Private Eye

Private Eye is a fortnightly British satirical magazine-newspaper. It is currently edited by Ian Hislop.

History

The forerunner of Private Eye was a school magazine edited by Richard Ingrams, William Rushton, Christopher Booker and Paul Foot in the mid-1950s. They met at Shrewsbury School and after National Service Ingrams and Foot went to Oxford University, where they met their future collaborators Peter Usborne, Andrew Osmond, John Wells, and Danae Brook, among others.

Related Topics:
Richard Ingrams - William Rushton - Christopher Booker - Paul Foot - 1950s - Shrewsbury School - National Service - Oxford University - Peter Usborne - Andrew Osmond - John Wells - Danae Brook

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The magazine proper began when Peter Usborne learned of a new printing process, offset lithography, which meant that anybody with a typewriter and Letraset could design a magazine. Although Private Eye was founded amid the British satire boom and the political and social upheavals of the 1960s, at first it was merely a vehicle for silly jokes – an extension of the school magazine and an alternative to other humorous magazines like Punch. However, according to Christopher Booker, its original editor, it simply got "caught up in the rage for satire".

Related Topics:
Offset lithography - Typewriter - Letraset - Satire boom - 1960s - Punch

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The magazine was initially funded by Usborne and was launched in 1961. It was named when Andrew Osmond looked for ideas in the famous recruiting poster of Lord Kitchener ("Your country needs you!") and, in particular, his pointing finger. After the name "Finger" was rejected, Osmond suggested "Private Eye", in the sense of someone who "fingers" a suspect.

Related Topics:
1961 - Poster - Lord Kitchener - Private Eye

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The magazine was initially edited by Christopher Booker and designed by Willie Rushton, who also drew cartoons for it. Its later editor Richard Ingrams was then pursuing a career as an actor, sharing the editorship with Booker on his return around issue 10 and taking over fully only on issue 40.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After the magazine's initial success, more funding was provided by Nicholas Luard and Peter Cook, who ran The Establishment satire club, and Private Eye became a fully professional publication.

Related Topics:
Nicholas Luard - Peter Cook - The Establishment

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Other people essential to the development of the magazine were Auberon Waugh, Claud Cockburn (who had run a mock pre-war scandal sheet The Week), Barry Fantoni, Gerald Scarfe, Tony Rushton, Patrick Marnham and Candida Betjeman. Christopher Logue was another long-time contributor, providing a fortnightly column of "True Stories" using cuttings from the national press. The gossip columnist Nigel Dempster wrote extensively for the magazine before he fell out with the editor and other writers, and Paul Foot wrote on politics, local government and corruption.

Related Topics:
Auberon Waugh - Claud Cockburn - Barry Fantoni - Gerald Scarfe - Tony Rushton - Patrick Marnham - Candida Betjeman - Christopher Logue - Gossip - Nigel Dempster - Paul Foot

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~