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Scoop (novel)
''Scoop'' is a 1938 novel by the English writer Evelyn Waugh. It is a satire of sensationalist journalism and foreign correspondents. Summary William Boot, a young man who lives in genteel poverty, far from the iniquities of London, contributes nature notes to Lord Copper's ''Daily Beast'', a national daily newspaper. He is dragooned into becoming a foreign correspondent, when the editors mistake him for John Courteney Boot, a fashionable novelist and a remote cousin. He is sent to Ishmaelia, a fictional state in East Africa, to report on the crisis there. Lord Copper believes it "a very promising little war" and proposes "to give it fullest publicity". Despite his total ineptitude, Boot accidentally gets the journalistic "scoop" of the title. When he returns, the credit goes to the other Boot and William is left to return to his bucolic pursuits, much to his relief. Background The novel is partly based on Waugh's experience of working for the ''Daily Mail'', when he was sent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Evelyn Waugh
Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires ''Decline and Fall'' (1928) and ''A Handful of Dust'' (1934), the novel ''Brideshead Revisited'' (1945), and the Second World War trilogy ''Sword of Honour'' (1952–1961). He is recognised as one of the great prose stylists of the English language in the 20th century. Waugh was the son of a publisher, educated at Lancing College and then at Hertford College, Oxford. He worked briefly as a schoolmaster before he became a full-time writer. As a young man, he acquired many fashionable and aristocratic friends and developed a taste for country house society. He travelled extensively in the 1930s, often as a special newspaper correspondent; he reported from Ethiopian Empire, Abyssinia at the time of the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, 1935 Italian invasi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Boot
William Boot is a fictional journalist who is the protagonist in the 1938 Evelyn Waugh comic novel ''Scoop.'' Character Boot is the young author of a regular column on country life for a London newspaper named the ''Daily Beast''. His affected style is typified in the notorious sentence "Feather-footed through the plashy fen passes the questing vole". After the ''Daily Beast's'' publisher mistakes him for the "real" war correspondent Henry Boot, William is sent abroad as a foreign correspondent to the fictional African state of Ishmaelia which is on the brink of a civil war. Although he is completely inept, he accidentally gets the 'scoop' of the title. Inspiration for character It has been suggested that Waugh based the character of William Boot on his own experiences and on the legendary journalist Bill Deedes; the two had reported together in 1936, trying to cover the Second Italo-Abyssinian War and Deedes arrived in Addis Ababa aged 22 with almost 600 pounds of luggage. D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lady Diana Cooper
Diana, Viscountess Norwich (née Lady Diana Olivia Winifred Maud Manners; 29 August 1892 – 16 June 1986) was an English actress and aristocrat who was a well-known social figure in London and Paris. As a young woman, she moved in a celebrated group of intellectuals known as the Coterie, most of whom were killed in the First World War. She married one of the few survivors, Duff Cooper, later British ambassador to France. After his death, she wrote three volumes of memoirs which reveal much about early 20th-century upper-class life. Birth and youth Lady Diana Olivia Winifred Maud Manners was born at 23A Bruton Street in Mayfair, London, on 29 August 1892. Her mother, who was a devotee of the author George Meredith, named her daughter after the titular character in Meredith's novel ''Diana of the Crossways''. Officially the youngest daughter of the 8th Duke of Rutland and his wife, the Duchess of Rutland, Lady Diana's biological father was the writer Harry Cust. As early as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mrs Stitch
Mrs. Algernon Stitch, more familiarly known as Julia Stitch, is a character created by Evelyn Waugh, best known for her role in the novel ''Scoop''. The character was inspired by Waugh's friendship with the well-connected socialite, Lady Diana Cooper. Mrs. Stitch appears as a "fixer", a well-connected member of British, and especially London society, who can make things happen for people. This activity is known to all as "The Stitch Service". In ''Scoop'', she is asked to find employment for a novelist by the name of John Courtenay Boot, and arranges for him to be sent as a journalist to cover a revolution in Africa. Due to a mixup, the distantly related and quite hapless William Boot is sent instead. When he returns triumphant, the accolades go instead to John Courtenay Boot, who did nothing to deserve them, allowing William Boot to return to his peaceful life writing articles about the British countryside. In the ''Sword of Honour'' trilogy, Mrs. Stitch appears briefly helping Guy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fleet Street
Fleet Street is a major street mostly in the City of London. It runs west to east from Temple Bar at the boundary with the City of Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the London Wall and the River Fleet from which the street was named. The street has been an important through route since Roman times. During the Middle Ages, businesses were established and senior clergy lived there; several churches remain from this time including Temple Church and St Bride's. The street became known for printing and publishing at the start of the 16th century, and it became the dominant trade so that by the 20th century most British national newspapers operated from here. Much of that industry moved out in the 1980s after News International set up cheaper manufacturing premises in Wapping, but some former newspaper buildings are listed and have been preserved. The term ''Fleet Street'' remains a metonym for the British national press, and pubs on the street once frequented by jo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chicago Daily News
The ''Chicago Daily News'' was an afternoon daily newspaper in the midwestern United States, published between 1875 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois. History The ''Daily News'' was founded by Melville E. Stone, Percy Meggy, and William Dougherty in 1875 and began publishing on December 23. Byron Andrews, fresh out of Hobart College, was one of the first reporters. The paper aimed for a mass readership in contrast to its primary competitor, the ''Chicago Tribune'', which appealed to the city's elites. The ''Daily News'' was Chicago's first penny paper, and the city's most widely read newspaper in the late nineteenth century. Victor Lawson bought the ''Chicago Daily News'' in 1876 and became its business manager. Stone remained involved as an editor and later bought back an ownership stake, but Lawson took over full ownership again in 1888. Independent newspaper During his long tenure at the ''Daily News'', Victor Lawson pioneered many areas of reporting, opening one of the first f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Gunther
John Gunther (August 30, 1901 – May 29, 1970) was an American journalist and writer. His success came primarily by a series of popular sociopolitical works, known as the "Inside" books (1936–1972), including the best-selling '' Inside U.S.A.'' in 1947. However, he is now best known for his memoir ''Death Be Not Proud'' (1949), on the death of his teenage son, Johnny Gunther, from a brain tumor. Life Gunther was born in 1901 in the Lakeview district of Chicago and grew up on the North Side of the city. He was the first child of a German-American family: his father was Eugene Guenther, a traveling salesman, and his mother was Lizette Schoeninger Guenther. During World War I, the family changed the spelling of its name from Guenther to Gunther to avoid having an obviously-German name. In 1922, he was awarded a Bachelor of Philosophy from the University of Chicago, where he was literary editor of the student paper. He worked briefly in the city as a reporter for t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black Shirts
The Voluntary Militia for National Security ( it, Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale, MVSN), commonly called the Blackshirts ( it, Camicie Nere, CCNN, singular: ) or (singular: ), was originally the paramilitary wing of the National Fascist Party, known as the Squadrismo, and after 1923 an all-volunteer militia of the Kingdom of Italy under Fascist rule, similar to the SA. Its members were distinguished by their black uniforms (modelled on those of the ''Arditi'', Italy's elite troops of World War I) and their loyalty to Benito Mussolini, the ''Duce'' (leader) of Fascism, to whom they swore an oath. The founders of the paramilitary groups were nationalist intellectuals, former army officers and young landowners opposing peasants' and country labourers' unions. Their methods became harsher as Mussolini's power grew, and they used violence and intimidation against Mussolini's opponents.Bosworth, R. J. B, ''Mussolini's Italy: Life Under the Fascist Dictatorship, 1915 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daily Express
The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet in 1900 by Sir Arthur Pearson. Its sister paper, the ''Sunday Express'', was launched in 1918. In June 2022, it had an average daily circulation of 201,608. The paper rose to become the largest circulation newspaper in the world under Lord Beaverbrook, going from 2 million in the 1930s to 4 million in the 1940s. It was acquired by Richard Desmond's company Northern & Shell in 2000. Hugh Whittow was the editor from February 2011 until he retired in March 2018. In February 2018 Trinity Mirror acquired the ''Daily Express'', and other publishing assets of Northern & Shell, in a deal worth £126.7 million. To coincide with the purchase the Trinity Mirror group changed the name of the company to ''Reach''. Hugh Whittow resigned as editor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (founded in 1821) are published by Times Newspapers, since 1981 a subsidiary of News UK, in turn wholly owned by News Corp. ''The Times'' and ''The Sunday Times'', which do not share editorial staff, were founded independently and have only had common ownership since 1966. In general, the political position of ''The Times'' is considered to be centre-right. ''The Times'' is the first newspaper to have borne that name, lending it to numerous other papers around the world, such as ''The Times of India'', ''The New York Times'', and more recently, digital-first publications such as TheTimesBlog.com (Since 2017). In countries where these other titles are popular, the newspaper is often referred to as , or as , although the newspaper is of nationa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Beach Thomas
Sir William Beach Thomas, (22 May 186812 May 1957) was a British author and journalist known for his work as a war correspondent and his writings about nature and country life. Thomas was the son of a clergyman in Cambridgeshire. He was educated at Shrewsbury School and Christ Church, Oxford, before he embarked on a short-lived career as a schoolmaster. Finding that work unpleasant, he turned his attention to writing articles for newspapers and periodicals and began to write books. During the early part of the First World War, Thomas defied military authorities to report news stories from the Western Front for his employer, the ''Daily Mail''. As a result, he was briefly arrested before being granted official accreditation as a war correspondent. His reportage for the remainder of the war received national recognition, despite being criticised by some and parodied by soldiers. His book ''With the British on the Somme'' (1917) portrayed the English soldier in a very ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Stothard
Sir Peter Stothard (born 28 February 1951) is a British author, journalist and critic. From 1992 to 2002 he was editor of ''The Times'' and from 2002 to 2016 editor of ''The Times Literary Supplement'', the only journalist to have held both roles. He writes books about Roman history and his four books of memoir cover both political and classical themes. Early life He was the son of Max Stothard, an electrical engineer who worked at the Marconi Research Centre, Great Baddow. He grew up on the nearby Rothmans Estate. He was educated at Brentwood School, Essex (1962–68); and Trinity College, Oxford, where he became editor of Oxford University student newspaper '' Cherwell.'' Career Stothard joined the BBC after leaving university, and wrote for the ''New Statesman'', ''New Society'' and ''Plays and Players''. He joined ''The Sunday Times'' in 1978 and ''The Times'' in 1981, becoming chief leader writer, deputy editor and, based in Washington, US editor. He published ''Thirty ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
