Princess Diana leaked information about the Prince of Wales to "an ally" in the press in order to "take on" her estranged husband, former News of the World reporter Clive Goodman told the phone hacking trial.
Rebekah Brooks explained how she got one of her first front page splashes for News of the World. It was a story about Paul and Sheryl Gasgoine and domestic violence she had suffered. The jury heard that they paper had paid between £50,000 and £80,000 for the story, described as 'a buy out.'
She said it came through a friendship that she had cultivated with the couple, that survived after the paper was published. It gave her a reputation, she claimed, for being able to do the more sensitive stories.
Mrs Brooks then explained how as features editor she approved £250,000 to secure a story from Divine Brown, a prostitute who had an encounter with Hugh Grant.
The newspaper arranged for her to be moved to a hotel in Nevada with several members of her family. Mrs Brooks described this as "one of the largest amounts of money I had spent on a story."
She said this made a big hole in the weekly spending limit on the features desk and she worried about giving the okay in the middle of the night. However, she said that she was more worried about being reprimanded by the editor for not getting the story.
Mrs Brooks explained that there was intense competition between the features desk and the newsdesk. This was encouraged by the editor who would keep a chart and if you were at the bottom they would shout at you.
The ex-News of the World chief texted former PM Tony Blair saying she was 'feeling properly terrified' the day before the police interview.
In contrast to yesterday's cool performance, the former editor broke down whilst giving evidence in her phone-hacking trial.
Tony Blair advised Rebekah Brooks how to shield James Murdoch from the fallout of the phone-hacking scandal, the Old Bailey heard today.