A brief history of the 20th-century English county magazine
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Cheshire Life and the 1930s pre-history of the glossy county magazine Andrew Hobbs University of Central Lancashire
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Transcript of A brief history of the 20th-century English county magazine
Cheshire Life and the 1930s pre-history of the glossy county magazine
Andrew HobbsUniversity of Central Lancashire
Provincial magazines – an old idea
Rural Community Councils (1920s-30s) -- a new idea• Progressive• Modern• Dirigiste/paternalist
Activities:• adult education• drama• music• local history• building village halls• promoting rural industries
County magazines(1930s)
Rural Community Councils
1931
1932
County magazine launches, 1920-1968
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1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s
English Life Publications
• Founder Charles H Wood (1898-1978) began as publisher of parish magazines in Leeds
• Approached Rural Community Councils with county magazine idea
• Launched 5 titles before WW2, another 8 after• Sold all titles except Derbyshire Life in 1952• Single biggest publisher of county magazines
Techniques for promoting county identity
Local beauty spots
Techniques for promoting county identity
Local beauties – our own ‘girls in pearls’
Techniques for promoting county identity
County institutions
Techniques for promoting county identity
Traditions, history, local distinctiveness
Techniques for promoting county identity
Maps, defining ourterritory
Techniques for promoting county identity
Literary prestige – poetry, fiction
Techniques for promoting county identity
Tailored ‘patriotic’ advertising
Themes/theories
• Magazine-ness: loyalty, identity, reading pleasure
• Commodity fetish – mechanism behind the magic
Links to other media:• BBC regions – personnel, cross-promotion,
topics• Book publishing – same writers, reviewing• Newspapers – same writers, readers reacting
to growth of a national press?
Themes/theories
• County identity – ancient, rural, aristocratic• Identity needs history/continuity?• Lack of othering – of class or place. Sign of
confidence?• ‘Cheshire is an epitome of English life’ links to ‑
local and national identities – c.f. German Heimat, Russell’s ‘national-provincial’ structure of feeling
Themes/theories
Class• Inter-war middle class -- embattled or
confident?• Regionally differentiated middle-class culture• The invisible working class• Aristocracy/gentry as progressive, modern• Relationship between place and class
Themes/theories
Progressive, modern
1927
