Newry's Mr EL James On Life With Fifty Shades Author

The Northern Irish husband of the woman behind this year's publishing phenomenon Fifty Shades of Grey has spoken out about his everyday life.

Newry-born Niall Leonard, whose crime novel Crusher is just out, admitted he is "the least romantic" person ever, in an attempt to dispel assumptions that the character of Christian Grey is based on him.

Mr Leonard, who helped proofread the bestselling trilogy by his wife EL James, charted the couple's reaction book’s success in a piece written for The Guardian.

But he said that although they had bough a new car, the couple were not spending their afternoons "in an infinity pool with trained dolphins bringing us goblets of chilled Bolly".

And he insisted that the sex scenes in the books were just fantasy. He said: "Do we have a dungeon? Or a Red Room of Pain? Maybe, and maybe there's a helicopter pad on the roof in case Christian Grey drops in for a spanking. Fifty Shades Of Grey is a fantasy - have they forgotten what that means? Do they chase JK Rowling down the street daring her to use her Avra Kedavra spell?"

Mr Leonard acknowledged that his new novel was only getting publicity because "I'm Mr EL James".

He said: "Of course it is. But, like most novelists, I'm hardly going to refuse publicity. I'm not a masochist. And that's all I'm going to say about our sex life."

(NE)