At the dawn of my career as a tabloid gossip columnist, I rang Lachlan Murdoch’s office to inquire whether he was still engaged to Kate Harbin. The two had met at Princeton but I’d heard the relationship was not progressing. Anticipating a “no comment”, I started mapping out my story and was startled to pick up the phone to an unfailingly polite Lachlan Murdoch himself. The 24-year-old confirmed that the engagement was off.
Flustered, I urgently tried to summon the right etiquette for the call before awkwardly commiserating with him and asking what had gone wrong. Perhaps it was the distance?
