''Razzle'' is a British

pornographic magazine Pornographic magazines or erotic magazines, sometimes known as adult, sex or top-shelf magazines, are magazines that contain content of an explicitly sexual nature. Publications of this kind may contain images of attractive naked subjects, as is ...

featuring

softcore pornography Softcore pornography or softcore porn, is commercial still photography or film that has a pornographic or erotic component but is less sexually graphic and intrusive than hardcore pornography, defined by a lack of visual sexual penetration. So ...

. It was founded in 1983 and is published by Paul Raymond Publications. It currently focuses on girl-next-door style

pornography Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults,

, offering cash for any photos of "readers' wives" printed; in the past, however, several notable glamour models were featured, including minor celebrity Jo Guest. It also includes the traditional feature of sexual fantasy tales presented as "true" stories. There was an earlier UK men's magazine of the same title, published by Ritz Publishing Co., that dates from the 1930s to the late 1950s. This was a pocket format title, which featured a colour centre spread by the illustrator George Davies. Despite the market for softcore pornography decreasing in the UK, ''Razzle'' is still successful, having launched some spin-off titles including ''Razzle Extreme'', ''The Best of Razzle'', ''Razzle Readers Wives'' and ''Razzle DVD''. ''Razzle'' does, however, offer hardcore imagery and videos of the photosets found in its magazines online, on the official Paul Raymond website. ''Razzle'' is published by the late Paul Raymond's publishing house, whose other publications include '' Club International'', '' Escort'', ''

Mayfair Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world ...

'', ''

Men Only ''Men Only'' is a British magazine title that originated in 1935 as a pocket-sized men's magazine. It became a standard-sized pin-up magazine in the 1950s and was relaunched in 1971 by Paul Raymond Publications as a soft-core pornographic maga ...

'' and '' Men's World''.Sigel (2005) p.164 All of the Paul Raymond magazines are widely available in newsagents, although some larger retailers require a modesty bag in order to protect minors from seeing partial nudity on display on the cover. The magazine is also available in digital format from the Paul Raymond website. It was available from the Paul Raymond digital newsstand between 2013 and the closure of the newsstand.

Early days

Nicholas Whittaker Nicholas Whittaker (born 1953) is a British writer of non-fiction books on popular culture, often incorporating autobiographical extracts from his own life. He was born in Shrewsbury and lived in Burton upon Trent until 1975. Whittaker has worked ...

, journalist and author of ''Platform Souls, Blue Period and Sweet Talk'', worked for the company from 1982 to 1987,Sigel (2005) p.162 and played a major role in establishing the new ''Razzle'' magazine. In its first format, ''Razzle'' was 48 pages and sold for 50p. He wrote of his experiences and the formation of the new magazine in ''Blue Period''.Sigel (2005) p.166.

In popular culture

The earlier men's magazine (1930s–1950s) was later immortalised in the

Ian Dury Ian Robins Dury (12 May 1942 27 March 2000) was a British singer, songwriter and actor who rose to fame during the late 1970s, during the punk and new wave era of rock music. He was the lead singer and lyricist of Ian Dury and the Blockheads ...

song "Razzle In My Pocket" (1977, the 'B' side to " Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll", Dury's first single under his own name), a story of a boy who steals a copy of ''Razzle'' from a newsagent. The song also appears on the 1981 compilation LP ''Juke Box Dury'' (side 1, track 6). ''Razzle'' is also mentioned in David Lodge’s 1970 novel '' Out of the Shelter''. In the book, the magazine is passed from hand to hand at the protagonist's school, and its readers are annoyed that the parts they are most interested in are covered up. The Paul Raymond magazine (1983–) has been referenced in the mainstream media, with the name ''Razzle'' having been mentioned in numerous

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TV programmes, including '' Meet Ricky Gervais'', ''

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'', and in an episode of ''

Absolutely Fabulous ''Absolutely Fabulous'' (also known as ''Ab Fab'') is a British television sitcom based on the ''French and Saunders'' sketch, " Modern Mother and Daughter", created by Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. The show was created and written by Saun ...

'' where it is implied that Patsy once posed for the magazine (albeit in the early 1970s when the magazine was not actually in production).'' The Advocate'', 20 November 2001, p.44 It is also mentioned in ''

Men Behaving Badly ''Men Behaving Badly'' is a British sitcom that was created and written by Simon Nye. It follows the lives of Gary Strang ( Martin Clunes) and his flatmates Dermot Povey ( Harry Enfield; series 1 only) and Tony Smart ( Neil Morrissey; series ...

'' and '' Bottom'', and in '' Little Britain'', when Lou buys the magazine for Andy.

References

Notes

Sources consulted

* Lisa Z. Sigel, "International exposure: perspectives on modern European pornography, 1800-2000", Rutgers University Press, 2005,

External links