You ask the questions

Andrew Morton, 46, is well-known for his biographies of Diana, Princess of Wales and Monica Lewinsky. His latest book, Posh and Becks, currently features in the best-seller lists. He worked as royal correspondent in the 1980s for a number of newspapers including the Daily Mail, News of the World and the Daily Star. He left journalism in 1988 to concentrate on writing books. He lives in Highgate, North London, with his wife and two children.

Andrew Morton, 46, is well-known for his biographies of Diana, Princess of Wales and Monica Lewinsky. His latest book, Posh and Becks, currently features in the best-seller lists. He worked as royal correspondent in the 1980s for a number of newspapers including the Daily Mail, News of the World and the Daily Star. He left journalism in 1988 to concentrate on writing books. He lives in Highgate, North London, with his wife and two children.

What was the gist of those 200 words which were removed from your Posh and Becks biography? George Marshal, Tunbridge Wells Trivial detail which I won't lose any sleep about. Sophisticated readers will see all the main points I wanted to make are in the book. As part of the court settlement I can't say exactly what the detail is.

If you were on Stars in Your Eyes who would you be? Yvonne Dyers, Hitchin, Hertfordshire Bono from U2 because he can't dance either. He's a good singer and I admire the fact that he's raised the issue of third world debt to a wider public audience.

Is Posh really the new Lady Di? Nigel Bakerfield, Northampton Diana's mother Frances Shand Kydd was very angry when Posh's singing colleague Mel C suggested that she was the new Lady Di. There are superficial comparisons which can be made between them. They were both married to someone famous, both had soap opera qualities to their life, both were followed by the paparazzi and accused of manipulation. Obviously Diana's work was for charity and she had a global appeal, where as Posh Spice is a singer who has gone a long way on determination and ambition. She certainly isn't the new Princess Diana. Diana was unique and a one-off woman who will be talked about in two or three hundred years time.

Is there anyone you would refuse to do a biography of? And who would you most like to do? Judith Taylor, Bristol I have lots of letters from people asking me to write biographies, ranging from an astrologer in Queensland, to the family of Elian, the Cuban boy held virtual hostage in Miami. I think you've got to be intrigued by a person's character and what they say about society. A biography gives a window into society. I certainly wouldn't be interested in doing Mohammed Fayed or someone who has been covered endlessly like Prince Philip. It has been suggested that I write about Tony and Cherie Blair. I'll wait for a call from Alastair Campbell. I've always admired Madonna as an intriguing and charismatic character who has been able to stay at the top for 20 years.

What do you think Monica had to gain by telling her own story? Josephine Page, Storrington, West Sussex She had been pilloried for 18 months by the US media, every pundit and lawyer had had their view and she simply wanted to tell her side of story. She also had legal bills to pay.

When you wrote your Diana book were you motivated by republican convictions? Maggie Noakes, Reading When I spoke to the Republican Society recently I got a hostile reception. The whole point about whether I was a monarchist or a republican when I wrote about Diana misses the point. I was simply trying to explain her life and her feelings and the reality of what was going on behind the brick walls at Kensington Palace.

Any advice for Camilla Parker-Bowles? John Neave, Richmond, Surrey Say "yes" when he asks.

What keeps you awake at night? Luke Fisher, Callington, Cornwall Eating too late

How do you feel about being Poet Laureate? Timothy Dempster, Amersham We keep meaning to meet because he lives in Highgate and our children go to the same school. One national newspaper identified me as the Poet Laureate and had to put in a correction. I've had letters addressed to Andrew Morton, the Poet Laureate and he's had letters addressed to Andrew Motion, Diana's biographer. We must meet over a beer sometime. I might write my next book in rhyming couplets.

Who is your next victim? Trudy Benson, by e-mail I've already hinted at Madonna.

With hindsight the Diana book portrayed her exactly as she would have wished. Do you feel you got caught up in the Diana-spin machine? Henry Davenport, Canterbury, Kent Ironically, when the book came out I was attacked as being critical. Now I'm too sympathetic. Isn't hindsight grand? The title of the book, Diana a True Story, was by definition trying to tell the story from her point of view.

Diana, Monica, Posh and Becks. Are the last really as significant as the first two? Why don't you write biographies about real people? Stuart Bryant, Bogner Regis, West Sussex Clearly Diana is a historical figure of international proportion. We all know where we were when Kennedy was shot and we all know what we were doing when Diana died. I don't think we have the same thoughts about when Baby Brooklyn was born. However the very fact that Posh and Becks are identified as a phenomenon, and thousands of people turn out to see them, says something significant about our society today and our notions of celebrity. Unlike the old days where a celebrity was someone aloof and distant, it's the Beckhams' very ubiquity, because their lives are a daily soap opera, that seems to give them that appeal. We live in a TV age now where we watch people dissecting their lives on Jerry Springer or on Big Brother and it seems that the Beckhams have captured that move in a way that curiously Diana captured other aspects of a changing popular culture. Monica's Story dealt with what happens when an ordinary individual gets caught up in the mangle of a national scandal.

Why Posh and Becks? Are you a fan? Freddy Criswell, Chichester I admire David Beckham's football and wish we had 11 of him on the England team. Victoria is a testament to the fact that determination and ambition, a modest talent and kind of perky ruthlessness, can take you a long way. I think I have one record by the Spice Girls - Spice World.

Can you sum Posh and Becks up in fifty words each? Stephanie Griffiths, Chelsea, London David strikes me as being very centred and happy in his own skin. He's had one ambition to play football and has achieved that as far as he's concerned - becoming a celebrity has been a by-product. By contrast, Victoria is more complex. It seems to me that for her, fame has been the goal. The Spice Girls was the means to that end. But like other people that obtain fame, they find it a fickle mistress. You can never be too famous, so she is constantly striving for more and more fame. She is a young woman who seems quite dynamic, yet at the same time, quite vulnerable.

Do you see Posh and Becks as indicative of the dumbing down of our culture? Peter Lane, by e-mail One hundred years ago a biographer wrote generally about the clergy and politicians. These days we live in an age of the common man and the spectrum has widened. It's not so much a dumbing down as a broadening out. It's up to readers of The Independent to subscribe to the intellectual end of the media, rather than complaining about dumbing down.

Does Becks really wear her thongs? Karen Rees, Streatham, London. I've never looked.

Have Posh and Becks replaced Royalty, and is it your fault? John Dunne, Birmingham They are royalty for the common man. They are like lottery winners who have won a small fortune. They spend there money on big cars and expensive jewellery. It's part of their appeal, people look at them and think, "I could do that". It's interesting that they excite the same feelings in the public as the royal family - from expressions of extreme joy to loathing - there is no happy medium.

'Posh & Becks' by Andrew Morton is published by Michael O'Mara Books at £16.99 hardback