Bono Vox? Ha ha ha

Roddy Doyle has definitively scotched rumours that he is writing a musical based around the songs of U2. Indeed the Booker Prize winning author seemed to be highly amused by the story, which - out of the blue - had seen him becoming an unlikely focus for the attention of the tabloid media in the UK.

"It's news to me," Doyle told hotpress.com, laughing. "I must have been completely ratarsed when I committed to it."

The story had been floated in the weekly UK e-zine Popbitch. Humour aside, Doyle was clear that the project had never even been considered, by either him or by U2. "There's no truth whatsoever in it," he said. "I've listened to the band's music, and I like a lot of it. But I wouldn't think that U2's music would lend itself to a musical. That's intended as a compliment, not a put-down - their songs aren't straightforward, three minute exercises."

Having launched his career with the rock'n'roll novel The Commitments, later turned into a major movie by director Alan Parker, Doyle undoubtedly has the pedigree, and the knowledge of music, to handle a project of this kind. Whether he would have the inclination is another matter. "There's a bit of a vogue for them now, with the Queen musical, and the Abba thing. But I don't know if I would have a musical in me."

So can Hot Press scotch this thing once and for all? "Definitely."

Meanwhile, Doyle has completed work on his upcoming book, Rory And Ita, which tells his parents' story in their own words, and is due in the shops in November.