The British Army in France 1939-40 O2262

''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 sometime in the mid-2000s. 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 A pin-up model (known as a pin-up girl for a female and less commonly male pin-up for a male) is a model whose mass-produced pictures see widespread appeal as part of popular culture. Pin-up models were variously glamour models, fashion mode ...

magazine. 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 World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

.Union Jack, A Scrapbook, British Forces' Newspapers 1939–45 HMSO & Imperial War Museum, 1993 () ("Blighty" is a

British English British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in ...

military slang term for Great Britain, or often specifically England.)"Why Do the Brits Call the U.K. ‘Blighty’?"
on ''Anglophenia'',

BBC America BBC America is an American basic cable network that is jointly owned by BBC Studios and AMC Networks. The channel primarily airs sci-fi and action series and films, as well as selected programs from the BBC (such as its nature documentary ...

. Accessed 30 December 2020. The magazine competed against publications such as ''

Tit-Bits ''Tit-Bits from all the interesting Books and Newspapers of the World'', more commonly known as ''Tit-Bits'', was a British weekly magazine founded by George Newnes, a founding figure in popular journalism, on 22 October 1881. History In 188 ...

'' and ''

Reveille "Reveille" ( , ), called in French "Le Réveil" is a bugle call, trumpet call, drum, fife-and-drum or pipes call most often associated with the military; it is chiefly used to wake military personnel at sunrise. The name comes from (or ), th ...

''; 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 World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, 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 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 ...

, 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 Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

. 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.

GoldStar 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 Ann Summers is a British multinational retailer company specialising in sex toys and lingerie, with 80 high street stores in the UK, Ireland, and the Channel Islands. In 2000, Ann Summers acquired the Knickerbox brand, a label with an emphas ...

retail chain of sex toys and lingerie). According to ''Magforum'', ''Parade'' was published "under the subdivision

GoldStar Publications Gold Star Publications was a British magazine publisher co-owned by David Gold with his brother Ralph. It included printing and distribution businesses, and a stable of titles including '' Rustler'' and ''Raider Raider(s) may refer to: Arts an ...

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 ''Blighty'' * 1939–1958 ''Blighty Parade'' * 1959 ''Parade & Blighty'' * 1960– 2007 ''Parade''

References

{{Reflist

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 Pornographic magazines published in the United Kingdom