I had one of those exasperating circular conversations today with Nicholas Sampson, the Master of Marlborough College.

He was ringing after we carried on our web site the Sun's story about Princess Egeunie apparently cavorting naked on the college grounds after a boozy end of term (ish) party.

The Master is bound by an agreement with Buckingham Palace never to reveal any details of the young royals' private lives so throughout our conversation he felt unable to recount any of what really happened in the moonlight that night.

But he was adamant that 80 per cent of the story was inaccurate. He just couldn't reveal which parts made up the 20 per cent truth.

So I found myself barking questions to try and establish which bits were true and he had to keep telling me he couldn't comment.

Believe it or not, it has been known for national newspapers, or more often freelancers who sell stories to them, to 'top spin' a few details to make the story more interesting (or saleable).

In this case the story appears to have been spun more times than kitten in a tumble dryer. However, as hard as I tried, I couldn't persuade the Master to part with any clues as to where the grains of truth lie.

I now have to decide how much of the story, if any, we run in the Gazette on Thursday.

I'm hoping our man in Marlborough will come up with a few nuggets.

Mind you, he won't be going anywhere if the petrol drought persists. It is staggering how a few stories about a tanker strike and a queue outside a petrol station can inspire manic behaviour akin to the the last day of trading before Christmas.

People who just a few days ago were moaning about having to pay £1.25 a litre would now happily swap their children's kidneys for a few drops of unleaded.

Ironically, it may have been all those cars and lorries who stopped in Chippenham en route to a petrol price protest on the M4 on Saturday whoi used up the town's supply of fuel.

The petrol companies must be loving it...