Johnny Vegas sells wedding pictures to Viz in £1 deal

Vegas passed up the opportunity to sell his wedding photos to celebrity magazines such as Hello and OK!, who have in the past paid millions of pounds for the exclusive pictures of weddings of stars such as David and Victoria Beckham and Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas.

Instead funny man Vegas approached Viz, published by I Feel Good, the publishing company founded by former Loaded editor James Brown.

Vegas is understood to have asked Viz editor Simon Donald for as much as £5, but IFG negotiated the price down to a more palatable £1.

The deal gives Viz the rights to publish a spread of pictures showing Vegas and partner interior designer Cath Donnelly walking, sitting on a bench and kissing.

Donald said: "Johnny is a huge fan of ours and when he approached us we were delighted. He asked for a fiver. I said that was a bit stiff and had to haggle him down a bit to a quid."

Vegas married Donnelly recently in San Francisco after a whirlwind romance.

Vegas said of the deal: "The glossies aren't for me. Now I'll just invest Viz's quid and live off the interest."

It's another typical Viz triumph. And the publicity can't help but boost Viz's sales either. Viz currently has an ABC of 178,745, which is someway off from its heyday in the early 90s when it had sales in excess of 1m.

If you have an opinion on this or any other issue raised on Brand Republic, join the debate in the Forum here.