GENNARO CASTALDO WATCH

Worries that Gennaro Castaldo might have been sidelined in favour of some other HMV spokespeople seem to have been little more than the sort of panic you have when you wake up in the middle of the night and wonder if everyone you love has died in some freak accident or alien invasion. He's back, with a valuable insight into the betting for the Christmas number one:

"X Factor is huge right now. HMV understands that it's unlikely there will be a single before Christmas, but if there were to be one, perhaps featuring the finalists rather than just the winner, then the race for the Christmas No.1 could effectively be over - X Factor would have to be a massive favourite", said HMV spokesman Gennaro Castaldo.

That's a good point. Equally, if Elvis Presley revealed that he wasn't dead, and returned to record a single with some children orphaned in terrorist atrocities, you'd have to reckon that would be in with a pretty unbeatable chance.

What we love here, though, is that even although Gennaro's speculating on an entirely fictitious scenario, even then he's only prepared to say that the race for number one "could" be over. Even in the middle of a fantasy, he's still sat on the fence.

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