Belle de Jour drops her blog

One of the most famous and interesting blogs has been Belle de Jour. Belle announced today that she was quitting the world of blogging.

Doors have opened and I'd like to see where they go. Other doors close, but as my mother said when I was 10 and tennis conflicted with piano on Thursday afternoons, you can't do everything you want to do. So my plans to be elected to Parliament, win a Nobel Prize and make the finals at Wimbledon are on the back burner for now. As book and telly projects progress, I'll come back to link - and I will let you know if the site is going to be moved.

Thank you to everyone who supported me. Thank you to the critics as well. I wish you all a sweet new year.

In case you live in a blogging closet, Belle de Jour was the journal of a London prostitute. The quality of the writing was so good that many speculated the site was a hoax.

After Belle won the newspaper award, there was fervent speculation about her real-life identity, with some suggesting the blog was a hoax by a journalist.

Belle responded by posting a message saying: "Yes, I really am a call girl ... A bored journalist could probably fake this blog but I'm not that clever." --BBC