems most reluctant to confirm that it emerged as winner of an auction for the autobiography of the second most famous football manager of recent times. (The most famous has also just run into a spot of bother, they tell me.) Anyway, the arrangements, should they come to fruition, are said to involve a pounds 150,000 fee. Several jokes suggest themselves, but it would be safer if you made them among yourselves.