As I write, I have just stepped away from a chat with a PR photographer. We were discussing how many press photographs produce little more than clichés. For example, business people outside tall buildings, families grinning as if they were on acid, and so on. ‘What about you writers scribbling out those ridiculous headlines,’ he said. ‘Like one I saw the other day for gold credit card membership. It read Band of Gold. It was so cheesy.’ ‘That’s a point,’ I said. ‘But, the thing to remember is that it’s not what the cliché is, but what you do with it that matters.’ ‘That’s just another example of a stupid cliché!’ he replied.‘ Look, at the end of day, a picture is going to be worth a thousand words.’ Ah well. To each his own…

This chapter lists thousands of clichés ‘hot off the press’.