AHOY THERE

Thank you for visiting. I am Sophia Money-Coutts, British journalist, author and real person (people often think my name must be made up, on the basis that nobody outside of a PG Wodehouse novel could be called something so preposterous. And yet…)

I write a weekly column for The Daily Telegraph (on Saturdays, if you want to find it in the actual paper. Sometimes they use a picture of me, sometimes a picture of something else depending on what I’m writing about. Not so long ago, it was a picture of the King, but he wasn’t the author, I was. Don’t get confused.)

I also write regularly for other papers and magazines about all sorts of things. Funny things, ideally. Sometimes lifestyle stuff, sometimes etiquette stuff, sometimes Royal stuff, sometimes quite personal stuff…

I’ve also written six novels. Romantic comedies. You can find them HERE if you like.

Recently, I noticed that other journalists were banging about about this Substack - a place where they could write a newsletter and send it out to anyone who was interested without the pesky interference of editors*. You have total control, a fellow Substack-er told me, and you can write whatever you like. Can I write about a funny thing I saw on the Tube which a pesky editor* would never let me put in a newspaper, I checked. Absolutely, she told me. Can I write about my film/book/TV/comedy recommendations even though I’m not an official critic and think Three Men And A Little Lady is one of the finest movies ever made? (Tom Selleck - *swoons*) Go ahead, she cried. Can I write about tidbits of scurrilous Royal gossip I get told? She looked a bit nervous here, so I don’t do that. But this is the place where I now write a weekly update on THINGS in general, or sometimes more than weekly, depending on my mood. If you fancy that, hit the big green button below and you’re all signed up.

The newsletter is called Onwards and Sideways! which is an expression I’ve pinched from my mum, and we use all the time. Practically on a daily basis. ‘Onwards and upwards!’ people console you, when something bad happens (where did that come from? Was it Shakespeare? He made up most of our phrases). But ‘onwards and sideways’ is often more accurate, Mum and I reckon. And also it’s funnier. And we could all do with more of a laugh these days, right?

*if you are one of my editors, you’re not at all pesky. Just a little joke.