Acting on a dinner-party tip from Mrs Algernon Stitch he feels convinced that he has hit on just the chap to cover a promising little war in the African Republic of Ishmaelia. That is not to say he has not made the odd blunder, however, and may in a moment of weakness make another. Lord Copper, newspaper magnate and proprietor of the Daily Beast, has always prided himself on his intuitive flair for spotting ace reporters. One of Waugh's most exuberant comedies,Scoopis a brilliantly irreverent satire of Fleet Street and its hectic pursuit of hot news. Acting on a dinner-party tip from Mrs Algernon Stitch he feels convinced that he has hit on just.

But it all means nothing to him, and he is happy to return to his country home, the isolated and dilapidated Boot Magna Hall, where his many eccentric relatives live.One of Waugh's most exuberant comedies,Scoopis a brilliantly irreverent satire of Fleet Street and its hectic pursuit of hot news.

Helped by a series of lucky events, William gets several major scoops himself and returns to London as a world-renowned reporter. William gets some quick lessons in the devious way of journalists, who are always trying to outwit their colleagues and deliver a scoop. Geographically, at least, Ishmaelia is identical with Abyssinia. Lord Copper, the arrogant and ignorant owner of the Daily Beast, sends out by mistake a naïve writer of nature columns, William Boot, to cover the war in the fictional East African country of Ishmaelia. The plot rests on some comic twists of fortune.

The result was a satirical, farcical novel that takes lighthearted but deadly aim at the newspaper industry and the journalistic profession. Waugh admitted that he had no aptitude for war reporting, but he did observe closely the activities of his fellow journalists. It is based on Waugh's stint as a war correspondent for the London Daily Mail in Abyssinia (now Ethiopia) in 1935, during which he covered the war between Abyssinia and Italy. Evelyn Waugh's Scoop (London, 1938) is a satire on journalism.

Scoop by Evelyn Waugh