SO who is the FTSE 100 chief executive who has an actress into the office once a month to teach him how to play the part of being a CEO?

According to the new book, The Secrets of CEOs, there is a head of a financial-services company who has a thespian to “train him how to act out the CEO role”.

One secret the authors, Steve Tappin and Andrew Cave, decline to reveal is the boss’s identity. While it may not seem reassuring at this time of economic crisis, it apparently helps the chap concerned overcome his introverted nature. And he is not alone in relying on the performing arts for help.

The revelations back up the claim made by former BT boss Ben Verwaayen at a party to celebrate the book’s publication, that everything you need to know is in the tome.

Not that everyone is sympathetic to personal advisers. In the book, Bradford & Bingley’s new chief Richard Pym says: “Some of these coach people are just weird.”

Sports star accounts fall into rough

BETWEEN the cricket season, as it draws to a close, and the hectic golf calendar, which culminates in the Ryder Cup this week, it is understandable that sorting out the minutiae of their financial affairs is not going to be the top priority for some of the stars.

A number of the companies associated with Flintoff Enterprises, Andrew Coltart Enterprises and Paul McGinley Enterprises were overdue by several months, according to Companies House.

When I caught up with Chubby on Friday to ask him about the delay, he insisted it was a “nonstory” and, with no little alacrity, sprang into action. By yesterday morning, all the outstanding documents had been filed. clients of Andrew “Chubby” Chandler, agent to many sports stars, have been dawdling when it comes to filing the relevant paperwork at Companies House. Annual returns for Freddie more efficient.

A fun day out in the sewers

The gift-experience company Red Letter Days, which offers everything from surfing lessons to nights at the teatre, nearly went down the drain when it fell into administration three years ago.

Things are far brighter these days, after its rescue by Dragons’ Den stars Peter Jones and Theo Paphitis, but it could soon be flirting once more with drains. I hear the firm has been looking into the possibility of selling guided tours of London’s sewers. It recently started offering kayaking on the Thame, so this would give people a rather different view of London’s waterways.

Cheers for S&N old boys

IT’S good to see some of the old guard from Scottish & Newcastle landing on their feet.

John Nicolson, responsible for many of the brewer’s overseas operations, has just been made head of Heineken’s US operations, while the former finance director Ian McHoul bagged the same role at Amec.

But what of S&N’s former chairman Sir Brian Stewart and chief executive John Dunsmore? “Their phones have been red hot over the past few weeks,” says a friend of the pair. Watch this space.

Cheers for S&N old boys

IT’S good to see some of the old guard from Scottish & Newcastle landing on their feet.

John Nicolson, responsible for many of the brewer’s overseas operations, has just been made head of Heineken’s US operations, while the former finance director Ian McHoul bagged the same role at Amec.

But what of S&N’s former chairman Sir Brian Stewart and chief executive John Dunsmore? “Their phones have been red hot over the past few weeks,” says a friend of the pair. Watch this space.

STEVEN ESOM, who was once boss of Waitrose and was recently deposed as head of food at Marks & Spencer, pops up this weekend as guest editor of The Grocer magazine. In his leader column, Esom rails against the lack of choice in British supermarkets compared with grocery stores in France and America. He writes: “How, as an industry, have we reduced the number of brands available when customers are eagerly seeking out local, ethical and alternative products to add variety to the local shop?”

IT sounds like something you might want after engaging in a little cyber-sex, but an e-mail arrives boasting of the launch of what is claimed to be the world’s smallest electronic cigarette. It looks and feels like the real thing, even giving a nicotine hit – but only after the smoker has worked out what to do with the “five atomised-liquid cartridges” that come with the device, charged the thing up and read the user manual. The distributors of the Super Mini E-cigarette declined to say how many they had sold, but buyers are promised a free carry-case should they make the £39.95 purchase.