Kate Burgess is PA to Max Clifford, the high profile public relations guru. Cath Janes speaks to Kate to find out what her working life is like

If you fancy a taste of the life of Kate Burgess, pop into a newsagent or gossip website. Take a peek at the headlines or tales of celebrity revelation and wonder what it must be like to live in the thick of that every day.
“Well, I love it of course,” admits Kate. “If a story breaks I am in the middle of it and that is so exciting. I have to arrange all of Max’s interviews and juggle camera crews and phone calls from journalists and editors. It’s an amazing job.”

Her job title is PA, and Max is none other than Max Clifford, the public relations brain behind Max Clifford Associates (MCA) and some of the biggest media storms and stories that the country has ever seen. Remember these headlines?: Freddie Starr ate my hamster, Beckham’s secret affair, Jude cheats on Sienna, Mellor made love in Chelsea strip, Archer quits as News of the World exposes false alibi... well they’re all thanks to the work of Max Clifford. Then there are the endless media stories that swirl around household names like Kerry Katona, Simon Cowell, Shilpa Shetty and the late Jade Goody, all of whom are, or were, Max Clifford’s clients. When these stories and names hit the press Kate can vouch for the fact that what we are seeing really is the tip of the iceburg.

“For example, Max was representing Jade Goody throughout her illness and it was manic. We were getting calls from agencies and broadcasters from all over the world including Australia, Asia and the USA. They all wanted to do their thing with Jade and the result was that our office would be crowded with camera crews and there’d be thousands of emails in my inbox. We also had to deal with all of the calls from the public. There were people calling with good wishes and suggestions for treatment and cures for her cancer. It starts out as sweet but wears thin when you deal with 100 of them every day. There were even people of various religions who claimed that they could cure Jade themselves and we’d get bags of post every day with gifts and letters for her and her sons. We really did have to work long days.”

Kate graduated from Reading University with a degree in psychology but already knew that she wanted to work in the media. She secured a week’s work experience at MCA and was invited to stay for a second week. So the next peak on the rollercoaster came as a shock to her: “On my last day Max called a few people into his office. Then he called me in after them and I thought he was just going to offer me a third week. In a million years I never thought he’d do what he really did which was ask me to be his PA!”

Max’s last PA had already left the company and he was still looking for a permanent replacement. It was a steep learning curve for Kate though.  “I had so many questions about the job and so much to learn. Every day I get calls from people who claim to know Max or demand to be put straight through to him and I had to know who really did know him or should be put through. I had to learn the names of newspaper editors, for example. Max was brilliant though and didn’t expect miracles of me which gave me the chance to find my feet.”

To read the full interview with Kate Burgess get the October issue of Executive PA magazine - out now. Subscribe Now.