It's not healthy to dwell on the past but when it comes to a momentous past 12 months in gossip you can forgive me for casting my mind back. The bizarre, the intriguing, and the deliciously smutty were all present and accounted for. Let's hope the goss for 2008 is just as good!

Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake ended their four year romance soon after the bells rang in 2007, leaving squillions of teenage girls thrilled about the remote possibility of a chance with the squeaky voiced singer. The pair trotted out a de riguer statement with words like 'mutually' and 'respect' bandied about, but no dirt was forthcoming.

There were, however, 'serious exchanges' and a 'slamming of fists' at a Golden Globes after party. After a rumoured dalliance with Scarlett Johansson, JT hooked up with the linebacker shouldered Jessica Biel, who remains his lady to this day. Sorry girls.

It wasn't just the Kiwi summer heating up in February, as Britney Spears' three month stint of partying very hearty after her split from money grubber K-Fed culminated in the crazy eyed singer shaving her head in a California salon. And she was no Sinead O'Connor, let's put it that way.

One day after checking out of rehab at Eric Clapton's Antigua clinic, the head shaving culminated in a false start or two in rehab before a stint in a Malibu clinic, and the world was treated to a year long show of bad wigs and manky hair extensions. Sadly, later in the year her baldie would become the least of Britney's worries.

One person the troubled Spears has been compared to more than once is the tragic Anna Nicole Smith, who passed away under mysterious circumstances in a Florida hotel room the same month as Britney's head shaving shenanigans hit the headlines.

It was an unexpected end to a tragic year for the one-time Playboy model and professional gold digger, with the birth of a baby girl followed by the death of her 20-year-old son, Daniel. Anna's death spurred on a series of events that even Shakespeare couldn't have plotted - the earnest baby daddy, the shady lawyer lover, the new baby, prescription pills, and millions of dollars.

God bless ya, Anna. May there be plenty of nudity, rich elderly men and plenty of fried chicken wherever you ended up.

There was a brief respite for the wicked over the northern autumn, unless you take into consideration Lindsay Lohan's epic arrest-rehab-arrest cycle she seemed to be on for most of the year. Eventually girlfriend and her overbearing mama realized the 'asthma' and 'exhaustion' excuses weren't going to fly any more, and Lindsay got booked for her dalliances with the Colombian marching powder.

Victoria Beckham is many things, but she is not one to fly under the radar - and the Beckhams move to Los Angeles in July attracted considerable hooplah. With the Cruises and the Smiths in their corner, Vic and Dave looked to settle nicely into LaLa Land and life in a US$22m Beverly Hills home, with Becks earning 500 times more a week than his lowly teammates.

As Posh likes to say, that's 'major.'

Let's be honest, Posh is no happy go lucky California girl, but the Spice Girl looks to be settling in quite nicely as the city's perfectly groomed fashionista. Upon arrival, Victoria faced a barrage of press where she joked about "living in the shadow of (David's) looks." It's no joke, Vic. But we'll let it slide because you manage to hold on to a husband who's so damn hot.

I don't know about you guys, but the undisputed gossip highlight of my year was Paris Hilton spending a month of her summer in the big house. She got sentenced to the slammer, and the world rejoiced. Rarely has a punishment been relished by so many, especially as Paris pouted when David Letterman gave her suitable stick on his show not long after her release.

A media hooha of epic proportions ensued when the heiress got sentenced to 45 days behind bars. She cried, she pouted. Her mother threw a tantrum. She asked Arnold Schwarzenegger to get her out of it. He refused. Her lawyer moaned, and we all cheered!

But after three piddling days of no makeup and a diet of baloney meat Paris was released to house arrest for 'medical reasons' (rumoured to be everything from agoraphobia to a rampant flare up of herpes). The Los Angeles DA wasn't happy, and just when Miz Hilton was celebrating a month of hair extensions and cupcakes her ass was hauled back to court, with no time to titivate. That photo of Paris caterwauling in the back of the police car was a happy, happy moment for all smuthounds.

Back she went to the orange jumpsuit and low sodium dinners - to emerge Big Brother-style several weeks later, spouting personal growth and a desire to help the world. Since then, she's lied on Larry King about her drug use and reading the Bible, danced on tables, pouted on seashores, and bestowed wine in a can on an unsuspecting public.

Sod world peace, it sounds like she's made the world a better place already.

Now miracles do happen, and no one was more surprised than me when Lollipop Lady Nicole Richie announced her pregnancy in July. Call me crazy, but I would have put money on the fact that Nicole didn't have enough body fat to get a period, let alone conceive. Nevertheless, she looked amazing with some weight on and the Richie-Madden baby is due any day now.

The wheels were well and truly falling off the Britney wagon in October, when after a tumultuous year Spears lost the custody share she had with her ex. After missing compulsory drug tests, dissing her parenting coach, and failing to meet the court-set criteria, Kevin was awarded custody of Sean and Jayden with Britney getting monitored visitation.

The judge labeled Brit Brit a "habitual, frequent and continuous user" of controlled substances - and she was left to face charges of a hit and run and driving without a valid California licence. And she had to pay for his lawyer! That's gotta hurt.

Like any distraught mother who's losing her children, Britney mourned by going for a Starbucks and getting a spray tan. Believe me people, this one will not have a happy ending, trust.

And it must have been a cosy autumn for many celebs as a slew announced their pregnancies right before the festive season - the most deliciously scandalous being 16-year-old Jamie Lynn Spears. After Jamie Lynn got her peeps to threaten to sue an American tabloid for besmirching her pure shite (a mistake, but I'm keeping it, I meant white) reputation after reporting she was knocked up, what do you know? Little Ms Spears got knocked up.

While JL insists boyfriend Casey is the father of her baby, the rumour mill suggests it could be otherwise. Stay posted on this one! Just let's hope she doesn't take child rearing tips from big sister Britney.