The Century 21 Organisation was a group of companies founded by

Gerry Anderson Gerald Alexander Anderson (; 14 April 1929 – 26 December 2012) was an English television and film producer, director, writer and occasional voice artist, who is known for his futuristic television programmes, especially his 1960s production ...

in the early 1960s to expand on his television production company,

AP Films AP Films or APF (renamed Century 21 Productions in 1966) was a British independent film production company of the 1950s until the early 1970s. The company became internationally known for its imaginative children's action-adventure marionette t ...

(APF; later Century 21 Productions). In addition to APF, the group included: *a

property Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to the valuable things themselves. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property may have the right to consume, alter, share, re ...

licensing A license (American English) or licence ( Commonwealth English) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another par ...

company, AP Films Merchandising (established in 1960 as an APF subsidiary, later renamed Century 21 Merchandising); *a record label, Century 21 Records (established in 1964) – a joint venture with

Pye Records PYE or Pye Records is an independent British record label. It was first established in 1955 and played a major role in shaping rock 'n' roll and pop music history. The Pye name was dropped in 1980 due to trademark issues, after which it produced ...

, producing soundtracks and tie-in audiobooks; *a toy manufacturer, Century 21 Toys (established in 1966) – formed by Century 21's acquisition of J. Rosenthal Toys; *a publishing company, Century 21 Publishing or Century 21 Publications (established in 1966). In partnership with

City Magazines City Magazines was a British publisher of weekly comics and men's magazines that operated from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s. The company's most notable publications were comics magazines based on licensed television properties, including '' TV ...

, it created the comics titles ''

TV Century 21 ''TV Century 21'', later renamed ''TV21'', ''TV21 and Tornado'', ''TV21 and Joe 90'', and ''TV21'' again, was a weekly British children's comic published by City Magazines during the latter half of the 1960s. Originally produced in partnership ...

'' and ''

Lady Penelope Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward is a fictional character introduced in the British 1960s Supermarionation television series '' Thunderbirds'', which was produced by AP Films for ITC Entertainment. The character also appears in the film sequels '' ...

'', among others. It also published tie-in novels through

Armada Books Armada Books was a British publishing imprint that used to publish paperback titles from 1962 until 1995. Created by Gordon Landsborough as the paperback imprint of May Fair Books Ltd, Armada Books focused exclusively on books for children to bu ...

. Most of the companies' activities were marketing of products created by Century 21 Productions — in particular the TV series '' Thunderbirds'', ''

Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'', often shortened to ''Captain Scarlet'', is a British science fiction television series created by Gerry Anderson, Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company AP Films#Century 21, Centu ...

'' and ''

Joe 90 ''Joe 90'' is a British science fiction television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company, Century 21, for ITC Entertainment. It follows the exploits of nine-year-old schoolboy Joe McClaine, who ...

'', although some spin-off media were based on characters and machines from other media franchises, often connected to

Lew Grade Lew Grade, Baron Grade, (born Lev Winogradsky; 25 December 1906 – 13 December 1998) was a Ukrainian-born British media proprietor and impresario. Originally a dancer, and later a talent agent, Grade's interest in television production ...

ITC Entertainment The Incorporated Television Company (ITC), or ITC Entertainment as it was referred to in the United States, was a British company involved in the production and distribution of television programmes. History Incorporated Television Programme C ...

History

The various "Century 21" brands predate Century 21 Productions — immediately following completion and the first TV screening of '' Thunderbirds'',

was renamed Century 21 Productions to align it with its growing merchandising sister companies Century 21 Merchandising, Century 21 Toys, Century 21 Records, and Century 21 Publishing. By around 1969, the merchandising, toys and publishing arms were under the control of a new entity, Century 21 Enterprises. At the same time, Century 21 Productions had become financially over-stretched. Within a few months, the company had shut down its three warehouse-sized studios on the

Slough Trading Estate The Slough Trading Estate, founded in Slough in Buckinghamshire in 1920, was an early business park in Britain. According to the estate's owners and operators, Segro, Slough Trading Estate consists of of commercial property in Slough and provi ...

Century 21 Publishing

From 1965 to 1969, Century 21 Publishing partnered with the published

to produce weekly comics titles based on Anderson's

Supermarionation Supermarionation (a portmanteau of the words "super", " marionette" and "animation")La Rivière 2009, p. 67. is a style of television and film production employed by British company AP Films (later Century 21 Productions) in its puppet T ...

properties. Century 21 packaged the comics, hiring the editors, writers and artists, which were then printed and distributed by City Magazines. The imprint's most prominent and long-running titles were ''

'' (later known as ''TV21'') and ''

''; three other related titles — ''Solo'', ''TV Tornado'', and ''Joe 90 Top Secret'' — eventually merged into ''TV21''. Century 21 Merchandising acquired a line of plastic science fiction toys manufactured in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

, which they marketed under the name ''Project SWORD''. Although not based on Anderson's creations, Project Sword did feature in two series of comic strips and text stories published by City Magazines/Century 21 Publishing. The only Anderson craft made by the line was a model of

Zero-X ''Zero-X'' is a fictional Earth spacecraft that first appeared in two of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's Supermarionation productions, the film '' Thunderbirds Are Go'' (1966) and the television series ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons''. Althou ...

, the spacecraft which first appeared in the film '' Thunderbirds Are Go''.Project Sword: The Forgotten Plastic Anderson Rockets of the Sixties
/ref> A comic strip series based on the toys appeared in the short-lived comic ''Solo''. After ''Solo'' was merged into '' TV21'', a second series of stories — text, illustrated by comics artists such as

Ron Embleton Ronald Sydney Embleton (6 October 1930 – 13 February 1988) was a British illustrator who gained fame as a comics artist. In the 1950s and 1960s, Embleton also pursued a career as an oil painter, and he exhibited his works widely in Britain, Ger ...

and

Don Lawrence Donald Southam Lawrence (17 November 1928 – 29 December 2003) was a British comic book artist and author. Lawrence is best known for his comic strips '' The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire'' in the British weeklies '' Ranger'' and ''Look ...

— appeared. The publisher also released a ''Project SWORD'' annual, featuring text and comic strips. In June 1969 the entire staff of Century 21 Publishing were given a month's notice. A small nucleus of staff from the disbanded division were taken on by Leonard Matthews and Alf Wallace — the ex-managing editors of Fleetway Juvenile Comics; and ''

Eagle Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

'' and

Odhams Odhams Press was a British publishing company, operating from 1920 to 1968. Originally a magazine publisher, Odhams later expanded into book publishing and then children's comics. The company was acquired by Fleetway Publications in 1961 and the ...

Power Comics Power Comics was an imprint of the British comics publisher Odhams Press (itself a division of IPC Magazines) that was particularly notable for its use of material reprinted from American Marvel Comics. Appearing chiefly during the years 1967 ...

line, respectively — who were now operating an independent studio off

Fleet Street Fleet Street is a street in Central London, England. It runs west to east from Temple Bar, London, Temple Bar at the boundary of the City of London, Cities of London and City of Westminster, Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the Lo ...

under the name of

Martspress Leonard James Matthews (10 October 1914 – 9 November 1997) was a British editor, publisher, writer and illustrator of comics and children's magazines, best known as the founder of the educational magazine ''Look and Learn''. Early life Born i ...

. Martspress packaged the relaunched version of ''TV21'' which soon phased out the Anderson-related content.

Mini-albums by Century 21 Records

A range of 37 "mini-albums" (7-inch EPs) were released under the Century 21 label. These were a combination of original material, with abridgments of TV episodes with linking narration, and soundtracks.

References

{{Gerry Anderson 1960s toys 1962 establishments in England AP Films British companies established in 1962 Defunct manufacturing companies of the United Kingdom Defunct marketing companies of the United Kingdom Defunct mass media companies of the United Kingdom Defunct publishing companies Defunct record labels of the United Kingdom Merchandising Publishing companies established in 1966 Publishing companies of the United Kingdom Pye Records Record labels established in 1964 Toy companies established in 1966 Toy companies of the United Kingdom