London sex blogger Belle de Jour hails from Clearwater

Her nom de plume was Belle de Jour and she wrote a blog called "Diary of a London Call Girl."

Millions have read her online diary and her secret life inspired a British television show. Her identity remained unknown until this past weekend, when her name was revealed in the Times of London.

She is Dr. Brooke Magnanti, 34, a cancer researcher in Bristol, England, who hails from Clearwater. According to stories published in Great Britain, Magnanti graduated from Clearwater Central Catholic High School.

As it happens, on Jan. 31, 1992, a St. Petersburg Times story mentioned a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist named Brooke Magnanti.

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Here's a look at what some other sites have to say about Magnanti:

SunSentinel's FloriDuh: She's a call girl. She's famous. And she's from Clearwater

Hollywood Jew: Belle du Jour —- Nice Jewish Girl

Telegraph: Belle de Jour says her mother supports her

TimesOnline: I’m Belle de Jour

IOL: Belle de Jour is a high-flying academic

Hot topics: Today's 5 most discussed stories

Jasen Bruce, the Marine accused of attacking a Greek Orthodox priest in Tampa, continues to remain a hot topic on tampabay.com. What other stories are readers commenting on? Here's a look at the top 5 most discussed stories today on tampabay.com.

If you haven't voiced your opinion yet, make sure you are registered to comment, then have your say:

1. Man accused of attacking Greek Orthodox priest talks to Bubba the Love Sponge: Jasen Bruce, the Marine reservist who has remained silent since police accused him of hitting a Greek Orthodox priest with a tire iron Monday, spoke publicly for the first time Thursday — with Bubba the Love Sponge Clem.

"He was enlisted and can't tell the difference between a Greek Priest? And I wasn't aware that homeless individuals drove cars and wore the holy cloth....discharge this guy. ~ Sticksticklyfrometown

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2. African-American pastor says police singled him out after robbery: "They singled me out among all those people," Harris said. "It was crazy. Just crazy.

"I smell a lawsuit. ~ Darshan2009

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Top 10: This week's most popular stories on tampabay.com

Take a look at this week's Top 10 tampabay.com stories. Hot topics included Scientology, caskets for sale at WalMart and a python trapper charged with misusing 911.

Make sure to register to comment on tampabay.com, and have your say:

1. Chased by their church: When you try to leave Scientology, they try to bring you back: For years, the Church of Scientology chased down and brought back staff members who tried to leave.

• "Churches don't keep SECRETS, CULTS DO!" ~ Truth
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2. United Football League's Florida Tuskers say they could give the Tampa Bay Buccaneers a tussle: Florida Tuskers coach Jim Haslett said though the level of competition level in the first-year United Football League "may not be the National Football League," he believes his team is "pretty close."

• "It would be nice if we had an NFL team here in Tampa." ~ Mr. Fabulous
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3. Man overboard: To leave Scientology, Don Jason had to jump off a ship: Don Jason says he was locked in his cabin and later was denied repeated requests to leave the Freewinds ship.

• "I truly feel sorry for anyone that has fellen prey to their trap." ~ Flakk
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4. On sale at Walmart, for $895 (plus shipping): A final resting place: The traditional burial is now anything but.

• "No mention of the return policy." ~ CbStPete
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5. 81-year-old woman escapes Tuesday morning St. Petersburg house fire: Bonnie Gettys, 81, was at home when the fired started but made it out of the house as firefighters arrived.

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Get live results on St. Petersburg elections from tampabay.com

Throughout the day Tuesday, tampabay.com will provide complete coverage of the St. Petersburg city council and mayoral races. Our Elections section will keep you updated on how things are going at the polls and publish results as soon as the Pinellas County Elections Office releases them.

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Can your Halloween costume top man-sized iPhones?

[Douglas R. Clifford | Times]

Few costumes this year will top the intricacy or geekiness of Reko Rivera and John Savio's $2,000 masterpieces, built over 90 hours from the messy man-cave that is Savio's room in his parents' Palm Harbor home.

Using iPhones on their shoulders and jump-starters between their legs, the tech-heads can output the popular iPhone 3GS onto man-sized screens. Their torsos glow with text messages, maps and phone calls. Needless to say, they attract a lot of attention.

The video of Savio, 24, and Rivera, 23, dancing has been viewed more than 300,000 times, fueled by posts on tech blogs like Alltop, Gizmodo and Engadget and jeered by commenters around the world.

Love the guyPhone costumes? Give them a thumbs up.

We'd like to see your Halloween costumes. Here's how to share them with tampabay.com:

• E-mail your pictures to submit@tampabay.com with your name and photo details in the body of the message.
• Post your photos on tampabay.com's Facebook wall and we'll upload them to our photo gallery.
• Join tampabay.com's Community Photo Gallery for free and upload your own photos.

Tampabay.com now requires registration for comments. Join the discussion!

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Good Morning America to feature Tampa Bay mom trying to lose 100 pounds

Stacy Woltmann, the Tampa Bay area mom who has set her sights on losing 100 pounds, is scheduled to be featured tomorrow on Good Morning America. The interview -- set for the 8 a.m. hour on the Tampa ABC station WFTS-Ch. 28 -- will kick off a regular video diary series on Woltmann and her struggle to lose weight.

On Sept. 15, The St. Petersburg Times wrote about Woltmann, who decided to go on a diet after becoming a new mom. At age 30, Woltmann had reached 419 pounds and was a size 28.

She started a blog, Amelia's Mom...Race to the Skinny Jeans, to track her progress and keep her motivated to stick with her goal. Since then, Woltmann has lost 23 pounds. She's watching what she eats and working out regularly in a Tampa boot camp class, Kick It Up Boot Camp.

TampaBay.com's hot topics: See the 5 most discussed stories this week

What were TampaBay.com readers fired up about this week? Party buses, a teen shooting in St. Pete, ethanol, BayWalk's sidewalk and the Bucs.

Take a look at the 5 most discussed stories on Tampabay.com this week. See what others had to say, then jump in, share your views.

1. Teens hospitalized after mixing alcohol, homecoming dances and party buses: Students from both sides of Tampa Bay were sent to hospitals over the weekend after separate incidents involving alcohol, homecoming dances and "party buses."

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2. 2 arrested after St. Petersburg teen was shot, killed in 3 a.m. convenience store dispute: There was no rivalry, no long simmering feud, no bad blood. All it took to end Marquise Penny­well's life, police said, were a few angry words and a squeeze of the trigger.

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3. Times editorial -- Ethanol from corn is a poor formula: The Environmental Protection Agency is considering a request from farm states to raise the ethanol content of gasoline from the current 10 percent to as much as 15 percent. Agreeing to this change could be bad for people's food budgets as well as the engines in their cars and boats — and bad for taxpayers who already are unfairly subsidizing corn-based ethanol.

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4. St. Petersburg City Council votes to keep BayWalk sidewalk public: The City Council rejected a plan to cede the sidewalk fronting BayWalk to its owners, casting a shadow of uncertainty over the future of downtown's fallen entertainment complex.

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5. Gary Shelton -- Where are we, Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans? A very bad place: The smart fans were gone by now, fleeing the scene of the latest misery in the desperate speed of a convict whose cell did not lock. If they hurried, perhaps they could get away before the security guards made them watch any more.

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Gotta see: September's top 10 videos on TampaBay.com

In case you missed any of these, now is your chance to see what others were watching on TampaBay.com this month. Take a look at our top 10 videos from September:

1. A Clearwater woman walking her dog in Sawgrass Lake Park was bitten by an 8-foot alligator but escaped serious injury.

2. Monique Zimmerman-Stein risks blindness so her daughters can get care. Zimmerman-Stein and her husband, Gary Stein, have Blue Cross/Blue Shield insurance through Stein's job. They pay $90 a week for coverage. But the insurance isn't nearly enough.

3. Two years after his accident with Nick Bollea, John Graziano is released from the hospital to home care.

What you're reading: Week's top 10 TampaBay.com stories

They range from Glenn Beck to swine flu to pythons: Here's a look at the 10 most popular TampaBay.com stories published from Sunday, Sept. 20, through this morning, Sept. 26:

1. Glenn Beck loses advertisers

2. St. Petersburg firefighters accidentally run over victim they were sent to help

3. He wants to move on, but first he has to sell his custom wedding suit

4. Body of Trinity boater found off Pasco County coast

5. Pinellas murderer kills cell mate, then self