As part of our 15th birthday celebrations, we’ve trawled through the archives to bring you some of the best, weirdest and most salacious articles published on Crikey since our launch on February 14, 2000.

* This article was originally published in our very first edition, on February 14, 2000.

Col Allan, editor in chief of Sydney’s Daily Telegraph and Rupert Murdoch’s favourite editor in Australia, has a reputation that precedes him. John Howard, Paul Keating and Bob Carr have been known to eat out of his hand, and even some of the most senior executives at News Ltd are afraid to take him on.