End of Blog - See Flickr

Sorry but my heart is not in this Blog so there will be no more posts. 

I have started a Flickr photostream into which I will be uploading all the magazine cover photos/scans I have taken. 

All the Radio Times and TV Times covers I have are there now. Film mags will follow, then the rest.

See http://www.flickr.com/photos/mhill46

My  Hold the Front Page Blog will continue to be updated thrice weekly.

Radio Times (1962) and TV Times (1976)

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Radio Times 

Apr 26 1962 

Eamonn Andrews

 and

TV Times      

Sep 18 1976

Eamonn Andrews with some of his victims

Originally a radio sports commentator, Eamonn Andrews hosted the TV game show ‘What’s My Line’ for 12 years from 1951, children’s game show ‘Crackerjack’ from 1955 until 1984 and, with the famous red book in hand,  ‘This is Your Life’ from 1955 until just before he died in 1988.

Picture Post (1952)

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Picture Post

Feb 23 1952

Royal crown

King George VI had died on February 6^th 1952 and the crown passed to his eldest daughter Elizabeth who is still holding on to it.

John O'London's (1961)

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John O’London’s

May 1961

Robert Sterling in ‘Return to Peyton Place’

This literary and review magazine ran from 1919 until at least 1961 despite Wikipedia’s information that it stopped in 1954.

Picturegoer (1949)

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Picturegoer

Nov 26 1949

Bob Hope

Picturegoer started in 1913 and lasted until 1960. 

Bob Hope started in 1903 and lasted until 2003! Forget the ‘Road…’ movies with Bing Crosby, to see Hope at his best watch ‘My Favourite Blonde’, ‘My Favourite Brunette’, ‘My Favourite Spy’ and ’They Got Me Covered’.
 

The Battle with the London Anarchists (1911)

The Battle with the London Anarchists

Feb 1911

Police or army snipers

One off magazine giving the full story of the Siege of Sydney Street which happened in January 1911 when a group of Anarchists holed up in a house in Sydney Street in Stepney East London.

Flying (1938)

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Flying

July 9th 1938

The Short 'C' class Empire flying boat “Canopus” cover art by Howard Leigh.

Aviation magazine, which started in 1938 and was the weekly sister to the monthly “Popular Flying”. Both magazines were edited by a certain W E Johns, the creator of Biggles, and both ended during WWII.

Up until recently I thought the Short Sunderland Flying boat was a shorter version of a Sunderland Flying boat. I didn’t realise it was the manufacturer’s name – Short Brothers.  

Starburst (1991)

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Starburst

May 1991

Fantasy Issue

Starburst had been publishing articles, pictures and reviews of sci-fi and horror films and TV since 1978.

Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery in ‘Highlander II:The Reckoning’. Sean Connery looks almost as silly as he did in ‘Zardoz’.

The Radiator (1984)

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The Radiator

September 1984

US Military man playing with nuclear sub in bath

CND magazine for the South and West of England. Cover drawn by yours truly. I'd rather not speculate on what he is doing with his left hand.

Mojo (2002)

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Mojo

January 2002

George Harrison

Ex-Beatle George Harrison died on November 29th 2001 and although dated January 2002 this is the edition of Mojo that appeared in the shops in December 2001.

V & V Veteran and Vintage (1973)

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V & V Veteran and Vintage Magazine

September 1973

Restored 1929 Packard

Monthly magazine for veteran and vintage car owners and restorers. Does what it says on the tin.

TV Times (1958 and 1975)

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TV Times      

Nov 21 1958 

Benny Hill

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TV Times      

May 24 1975

Benny Hill

Various versions of ‘The Benny Hill Show’ originally ran from 1955 until 1989 and repeated thereafter. It was a show that has slipped in and out of favour with the social climate, sometimes being condemned for its sexism and sometimes praised for its lack of political correctness.

Life (1969)

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Life

Aug 4 1969

Leaving for the Moon

Astronaut Neil Armstrong takes his first small step on the 240,000-mile journey to the moon on July 16^th 1969 to be the first human to walk on its surface.

The Illustrated London News (1901)

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The Illustrated London News

Jan 30 1901

Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria Memorial Special Number. The Queen had died on January 22nd 1901 after a 63 year 7 month reign.

The Wide World (1939)

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The Wide World

May 1939

Car sets off from Piccadilly Circus for Calcutta

The Wide World, a magazine for men, came from the same stable as The Strand and started in 1898. It contained a mixture of adventure fiction and articles.

The Play Pictorial (1925)

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The Play Pictorial

Sep 1925

George and Ira Gershwin's “Tell Me More”

The magazine lasted from 1902 until 1939 and each issue concentrated on a then current London West End Theatre production.

Heather Thatcher (left) went to Hollywood in 1937 and appeared in about 30 films, Leslie Henson was a comedian, theatre and film actor and film producer and director, Elsa MacFarlane appeared in one film in 1929 (The Co-Optimists).

At some point ‘The Play Pictorial’ began featuring cinema releases by incorporating ‘The Cinema Pictorial’, which, in this edition covered Charlie Chaplin’s ‘The Gold Rush’.

Life (1941)

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Life

USA Jul 7 1941

U.S. Arms Defense Issue

Publisher Henry Luce launched Life as a large format illustrated news magazine in 1936. It ceased regular publication in 2000.

This edition is dated exactly 5 months before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour and brought the Yanks into WWII.

Cracked (1985)

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Cracked

USA Feb 1985

Monsters and Bad Guys edition

Cracked was created as a competitor to Mad Magazine in 1958 and lasted, on and off, until 2007.

Freelance Informer (1994)

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Freelance Informer

May 6 1994

Cartoon

Magazine for freelance computer staff. The 'Page 84' inscription is because on that page appeared a short story by yours truly.

Films and Filming (1970)

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Films and Filming          

Oct 1970       

Raquel Welch in "Myra Breckinridge"

Picture Post (1951)

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Picture Post

May 26 1951

London Bobby and tourist

“Look Miss, I can do a shadow puppet of a German Shepherd while balancing the Picture Post logo on his ear!”

“Very nice, but could you direct me to Soho?”

National Geographic (1928)

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The National Geographic Magazine

USA Jan 1928

Seeing America with Lindbergh

The National Geographic had variations of this generic cover from its birth in 1888 until June 1959, after which they started featuring photographs. Charles Lindbergh was America’s hero at the time having flown from New York to Paris the previous year (May 20-21 1927), the first man ever to cross the Atlantic alone. A couple of months after returning to the USA Lindbergh took his plane, The Spirit of St Louis, on a 22,000 mile aerial tour of the country.

Sight and Sound (1968)

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Sight and Sound

Jun 1968 

Alain Dellon in ‘Le Samouraï’

The magazine for the serious cine buff, Sight and Sound, has been around since 1932 and is published by the British Film Institute (BFI).

Rolling Stone (1972)

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Rolling Stone

Dec 21 1972

Keith Moon of the Who

Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and Ralph J. Gleason and published fortnightly. Early editions had the front cover printed sideways (as shown above) and presented in the shops folded to show the front upright.

Rod and Custom (2009)

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Rod and Custom

USA Sep 2009

Black Widow Hot-Rod

This magazine for custom car and hot rod lovers has been going since May 1953. In 1960 I was given a Monogram 1/24 scale plastic kit of the fictitious Black Widow hot-rod. Someone else must have good memories of the kit, enough to go to the trouble of building a full-size Black Widow car. 

The War Illustrated (1915)

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The War Illustrated

Aug 21 1918

Civilised warfare (an oxymoron if ever I heard one)

It ran from August 1914 until February 1919. It was revived for the return engagement in 1939.

Flying (1938)

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Flying

May 21 1938

Gloster Gladiator bi-plane cover art by Howard Leigh.

Flying was an aviation magazine started in 1938 and was the weekly sister to the monthly “Popular Flying”. Both titles were edited by a certain W E Johns, the creator of Biggles, and both ended during WWII.

Radio Times (1965)

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Radio Times 

Dec 16 1965

Bruce Forsyth

Good old Brucie when he had his own hair and teeth (allegedly).

The Scout (1930)

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The Scout

Feb 1930

The thundering express crashed through the lorry.

Launched in 1908 with stories and articles aimed at boy scouts. Cover illustration by Kenneth Brookes.

The Strand (1949)

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The Strand

Oct 1949

The Strand in London

The Strand magazine ran from 1891 until 1950 and is most famous for introducing the world to Sherlock Holmes in their serialization of ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ in 1901. Right from the start the covers usually featured some variation on this view of the Strand looking east towards the Aldwych. That's the spire of St Clement Danes Church growing out of the bowler hat. I don't know what that sandwich-board man is on but I want some.

Films and Filming (1958)

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Films and Filming          

Jan 1958       

Rock Hudson and Jennifer Jones

The picture certainly matches the film title. Was it a horror film in which Jennifer Jones plays a psychotic nurse who rips Rock Hudson’s arms off while he gazes lovingly into her eyes? Actually it was a WWI love story based on the autobiographical novel by Ernest Hemmingway.