MAGAZINES

The Economist

The financial magazine The Economist was launched in 1843 by James Wilson as an organ of the Anti-Corn Law League to espouse free trade. The publication's first glory days were during the editorship of Walter Bagehot, who was the founder's son-in-law. The publication was owned by Wilson s descendants until they sold it in 1928.

The present-day The Economist was essentially the creation of Geoffrey Crowther, who was appointed to be the magazine's editor in 1938. He changed it from being a City of London periodical that it had become into one of the world's most influential weeklies.

Location: 1-11 John Adam Street, WC2N 6HT. The Economist's present home. (brown, orange)

25-27 St James's Street, SW1A 1HA. The former Economist complex. Now known as Smithson Plaza. (red, purple)

12 Upper Belgrave Street, SW1X 8BA. Bagehot's home. (red, orange)

Website: www.economist.com

i-D

In 1980 i-D magazine was launched by the graphic designer Terry Jones, who had been the art director of Vogue from 1972 to 1977.

Website: https://i-d.vice.com

The Lady

The Lady magazine was founded in 1885 by Thomas Gibson Tap' Bowles M.P. (1842-1922). Traditionally, the magazine seemed to have two separate readerships. The first readership were readers of it as a magazine who read it for its journalism, while the second readership took it for its advertisements, which were the nation's bulletin board for domestic help.

(Bowles also founded Vanity Fair, which, in its present form, is a rather different magazine from The Lady.)

Location: 38-40 Bedford Street, WC2E 9ER (orange, yellow)

Website: https://lady.co.uk www.thelady.magazine.co.uk

The Oldie

The Oldie is a monthly magazine aimed at the aged and the aging, who do not necessarily have any intention of going to the grave quietly.

In 1986 Richard Ingrams stepped down as the editor of the satirical magazine Private Eye. As he was getting on a bit, he launched The Oldie in 1992.

Location: 65 Newman Street, W1T 3EG (red, grey)

Website: https://theoldie.magazine.co.uk www.theoldie.co.uk

Private Eye

Private Eye was founded by four men who had been contemporaries at Shrewsbury public school - Christopher Booker, Paul Foot, Richard Ingrams, and Willie Rushton.¹ At the publication's foundation Andrew Osmond was its principal shareholder. The magazine's first edition was published in 1961. Booker was the first editor, however, Ingrams staged a successful coup and took over the chair. The following year the comedian Peter Cook and his business partner Nicholas Luard paid 1500 for Mr Osmond's 75% holding in Private Eye. It was Cook who devised the magazine's speech bubble cover format. He was responsible for introducing Barry Humphries and Nick Garland to it.

The early directors of Private Eye included the publisher Anthony Blond, who acted as a guarantor of the magazine's bank account. Socially, he knew the businessman Sir James Goldsmith, who regarded the fortnightly as his b te noire. The two men maintained a friendly relationship throughout the tycoon's lengthy vendetta against the publication.

In 1986 Ingrams stepped down as editor of the Eye. He was succeeded by Ian Hislop.

Location: 6 Carlisle Street, W1D 3BN (orange, yellow)

Website: www.private-eye.co.uk

¹. Many of the initial Private Eye meetings were held in the basement of the No. 18 Draycott Avenue home of the Drummond family.

Gnomes

Lord Gnome, the magazine's supposed proprietor, had his origin in a remark that the Labour politician Harold Wilson made in the House of Commons about Swiss bankers - 'the little gnomes of Zurich'.

Time Out

Tony Elliott edited an arts magazine while a student at Keele University. On a visit to London he formed the view that the guides that were being published by underground papers and the Evening Standard could be bettered. The first issue of Time Out was published on 12 August 1968. 5000 copies were printed on double-sided A2 sheets. It was published by the London Caledonian Press, a Communist Party-owned business.

Location: 251 Tottenham Court Road, W1T 7RB (blue, orange)

Vogue

In 2024 Vogue left Vogue House

Location: 2 Hanover Square, W1S 1JX (red, turquoise)

David Backhouse 2024