My first job was as a runner for a television production company in Oxford. I was prepared for some bad treatment, but as the weeks went by, I wondered how long a piece of dirt can last before it is ground into dust.

Sue, my boss, was a tyrant, and every bit an acquired narcissist. Having climbed up the ladder quickly, wealth and power were now hers, and she abused them both. By forcing me to fulfil menial and unnecessary tasks — walking her dog, collecting her cleaning, ringing her estate agents — she succeeded in making me feel worthless. But, like all good acquired narcissists, she bestowed enough special favours to keep me loyal, once handing out a beautiful pair of Patrick Cox boots, apropos nothing.

Once, I told Sue that I had a dinner booked and asked to leave early — I usually left work at 8pm. She agreed. When the night came, Sue asked me to stay. She said she might like a cup of coffee in half an hour. An hour later, Sue needed to call Los Angeles, she said, and would need me to send a fax. An hour and a half later, the same again. I left work at midnight, my dinner cancelled, all for the sake of three faxes.

Bullies respond only to strength, and Sue preyed on my naivety. I resigned four months into the job.

LOUISE DAVIES, 30

On my first real day in charge, Maxwell decided that every journalist from the age of 55 should be offered early retirement at enhanced terms. He added: “This will allow you to hire younger people from The Sun.” He told a receptionist to get Kelvin MacKenzie, editor of The Sun, on the phone. She rang through to say: “Mr MacKenzie will not accept your call, Mr Maxwell.” Maxwell demanded that the secretary relate the conversation in full, but she was hesitant. “No, no, no,” screamed Maxwell. “Tell me everything he said.” She said she would prefer not to, but Maxwell shouted: “You will not get into trouble, Patricia. But if you refuse, you will be in trouble.”

“Well, Mr Maxwell, he said, ‘I don’t want to speak to the fat Czech bastard’.”

Two weeks later Patricia left in tears, escorted from the building by a security man.

An edited extract from
Maxwell’s Fall: An Insider’s Account
by Roy Greenslade (Simon & Schuster)