Daisy Louisa Dominica Waugh (born 19 February 1967) is an English novelist and journalist.

Early life

A member of a literary dynasty, Waugh is the second daughter of the writer and journalist

Auberon Waugh Auberon Alexander Waugh (17 November 1939 – 16 January 2001) was an English journalist and novelist, and eldest son of the novelist Evelyn Waugh. He was widely known by his nickname "Bron". After a traditional classical education at Downsid ...

, by his marriage in 1961 to the novelist and translator Lady Teresa Waugh, daughter of the 6th Earl of Onslow. Her brother,

Alexander Waugh Alexander Evelyn Michael Waugh (born 1963) is an English writer, critic, and journalist. Among other books, he has written ''Fathers and Sons: The Autobiography of a Family'' (2004), about five generations of his own family, and ''The House of Wi ...

, is a writer. They are grandchildren of the author

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 '' Decl ...

and great-grandchildren of the publisher and literary critic Arthur Waugh. Waugh grew up from the age of four at Combe Florey House, in

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, of which she has written: "It's an impressive-looking place: big and quite grand and pleasingly symmetrical, set at the top of a long, winding drive, with an Elizabethan gatehouse at the bottom and a small lake with a private island halfway up... With forbidden attics and vast cellars chock-a-block with hidden treasures, there was never any need for a nursery... My memories are of a house, underheated (to put it mildly), but always full of noisy cousins and glamorous, clever people, eating well and talking quickly."

Career

At the age of twenty-one she published her first book, ''What Is the Matter with Mary Jane?'' (1988). She pursued an ambition to become a Hollywood screenwriter, which turned into a weekly newspaper column from

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. Other journalism includes working as a restaurant critic and as an agony aunt for ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'', and

travel writing Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical locations. Travel can be done by foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without luggage, and can be one way or round trip. Travel c ...

. On television, she has presented

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

's ''

Travelog The genre of travel literature encompasses outdoor literature, guide books, nature writing, and travel memoirs. One early travel memoirist in Western literature was Pausanias, a Greek geographer of the 2nd century CE. In the early modern perio ...

'' show and was a contributor to the

BBC Radio Four BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's ...

programme ''Afternoon Shift''.Daisy Waugh
at fantasticfiction.co.uk, retrieved 25 May 2010 ''A Small Town in Africa'' (1994), a book about Waugh's experiences while living for six months at Isiolo in the Eastern Province of

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

, was well received. In 1995, she spent three months travelling in the United States with

Samantha Weinberg Samantha Weinberg is a British novelist, journalist and travel writer. Educated at St Paul's Girls' School and Trinity College, Cambridge, she is the author of books such as ''A Fish Caught in Time: The Search for the Coelacanth'' and the James B ...

. In 2005, the ''

Literary Review ''Literary Review'' is a British literary magazine founded in 1979 by Anne Smith, then head of the Department of English at the University of Edinburgh. Its offices are on Lexington Street in Soho. The magazine was edited for fourteen years by v ...

'' described Waugh's novel ''Bed of Roses'' as "''

Cold Comfort Farm ''Cold Comfort Farm'' is a comic novel by English author Stella Gibbons, published in 1932. It parodies the romanticised, sometimes doom-laden accounts of rural life popular at the time, by writers such as Mary Webb. Plot summary Following ...

'' meets ''

Goodbye, Mr Chips ''Goodbye, Mr. Chips'' is a novella about the life of a school teacher, Mr. Chipping, written by English writer James Hilton and first published by Hodder & Stoughton in October 1934. It has been adapted into two feature films and two televi ...

''." From about 2005 to 2007, Waugh lived in the country and wrote an anonymous column for ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, w ...

'' called ''Country/City Mole in Home''. This phase came to an end when she gave up the rural idyll and returned to London to write ''The Desperate Diary of a Country Housewife'' (2008). Waugh has published several novels, as well as works of non-fiction, and has written for British national newspapers including ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'', ''

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'' (f ...

'', and ''

''.

Family

Waugh married Peter de Sales la Terrière in 1995. Their first child, a daughter, was born on 22 September 1997, a son three years later, and a second daughter in 2006. She lives in London with her husband and children.

Books

*''What is the Matter with Mary Jane? A Cautionary Tale'' (London, 1988) *''A Small Town in Africa'' (London: Heinemann, 1994) *''The New You Survival Kit: An Essential Guide to Etiquette, Rites and Customs among the Modern Elite'' (London: HarperCollins, 2002) *''Ten Steps to Happiness (In a Safe and Healthy World)'' (London: HarperCollins, 2003, ) *''Bed of Roses'' (2005) *''Bordeaux Housewives'' (London: Harper, 2006) *''The Desperate Diary of a Country Housewife'' (London: HarperCollins, 2008, ) *''Last Dance with Valentino'' (London: HarperCollins, 2011 )
Last Dance with Valentino
' at books.google.co.uk, retrieved 26 May 2010 *''Melting the Snow on Hester Street'' (London: HarperCollins, 2013 *''The Kids Will Be Fine: Guilt-Free Motherhood for Thoroughly Modern Women'' (Metropolitan, 2014) *''In the Crypt with a Candlestick'' (Piatkus, 2020)

References

External links

*
Daisy Waugh
at standpointmag.co.uk * Daisy Waugh Website: https://daisywaugh.com/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Waugh, Daisy 1967 births Living people People from Somerset English columnists English satirists British restaurant critics 20th-century English novelists 21st-century English novelists The Times people The Sunday Times people Daisy People educated at Taunton School Onslow family