Parade (British Magazine)

''Parade'' was a British magazine for men. With origins dating back to 1916, the magazine went through a number of different incarnations and different publishers until it went defunct around 2007. It was originally known as ''Blighty'' between 1916 and 1920 and was intended as a humorous magazine for servicemen. Relaunched in 1939, as ''Blighty Parade'', it was turned into a pin-up magazine. Arthur Ferrier, a celebrated British artist, contributed significantly to the magazine with his distinctive pinup cartoons, which were often featured on the cover. Renamed ''Parade'' in 1960, by the 1970s, content had progressed to topless and nude photos of models, and at the end of the 1990s it went hardcore.

Publication history

W. Speaight & Sons

''Blighty'' was launched in 1916 by W. Speaight & Sons, intended as a humorous magazine for servicemen during the First World War.Union Jack, A Scrapbook, British Forces' Newspapers 1939–45 HMSO & Imperial War Museum, 1993 () ("Blighty" is a British English military slang term for Great Britain, or often specifically England.)"Why Do the Brits Call the U.K. ‘Blighty’?"
on ''Anglophenia'', BBC America. Accessed 30 December 2020. The magazine competed against publications such as ''Tit-Bits'' and ''Reveille''; it appears to have ceased publication in 1920.

The magazine was relaunched, as ''Blighty Parade'', in 1939, at the outbreak of the Second World War, and featuring pin-ups, cartoons, and stories. It was published every Monday."Parade" at Magforum
Archived at the Wayback Machine
Retrieved Apr. 20, 2021.

City Magazines

From 1955 to 1971 the publisher was City Magazines, and the headquarters were in London.

It was known as ''Parade and Blighty'' for the final weeks of 1959, when it finally became ''Parade'' in 1960. The magazine's tagline in 1960 was "The man's magazine women love to read."

Williams/Top Sellers/General Books

City Magazines published ''Parade'' until 1971, when it was sold to Williams Publishing, the publishing division of Warner Communications. By the 1970s, content had progressed to topless and nude photos of models. In 1972, the magazine went from weekly to monthly publication.

In 1974, the magazine was relaunched with issue No. 1, by Williams' Top Sellers Ltd imprint, as a '' Penthouse''-style magazine, featuring full-frontal shots and nipples on the covers. After a series of raids against its warehouses, in 1978 Williams moved its adult magazines, including ''Parade'', to a new imprint, General Book Distribution.Skinn, Dez
"Warner Bros. (Williams),"
DezSkinn.com. Retrieved Dec. 19, 2020.

Gold Star Publications/GSP Press

Williams went defunct in 1979, and after a series of sales, ''Parade'' was later published by Gold Group International (owners of the Ann Summers retail chain of sex toys and lingerie). According to ''Magforum'', ''Parade'' was published "under the subdivision Gold Star Publications as a hardcore publication. In 2003, ''Parade'' was bought by Andrew McIntyre and the company rebranded as GSP Press."

The magazine appears to have disappeared from the newsstands around 2007.

Titles

* 1916–1920, 1939–1958: ''Blighty''
* 1958–1959: ''Blighty Parade''
* 1959: ''Parade and Blighty''
* 1960– 2007: ''Parade''

References

External links

June Russell cover
10 October 1959.


by Arthur Ferrier.

1916 establishments in the United Kingdom
Defunct magazines published in the United Kingdom
Magazines established in 1916
Magazines with year of disestablishment missing
Magazines published in London
Mass media in Liverpool
Men's magazines published in the United Kingdom
Pin-up magazines

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