Sophie Dahl
Encyclopedia
Sophie Dahl born Sophie Holloway, is an English
author
and former model. She was born in London, the daughter of actor Julian Holloway
and writer Tessa Dahl. Her maternal grandparents were author Roald Dahl
and actress Patricia Neal
. Her paternal grandparents were actor Stanley Holloway
and actress and chorus dancer Violet Lane. She was the inspiration for Sophie, the main character in her maternal grandfather's book The BFG
.
, a Vogue
stylist. Blow referred Dahl to Sarah Doukas of the Storm Model Agency in London. Dahl appeared in campaigns for Versace
, Alexander McQueen
, Patrick Cox
, Pringle
, Godiva, Banana Republic
, and The Gap
, amongst others. She was featured prominently in many large-circulation magazines, including Elle, Harper's Bazaar, Marie Claire and the British, Italian and American versions of Vogue. Dahl worked with several well-known photographers, including Richard Avedon
, David Bailey, Peter Lindbergh
, Bruce Weber
and Steven Meisel
. She appeared in several high-fashion editorials for magazines such as Harpers Bazaar, Elle
, Visionaire
, and W, and was featured on the covers of British and Italian Vogue
. In 2000, Dahl achieved a degree of notoriety when Tom Ford
and Steven Meisel
cast her in an advertisement for the Yves Saint-Laurent perfume brand Opium
. The ad featured a photograph of her posing nude on black satin. It was removed from UK billboard
s after complaints were made to the Advertising Standards Authority
.
and American edition of Vogue.
In 2003 Dahl published her first book, an illustrated novella and Times bestseller, The Man with the Dancing Eyes. After this she began writing regularly for publications such as American Vogue
, The Guardian
, The Telegraph
, The Observer
and the Saturday Times
. From 2005 Dahl was a contributing editor and regular columnist at Men's Vogue, prior to its closure in 2008. Dahl is the author of four books: The Man With the Dancing Eyes (2003), Playing with the Grown-Ups (2008) and two cook books, Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights (2009) and "From Season To Season" (2011). She was a contributor to an anthology, Truth or Dare' edited by Justine Picardie, which included works by Zoë Heller
and William Fiennes
. She also provides introductions to the Puffin Classic new edition of The Secret Garden
by Frances Hodgson Burnett
, and Virago Press re-issue of Stella Gibbons
' 1938 novel Nightingale Wood, which was released in April 2009.
In March and April 2010, her six-part cookery series entitled The Delicious Miss Dahl, which Dahl wrote and presented, was broadcast on BBC 2. She also wrote and presented a television programme about the Victorian cook, Isabella Beeton which was transmitted on BBC2 on 29 September 2011.
, Buckinghamshire
, and supports the charities The Place2be, First Story, GOSH, NSPCC
, RSPCA & Break Through Breast Cancer
.
She is distantly related to Oliver Percy Bernard
, an English
architect
and scenic designer as her paternal grandfather Stanley Holloway
and Bernard were cousins. Oliver's father Charles Bernard (1830–1894), was a notable Shakespearian actor and theatre manager in the mid-19th century and was a brother to her maternal great-great-grandmother. She was also a distant relative of the British journalist Jeffrey Bernard
and the poet Oliver Bernard
as they were the sons of Oliver Percy Bernard
.
On 9 January 2010 she married singer Jamie Cullum
. On 2 March 2011, Dahl and Cullum had their first child, a baby girl named Lyra.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
and former model. She was born in London, the daughter of actor Julian Holloway
Julian Holloway
Julian Holloway is an English actor now based in Hollywood, CA, United States. He is the son of the comedy actor and singer Stanley Holloway and former chorus dancer and actress Violet Lane...
and writer Tessa Dahl. Her maternal grandparents were author Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl was a British novelist, short story writer, fighter pilot and screenwriter.Born in Wales to Norwegian parents, he served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, in which he became a flying ace and intelligence agent, rising to the rank of Wing Commander...
and actress Patricia Neal
Patricia Neal
Patricia Neal was an American actress of stage and screen. She was best known for her film roles as World War II widow Helen Benson in The Day the Earth Stood Still , wealthy matron Emily Eustace Failenson in Breakfast at Tiffany's , middle-aged housekeeper Alma Brown in Hud , for which she won...
. Her paternal grandparents were actor Stanley Holloway
Stanley Holloway
Stanley Augustus Holloway, OBE was an English stage and film actor, comedian, singer, poet and monologist. He was famous for his comic and character roles on stage and screen, especially that of Alfred P. Doolittle in My Fair Lady...
and actress and chorus dancer Violet Lane. She was the inspiration for Sophie, the main character in her maternal grandfather's book The BFG
The BFG
The BFG is a children's book written by Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin Blake, first published in 1982. The book was an expansion of a story told in Danny, the Champion of the World, an earlier Dahl book...
.
Discovery and modeling career
Dahl was discovered by Isabella BlowIsabella Blow
Isabella Blow was an English magazine editor. The muse of hat designer Philip Treacy, she is credited with discovering the models Stella Tennant and Sophie Dahl as well as the fashion designer Alexander McQueen....
, a Vogue
Vogue (British magazine)
The British edition of Vogue is a fashion magazine that has been published since 1916.When British Vogue was launched, it was the first overseas edition of an existing fashion magazine. Under the magazine's first editor, Elspeth Champcommunal, the magazine was essentially the same as the American...
stylist. Blow referred Dahl to Sarah Doukas of the Storm Model Agency in London. Dahl appeared in campaigns for Versace
Versace
Gianni Versace S.p.A. , usually referred to as Versace, is an Italian fashion label founded by Gianni Versace in 1978.The first Versace boutique was opened in Milan's Via della Spiga in 1978, and its popularity was immediate. Today, Versace is one of the world's leading international fashion houses...
, Alexander McQueen
Alexander McQueen
Lee Alexander McQueen, CBE was a British fashion designer and couturier best known for his in-depth knowledge of bespoke British tailoring, his tendency to juxtapose strength with fragility in his collections, as well as the emotional power and raw energy of his provocative fashion shows...
, Patrick Cox
Patrick Cox
Patrick Cox is a Canadian–British fashion designer and an eponymous fashion label specializing in the creation of shoes, leather goods and accessories...
, Pringle
Pringle
Pringle is a Scottish surname, and may refer to:* Aileen Pringle , American stage and film actress* Alexander Pringle , Scottish Conservative politician* Andrew Seth Pringle-Pattison , Scottish philosopher...
, Godiva, Banana Republic
Banana Republic
Banana Republic is an American clothing brand founded by Mel and Patricia Ziegler in 1978 as a travel-themed clothing company; it has subsequently largely eliminated this tropical or travel-related theme. The company was bought by Gap in 1983...
, and The Gap
Gap (clothing retailer)
The Gap, Inc. is an American clothing and accessories retailer based in San Francisco, California, and founded in 1969 by Donald G. Fisher and Doris F. Fisher. The company has five primary brands: the namesake Gap banner, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Piperlime and Athleta. As of September 2008,...
, amongst others. She was featured prominently in many large-circulation magazines, including Elle, Harper's Bazaar, Marie Claire and the British, Italian and American versions of Vogue. Dahl worked with several well-known photographers, including Richard Avedon
Richard Avedon
Richard Avedon was an American photographer. An obituary published in The New York Times said that "his fashion and portrait photographs helped define America's image of style, beauty and culture for the last half-century."-Photography career:Avedon was born in New York City to a Jewish Russian...
, David Bailey, Peter Lindbergh
Peter Lindbergh
Peter Lindbergh, born Peter Brodbeck, is a German photographer and filmmaker, born on November 23, 1944 in Leszno, Poland. He currently lives in Paris, New York and Arles....
, Bruce Weber
Bruce Weber (photographer)
Bruce Weber is an American fashion photographer and occasional filmmaker. He is most widely known for his ad campaigns for Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Pirelli, Abercrombie & Fitch, Revlon, and Gianni Versace, as well as his work for Vogue, GQ, Vanity Fair, Elle, Life, Interview, and Rolling Stone...
and Steven Meisel
Steven Meisel
Steven Meisel is an American photographer, who obtained popular acclaim with his work in US and Italian Vogue and his photographs of friend Madonna in her 1992 book Sex...
. She appeared in several high-fashion editorials for magazines such as Harpers Bazaar, Elle
Elle (magazine)
Elle is a worldwide magazine of French origin that focuses on women's fashion, beauty, health, and entertainment. Elle is also the world's largest fashion magazine. It was founded by Pierre Lazareff and his wife Hélène Gordon in 1945. The title, in French, means "she".-History:Elle was founded in...
, Visionaire
Visionaire
Visionaire is an art and fashion publication that has come out in limited, numbered editions three times a year since spring 1991. Each issue has a specific format and theme around which prominent artists, designers, photographers, and others guests edit the publication...
, and W, and was featured on the covers of British and Italian Vogue
Vogue (magazine)
Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...
. In 2000, Dahl achieved a degree of notoriety when Tom Ford
Tom Ford
Thomas Carlyle "Tom" Ford is an American fashion designer and film director. He gained international fame for his turnaround of the Gucci fashion house and the creation of the Tom Ford label before directing the Oscar-nominated film A Single Man.-Early life :Tom Ford was born August 27, 1961 in...
and Steven Meisel
Steven Meisel
Steven Meisel is an American photographer, who obtained popular acclaim with his work in US and Italian Vogue and his photographs of friend Madonna in her 1992 book Sex...
cast her in an advertisement for the Yves Saint-Laurent perfume brand Opium
Opium (perfume)
Opium is an Oriental-spicy perfume created for fashion brand Yves Saint Laurent by perfumer Jean Amic and Jean-Louis Sieuzac of Roure, first marketed in 1977. Its top notes are a mixture of fruit and spices, with mandarin orange, plum, clove, coriander and pepper, as well as bay leaf...
. The ad featured a photograph of her posing nude on black satin. It was removed from UK billboard
Billboard
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
s after complaints were made to the Advertising Standards Authority
Advertising Standards Authority (United Kingdom)
The Advertising Standards Authority is the self-regulatory organisation of the advertising industry in the United Kingdom. The ASA is a non-statutory organisation and so cannot interpret or enforce legislation. However, its code of advertising practice broadly reflects legislation in many instances...
.
Writing
She is currently a regular columnist for British Vogue (winning a Jasmine Award for her column) and Waitrose Kitchen and has contributed to, amongst others, The Saturday Times Magazine, The Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
and American edition of Vogue.
In 2003 Dahl published her first book, an illustrated novella and Times bestseller, The Man with the Dancing Eyes. After this she began writing regularly for publications such as American Vogue
Vogue (magazine)
Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...
, The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, The Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
, The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
and the Saturday Times
Times
The Times is a UK daily newspaper, the original English language newspaper titled "Times". Times may also refer to:In newspapers:*The Times , went defunct in 2005*The Times *The Times of Northwest Indiana...
. From 2005 Dahl was a contributing editor and regular columnist at Men's Vogue, prior to its closure in 2008. Dahl is the author of four books: The Man With the Dancing Eyes (2003), Playing with the Grown-Ups (2008) and two cook books, Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights (2009) and "From Season To Season" (2011). She was a contributor to an anthology, Truth or Dare' edited by Justine Picardie, which included works by Zoë Heller
Zoë Heller
Zoë Kate Hinde Heller is an English journalist and novelist.-Early life:Heller was born in North London as the youngest of four children of German-Jewish immigrant Lukas Heller, who was a successful screenwriter. Her mother was instrumental in keeping up the Labour Party's "Save London Transport...
and William Fiennes
William Fiennes (author)
William Fiennes is a British author.Fiennes was educated at the Dragon School in Oxford, Eton College, and Oxford University, where he received both undergraduate and graduate degrees...
. She also provides introductions to the Puffin Classic new edition of The Secret Garden
The Secret Garden
The Secret Garden is a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It was initially published in serial format starting in the autumn of 1910, and was first published in its entirety in 1911. It is now one of Burnett's most popular novels, and is considered to be a classic of English children's...
by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Frances Hodgson Burnett
Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett was an English playwright and author. She is best known for her children's stories, in particular The Secret Garden , A Little Princess, and Little Lord Fauntleroy.Born Frances Eliza Hodgson, she lived in Cheetham Hill, Manchester...
, and Virago Press re-issue of Stella Gibbons
Stella Gibbons
Stella Dorothea Gibbons was an English novelist, journalist, poet, and short-story writer.Her first novel, Cold Comfort Farm, won the Femina Vie Heureuse Prize for 1933...
' 1938 novel Nightingale Wood, which was released in April 2009.
In March and April 2010, her six-part cookery series entitled The Delicious Miss Dahl, which Dahl wrote and presented, was broadcast on BBC 2. She also wrote and presented a television programme about the Victorian cook, Isabella Beeton which was transmitted on BBC2 on 29 September 2011.
Family history and personal life
Dahl is a patron of the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre in Great MissendenGreat Missenden
Great Missenden is a large village in the Misbourne Valley in the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, England, situated between the towns of Amersham and Wendover. It closely adjoins the villages of Little Missenden and Prestwood. The narrow High Street is bypassed by the main A413 London to...
, Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
, and supports the charities The Place2be, First Story, GOSH, NSPCC
NSPCC
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children is a United Kingdom charity campaigning and working in child protection.-History:...
, RSPCA & Break Through Breast Cancer
Breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from ducts are known as ductal carcinomas; those originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas...
.
She is distantly related to Oliver Percy Bernard
Oliver Percy Bernard
Oliver Percy Bernard OBE MC was an English architect, and scenic, graphic and industrial designer. He was instrumental in developing conservative Victorian British taste in a modernist European direction and much of his work is frequently characterised as art deco.-Early life:Born in Camberwell,...
, an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
and scenic designer as her paternal grandfather Stanley Holloway
Stanley Holloway
Stanley Augustus Holloway, OBE was an English stage and film actor, comedian, singer, poet and monologist. He was famous for his comic and character roles on stage and screen, especially that of Alfred P. Doolittle in My Fair Lady...
and Bernard were cousins. Oliver's father Charles Bernard (1830–1894), was a notable Shakespearian actor and theatre manager in the mid-19th century and was a brother to her maternal great-great-grandmother. She was also a distant relative of the British journalist Jeffrey Bernard
Jeffrey Bernard
Jeffrey Bernard was a British journalist, best known for his weekly column "Low Life" in the Spectator magazine, and also notorious for a feckless and chaotic career and life of alcohol abuse. He became associated with the louche and bohemian atmosphere that existed in London's Soho district...
and the poet Oliver Bernard
Oliver Bernard
Oliver Bernard is an English poet and translator. Bernard is most famous for translating Rimbaud into English as part of the Penguin classics collection....
as they were the sons of Oliver Percy Bernard
Oliver Percy Bernard
Oliver Percy Bernard OBE MC was an English architect, and scenic, graphic and industrial designer. He was instrumental in developing conservative Victorian British taste in a modernist European direction and much of his work is frequently characterised as art deco.-Early life:Born in Camberwell,...
.
On 9 January 2010 she married singer Jamie Cullum
Jamie Cullum
Jamie Cullum is an English pop and jazz-pop singer-songwriter. Though he is primarily a vocalist/pianist he also accompanies himself on other instruments including guitar and drums. Since April 2010, he has been presenting a weekly jazz show on BBC Radio 2, broadcast on Tuesdays from 19:00.- Early...
. On 2 March 2011, Dahl and Cullum had their first child, a baby girl named Lyra.
External links
- Sophie Dahl's website
- Vincent Graff meets Sophie Dahl (The Guardian)
- Interview with Kate Lauer (The London Paper)
- Jenny Tucker reviews Voluptuous Delights (so Feminine)
- Announcement of BBC cookery series (The Telegraph)
- Announcement of 'Miss Dahl’s Guide to All Things Lovely' (The Bookseller)
- I'm a bit of a dork: Kira Cochrane talks to Sophie Dahl (The Guardian)