Emma Soames: quitting Telegraph
New Saga Magazine editor Emma Soames believes that 25 year olds have had it their way for far too long.
Soames, who is working out her notice as editor of The Daily Telegraph’s Saturday magazine after quitting to edit the Folkestone-based monthly for over 50s, said the older market was under-served and she wanted to address her own age group.
"I have worked on all sorts of different publications and, being over 50 myself now, I would very much like to talk to my own age group who, in many ways, are just as worthy of a magazine as 25 year olds," she said.
Soames has yet to set a leaving date but is reported to have negotiated a salary of around £150,000. "It was a very difficult decision to take. I wasn’t particularly looking for another job but they made it sound very exciting. It is a very clever company."
Soames takes over from Paul Bach, who is retiring after 11 years at the helm but will remain with the company on a part-time basis.
Tim Bull, Saga Group strategic planning director, said Bach had made Saga Magazine "the force it is today", taking it from a title aimed purely at customers of Saga holidays to one with a circulation of around 1.2 million.
Bull said: "Emma Soames shone out. She is an outstanding editor." Soames joined the Telegraph Magazine in 1994 from the Evening Standard where she was editor of ES Magazine. Prior to that, she was editor of Tatler, features editor of Vogue, editor of the Literary Review and deputy editor of The Oldie.
Asked if she was a regular reader of Saga, she replied: "I have only just got into the age range."
By Ruth Addicott
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