Come si usa dire, la fortuna del principiante lo protegge: e mentre i suoi colleghi concorrenti annaspano nel vuoto e nel nulla, giocando a chi inventa la notizia più grossa, il nostro inviato speciale riesce per caso a scoprire che in effetti i comunisti stamno preparando un colpo di stato. Scrive il pezzo, lo manda, fa lo scoop, diventa famoso: ma per sua somma gioia, che la fama paventa ed evita, gli onori ricadono sul suo omonimo mai partito. The Pension Dressler stood in a side street and had, at first glance, the air rather of a farm than of a hotel. Frau Dressler's pig, tethered by one hind trotter to the jamb of the front door, roamed the yard and disputed the kitchen scraps with the poultry. He was a prodigious beast. Frau Dressler's guests prodded him appreciatively on their way to the dining-room, speculating on how soon he would be ripe for killing. The milch-goat was allowed a narrower radius; those who kept strictly to the causeway were safe, but she never reconciled herself to this limitation and, day in, day out, essayed a series of meteoric onslaughts on the passers-by, ending, at the end of her rope, with a jerk which would have been death to an animal of any other species. One day the rope would break; she knew it and so did Frau Dressler's guests." (156) Waugh had himself worked as a special correspondent in Ethiopia during the 1930s, reporting for the Daily Mail on Mussolini's invasion. His experience left him with a cynical view of the profession and the men behind the news: the powerful newspaper barons. The mysterious Mr Baldwin arrives by parachute and gives Boot lots of detailed political information. The Soviet Union of Islamaelia is proclaimed. Its first act is to abolish Sundays. A counter-revolution occurrs on the same day.

Scoop is a scathing satire on journalistic policy and practice that has been plaguing the world from the time of its birth. Nothing much has changed from the time of its publication, and the story is still apt for today. So, one can say that this is and will be a timeless tale. In 1987, William Boyd adapted the novel into a two-hour TV film, Scoop. Directed by Gavin Millar, it starred Michael Maloney as William Boot and Denholm Elliott as Salter. True or not it’s a story about the power of the press and the ability of unscrupulous publishers to ‘manufacture’ news. I was reminded of it immediately on reading Evelyn Waugh’s novel Scoop, a satire centring on the pursuit of a non-existent story about a non-existent war. ENGLISH: This book makes a scathing critique of the work of journalists, especially war correspondents, written in as funny a style as Wodehouse's novels. On several occasions (especially in the first part) I couldn't keep from laughing audibly while I was reading.It is an old Penguin book, the orange and white one, a reprint from 1951. This book, these musty papers are 8 years older than i am! She is the woman who clinched the 2019 interview with Prince Andrew, described as ‘a plane crashing into an oil tanker, causing a tsunami, triggering a nuclear explosion’. She is many things beside: the first in her family to go to university; a trained barrister; a single mum; a master of persuasion. In her former BBC colleagues’ words, she was the ‘booker extraordinaire’, responsible for many of Newsnight’s exclusives over the past decade, including Stormy Daniels, Sean Spicer, Brigitte Höss, Steven Seagal, Mel Greig and Julian Assange. Katchen is virtually a prostitute who squeezes money out of him at every possible opportunity. She claims to be married, but isn’t. She claims to be German, but is of mongrel Pan-European origin. William is well to be rid of her when she departs in his collapsible canoe.

But then, haven't we already a spoiled brat of a business tycoon ruling a nation already manipulating the press and giving big, laughable speeches to his followers and fanatics on whatever pleases him? By that comparison, Lord Copper is an almost benevolent fool and I would not mind working under him as a correspondent too! At least, he will commission me to go to Africa or write lurid, dirty anecdotes and still earn my keep.Evelyn Waugh was a snob, a racist, an anti-semite and a fascist sympathiser whose attitude was, in the words of his biographer David Wykes, "[Waugh's racism was] "an illogical extension of his views on the naturalness and rightness of hierarchy as the (main) principle of social organisation". ESPAÑOL: Este libro es una crítica mordaz de la labor de los periodistas, especialmente de los corresponsales de guerra, escrita de una forma tan divertida como las novelas de Wodehouse. En varias ocasiones (especialmente en la primera parte) no pude contener la risa mientras leía. Waugh, Evelyn (1964) [1955]. "Book 2, 'In the Picture', Section 3". Officers and Gentlemen. Harmondsworth: Penguin. p.154. Waugh fu inviato dal Daily Mail (che nel romanzo diventa il Daily Beast) in Africa Orientale come reporter per scrivere dell’invasione fascista dell’Abissinia, quella che viene ricordata come Seconda Guerra Itali-Abissina (dall’ottobre del 1935 al maggio del 1936). Quando Waugh ritenne d’aver scovato la notizia bomba, uno scoop, mandò il suo pezzo via telegrafo scritto in latino per aggirare possibili jntercettazioni della concorrenza: il giornale ricevette il pezzo, ma lo trovò incomprensibile e lo eliminò. It feels like Waugh had fun writing this tale, and his powers of description are so apt that the feeling is catching. Here, for example, Waugh sketches the front yard of a woman who rents out rooms on her property:

The comic said he was ‘really chuffed to have won’, adding: ‘What a treat to have an old spot pig named after the book. I still have no idea if I can actually write but this award gives me fresh hope. Cheers!’Lord Copper gives a banquet to honour William, but it is his aged uncle Theodore Boot who is mistakenly presented as the hero and commended as the ‘triumph of youth’. In 1928 he married Evelyn Gardiner. She proved unfaithful, and the marriage ended in divorce in 1930. Waugh would derive parts of “A Handful of Dust” from this unhappy time. His second marriage to Audrey Herbert lasted the rest of his life and begat seven children. It was during this time that he converted to Catholicism. But it’s also a very personal story about moving from a very rural upbringing into a cut-throat environment, and trying to achieve what most people would think impossible. It’s hard not to love Sam as she takes you on her very personal journey, and navigates her way through some of the most difficult Newsnight interviews. He was also jealous, personally nasty and malicious, had been a bully at school, and as James Lees-Milne said, "the nastiest-tempered man in England".

Quizzed by Maitlis, the Duke failed to express any regret over his friendship with Epstein, or empathy for his victims. The novel, inspired by his early life as a trainee solicitor, took the award as it ‘best evokes the PG Wodehouse spirit of witty characters and perfectly-timed comic phrases’. Il nostro compianto inviato di guerra, grande reporter, Mimmo Candito, si portava sempre dietro il romanzo di Waugh, in qualsiasi missione fosse mandato, qualsiasi conflitto dovesse seguire. Disse in un’intervista:But the main target for Waugh’s satire is journalists – particularly the English. They cluster together at the Hotel Liberty as if it were a gentleman’s club. None of them do anything active in the way of news gathering; they hardly ever venture outside the confines of the hotel bar; and their main source of information is each other. Yet they all want to claim the kudos for being the first to report important new events – hence the title of the novel. When a quarrel breaks out in the ruling family (leading to civil war) one faction declares that the Ishmaelites are in fact a white race who must ‘purge themselves of the Negro taint’. A military coup takes place, the first result of which is a proclamation abolishing Sundays. The coup is overthrown the following day. Deedes, W. F. (28 May 2003). "The real Scoop: Who was Who in Waugh's Cast List and Why". The Daily Telegraph. London . Retrieved 25 November 2014. A spokesperson for OneWorld, the publisher of Scoops, said: “Sam’s book speaks for itself and she shares credit in it and in interviews.” With that, comes a tacit understanding about the sanctity of the negotiation process, which has historically remained confidential.