KUDOS to Anneka Rice who managed to pull the wool over the eyes of the television industry for almost a decade by pretending to have an agent called "Clemmie Hart" while actually dealing with all booking requests herself.

The star of Treasure Hunt and Challenge Anneka had taken a step back from work to concentrate on raising her three young children, but the requests kept rolling in. Without an agent to field them, "Clemmie Hart" was born.

It's a genius idea. Not only did Rice keep a hand in the business during her hiatus, she also neatly side-stepped having to pay an agent 10 per cent commission and being made to take ridiculous or unpalatable jobs.

Rice revealed in a Radio Times interview that the final straw with her previous agent was being asked to consider appearing on a cookery show alongside the former Blue Peter presenter Mark Curry in 2004. Its groan-inducing, pun-tastic title? Curry and Rice.

"Clemmie" wouldn't stand for such nonsense. Rice's alter-ego breezily liaised with celebrity bookers about job offers (one that she reluctantly turned down due to family commitments was the opportunity "to hang out in a safari lodge with Christopher Biggins, learning to track lions".)

To her credit, Rice couldn't resist having a bit of fun. When the broadcaster was asked to take part in sports-themed reality TV show, The Games, the bold Clemmie replied: "We'd love to but, between you and me, Anneka's a bit out of shape."

An invitation to appear on Just The Two Of Us, in which celebrities performed duets with professional singers, was given similarly short shrift. "Have you heard Anneka sing?" was Clemmie's wonderfully tart response.

On occasion, Rice even took "Clemmie" along with her on a job. When appearing on Have I Been Here Before? – a celebrity hypnosis show presented by Phillip Schofield – she roped in her friend Lisa to pretend to be the agent, the pair avoiding eye contact in case they burst out laughing.

Rice clearly did a stellar job. Her faux showbiz agent – or "Clem" as she was affectionately known in showbiz circles – became so popular that she was even invited to join a netball team.

Yet, all good things must come to an end. Worried that her long-running ruse would be rumbled Rice sent a final email announcing that Clemmie was pregnant and giving up work.

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Rice now has a real agent and has turned the experience into a BBC Radio 4 show, The Clemmie Hart Years, to be broadcast on Wednesday. That's a standing ovation from me.

Larry makes a stand

YOU might have heard that President Donald Trump has been visiting the UK. I'm still recovering after seeing a close-up of his too-tight collar as he attended a state banquet at Buckingham Palace, displaying what can only be described as "neck cleavage".

Trump also paid a visit to outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May at 10 Downing Street last week. The red carpet was rolled out and presumably May's towering stack of removal boxes tucked discreetly out of sight for the duration.

Yet, if there was anyone thoroughly unimpressed by the hubbub surrounding the visit, it was Larry, Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office.

The brown and white tabby looked distinctly aloof and at one point took shelter under Trump's limo – a bomb-proof Cadillac dubbed "The Beast" – then steadfastly refused to budge. Larry was also photographed sitting out of arm's reach on a windowsill.

Was this the feline's own silent protest? Perhaps Larry had heard about Trump's infamous line to "grab them by the p****" and as a cat himself was taking no chances. Either way it was the closest we came to a Hugh Grant in Love Actually moment during this presidential visit.

The machines are coming

A NEW app called Pokemon Sleep that tracks a player's slumber and uses the data for game points is in the works. "We want to turn sleep into entertainment," said Tsunekazu Ishihara, chief executive of the Pokemon Company. Say again? Nope, that's not terrifying at all …

You would be forgiven for thinking this was a spine-tingling plotline about end-game technology featuring in the latest Netflix series of Black Mirror. Jarringly, though, it transpires that real life can be stranger – and more mind-boggling – than fiction.

Due to launch next year, Pokemon Sleep will make use of a Fitbit-style sleep-tracking device on a wrist strap that communicates with your phone via Bluetooth.

Building on the success of the global phenomenon Pokemon Go – a virtual treasure hunt with the tagline "gotta catch 'em all" that has surpassed one billion downloads since its launch in 2016 – the app promises to reward players for maintaining "good sleep habits as part of a healthy lifestyle".

Is it just me or is this steady seep of augmented reality into our lives wildly unsettling? A gaming app tied in with sleep doesn't rest easy with me. It feels akin to guzzling a burger and fries while using the exercise bike in the gym.

You do wonder where it will end: racking up rewards for eating all your veggies and doing a poop in the potty like a good boy or girl? It's the equivalent of clicker training for humans.

I'm not decrying Pokemon Go which is a lot of fun and helped coax many sedentary couch potatoes, glued to their screens, up off their backsides and out walking.

Granted, its players may resemble a horde of zombies stumbling around pavements and parks but at least they are up and moving while glued to their screens, right? Sitting is the new smoking after all.

However, Pokemon Sleep is thorny territory. Before we know it, we'll be lying twitching in our beds with electrodes stuck to our heads in the vein of films such as The Matrix, Avatar and Inception.

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Sleep is sacred. Forget about catching Pokemon, the only thing you should be thinking about at bedtime is catching some technology-free, good quality zeds.