TODAY she is typically described as a former advice columnist – but that term does not really do justice to E Jean Carroll’s career pre-Donald Trump.

Long before she was one of the longest-serving advice columnists in America, Carroll blazed trails as a gonzo-style journalist The Times once called “feminism’s answer to Hunter Thompson”.

She profiled Lyle Lovett and went camping with the notorious New York curmudgeon Fran Lebowitz for a cover story in Outside. She wrote a famous piece on Dan Rather for Esquire, appeared in the “Best American Crime Writing”, and was the first female contributing editor at Playboy – back when people really did read it for the articles.