Brooke Magnanti began sex work partly to avoid sleeping rough, but her Diary of a London Call Girl changed her fortunes. She now backs a charity for sex workers

There has long been speculation about how much money Brooke Magnanti made as the call girl Belle de Jour, but she says that £300 an hour suffered by comparison with what she made after putting pen to paper to reveal all about her experiences.

Billie Piper in the television adaptation, Secret Diary of a Call Girl ITV/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK

What began as a blog entitled Diary of a London Call Girl swiftly became six books and a wildly successful TV series starring Billie Piper — all while Magnanti herself remained anonymous, protected by careful financial arrangements made by her agent and accountant.

She finally came out as the real Belle de Jour in a Sunday Times interview in 2009, but in her years of anonymity she had been too cautious to spend her earnings — allowing her to buy every