Magazine launches & events 1995 – 1994 – 1993
Magazines by cover date with most recent at top. Alphabetic list on right.Other magazine launch pages
Good TimesDecember 1995/January 1996. Touch International; £1.95; 100 pages. Editor: Laura Davis'Changing attitudes to age'. Free to members of the Association of Retired and Persons Over Fifty (ARPO50) Contract magazine publishers |
 Wired's first issue cover showed Thomas Paine |
WiredNovember 1995. Wired and Guardian. £3.50. 116 pagesSilver and gold inks used on subscriber forms. Cover showed Thomas Paine cover, the Englishman who influenced the French and US revolutions and wrote the Rights of Man (1791). Closed about a year later. In 2008, Conde Nast announced plans to relaunch the title in the UK |
RawOctober 25 1995. Emap Metro; 80 pages. Editor: Howard Johnson. (Had been Rock Action Weekly 1988-1996.)Sample issue of new rock music title free in a box with Select and various goodies Emap profile |
GoalOctober 1995. IPC; £1 (£2.25); 132 pages. Editor: Paul Hawksbee 'From the makers of 90 Minutes' (had been Goal from 1968-74) IPC profile |
 Cult Times first issue cover on Star Trek: Voyager |
Cult TimesOctober. Visual Imagination Ltd, London. £1.95. 48pp. Ed: Jan Vincent-RudzkiSci-fi television listings for the month ahead. Adverts for back copies of Star Trek poster magazine; Fox Mulder double-page spread poster; articles on The Prisoner, Outer Limits, Sapphire and Steel and Space Precinct. |
 Total Football first issue cover |
Total FootballSeptember 1995. Future, Bath. 99p first issue price (later, £2.25). 100pp. Ed Gary Whitta'The ultimate fans’ mag'. Chelsea’s Ruud Gullit and Arsenal’s Dennis Bergkamp on the cover. Future's then website address Futurenet.co.uk was only mentioned inside with the masthead |
IkonSeptember 1995. European Consumer Publications; 99p; 132 pages. Editor: Chris RobertsMusic, film and sport. 'Privilege card' on cover |
Maxim – CD-Rom cover mountAugust 1995. Dennis. Editor: Gill HudsonCompany also tried to launch magazine CD-Rom, called Blender (a title Dennis was to re-use several years later when it launched a music magazine in the US) Dennis profile Men's monthlies case study |
TrueJuly/August 1995. True magazine; £2.50; 116 pages. Editor: Claude Grunitsky Sees hip hop as an agent of social change. Grunitsky had written letter to Sheryl Garratt at The Face about lack of hip hop coverage; was later to go on to launch Trace magazine |
 Encore first issue. The competition was to win Mick Jagger's Golf with a boot stuffed with CDs |
EncoreJuly 1995. Haymarket; £2.25; 172 pages. Editor: Paul ColbertMusic magazine 'officially approved by Virgin'. Mick Jagger was on the first issue cover to promote a competition to win Jagger's Golf with a boot stuffed with CDs Haymarket profile |
PC GuideJuly 1995. Future. £4.99 with CD. 148 pages. Editor: Mark Higham'Advice without the jargon' was the main selling point Future profile |
 That's Life free sample issue – 4m copies were given away free with Take a Break, TV Quick and Bella |
That's LifeJune 5 1995. H Bauer, (free, 20p, 42p) 40pp. Printed in Germany First sold issue 12 JuneThat's Life aimed to sell to 30-something women using the most popular elements from its other weeklies, Take a Break and Bella, such as true-life stories, fashion, beauty and recipes. Prizes for competitions were set at £13,000. Some four million 40-page sample copies were distributed with Take a Break, TV Quick and Bella. The first issue was 20p and later editions cost 42p. Only two of the first issue's 56 pages were allocated to advertising. Bauer set a launch print run of 1.5 million, expected to settle down at 500,0000. Industry reaction was muted with some suggesting the weekly market was saturated.
IPC had launched Eva in the previous October, bringing its stable
to six women's weeklies. |
MuzikJune 1995. IPC; 95p (£2.20); 124 pages. Editor: Push'Dance music is the music of today': house, techno, jungle, garage, hiphop, ambient, soul. 'definitive' club listings IPC profile |
 Tank Girl on the cover of sci-fi monthly SFX |
SFXJune 1995. Future. £3. 100 pages. Editor: Matt Bielby.Science fiction focus. Tank Girl film based on comic series on the cover Future profile |
BlissJune 1995. Emap Elan. £1.30; 116 pages. Editor: Dawn BebeCame with free horoscope magazine in a carrier bag Emap profile Women's monthlies profiled |
MaximMay 1995. Dennis, London. £2.50; 156pp. Ed: Gill HudsonWith blues cassette tape. Included article by Brian Freemantle about the effect of pin-ups on newspaper sales and arguing that an equivalent of the Sun's Page 3 girl should be introduced internationally. It backed up the argument with the following figures: |
| Paper | Country | % of population reading title |
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| Sun | UK | 16.5 | |
| Bild Zeitung | Germany | 14.1 | |
| Daily Mirror | UK | 13.1 | |
| La Republica | Italy | 5.9 | |
| Le Soir | Belgium | 4.7 | |
| Atgumenty / Fakty | Russia | 4.7 | |
| Ouest France | France | 3.9 | |
| El Pais | Spain | 3.7 | |
| USA Today | America | 2.7 |
Unzip CD-RomMay 1995. IPC/Zone. Claimed to be 'the UK's first fully interactive magazine on CD-Rom'. Based on content from New Scientist, NME and Vox. Zone did technical work. 15 age label; £15.99 introductory offer; for Mac and PCIPC profile |
Classic FMMarch 1995. Contract magazine for Classic FM by John Brown. £2.20; 100 pages. Editor: Lisa BarnardDesign consultant: David Hillman of Pentagram (who had worked on Nova in the 1960s and redesigned the Guardian in the early 1980s). Came with booklet of £30 in CD vouchers |
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Top of the PopsMarch 1995. BBC Worldwide; £1.25; 52 pages. Editor: Peter LoraineBrand extension from the long-running television series. Challenged Emap's Smash Hits.With cassette and poster BBC Magazines profile |
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Men's HealthFebruary/March 1995. Rodale. Editor: David Hale. £2.20; 132 pages.Tons of useful stuff from this UK version of US title Rodale profile Men's monthlies case study |
Girl TalkFebruary 22 1995. BBCWith free choker BBC Magazines profile |
Adobe Magazine1995 Three language variants for promotional magazine from the developers of the Photoshop digital editing system |
CD-Rom PC Kids1995 Paragon. Editor: Paul MallinsonReviewed software aimed at children Paragon profile |
Magazine launches & events 1994
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.NetDecember 1994. Future, Bath; £2.95; 116 pages. Editor: Matt Bielby.Aimed to make sense of the information superhighway: email, netsurfing; gophering; the world wide web Future profile |
Wh@t NetWinter 1994. WV Publications, London; £2.95; 100 pages. Editor: Steve May.Came with cover disc: internet starter kit with Demon internet service provider |
Audio VisualityNovember 1994. Media Communication & Publishing, London; £2.95; 116 pages. Editor: Karen Foulis.Digital sight and sound |
PC ProNovember 1994. Dennis, London. £2.25. Double gatefold cover. 406 pages with CD-Rom. Editor: Barry PlowsDennis profile |
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Four Four TwoSeptember 1994. Haymarket. £2.10. 132 pages. Editor: Paul SimpsonSophisticated approach to football Haymarket profile |
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EvaSeptember 14 1994. IPC. 20p trial issue.Take a Break clone IPC profile Women's weeklies case study Women's magazines covers |
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ZestAutumn 1994. National Magazines, London. £1.75; 176 pages (included 8-page uncoated paper section and fold-out). Editors: Vanessa Raphaely and Eve Cameron."Health and beauty for a new generation"; a Cosmopolitan publication Nat Mags profile Women's monthlies profiled Women's magazines covers |
Perspectives on ArchitectureApril 1994. Wordsearch and Perfect Harmony in association with the Prince of Wales's Institute of Architecture, London. £2.50;102 pages (including bound-in subscriptions card). Editor: Dan CruikshankThe heir to the throne followed up on his interest in architecture with this magazine and his own institute. Had famously called a proposed extension to the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square 'a carbuncle'. Closed in 1998 |
DeadpanApril 1994. DMC Publishing, London; £1.95; 68pages. Editor: David Davies.Claimed to be "Britain's first national comedy magazine" |
24 SevenApril 1994. Kandoo, London; £1.40; 84 pages; Editor: Marian Buckley.Club listings, music and fashion |
Multimedia & CD-Rom NowApril 1994. Europress, Macclesfield; £4.95; 116 pages. Editor: Duncan Evans. Plus CD-Rom.In card/plastic wrapper |
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LoadedMay 1994. IPC magazines; £95p (£2); 122 pages. Editor: James Brown. "For men who should know better"Men's magazines IPC profile |
AttitudeMay 1994. Northern & Shell, London; £2.95, 132 pages. Editor: Tim Nicholson |
 Coronation Street: first issue cover of the official magazine in 1994 |
Coronation StreetJanuary 1994. Newsstand Publications, Oldham OL9 6QS; Granada Television. 36pp. £1.75. Eds: Brian Clarke & Daran LittleOfficial magazine launched after the series had celebrated 33 years of broadcasting (in the previous December). Introduction by Carolyn Reynolds, executive producer. One of the editors, Daran Little, went on to become a writer on 'Corrie' (2000-06). The main feature is about the wedding of ‘Reg’ and ‘Maureen’ (Ken Morley and Sherrie Hewson), which Reynolds says was watched by 22m people (a third of the UK population). Also included history of the corner shop. |
Magazine launches & events 1993
 Squib comedy magazine first issue |
SquibDecember 1993. Polycarp Press; £1.95; 84 pages. Editors: Simon Bond and Will Adams'The magazine of comedy allsorts' |
ChicNovember/December 1993. Hamerville Magazines, Watford. £1.70; 130 pages. editor: Joyce Hopkirk.'For women who can choose'. Interview with Eve Pollard, then editor of the Daily Express, who was later to launch her own short-lived magazine for women, Aura in May 2000. By November 1996, Chic was owned by Chic Magazines Ltd, in Northern & Shell Tower (see OK!). Women's glossies profiled |
Tate: the art magazineWinter 1993. Wordsearch/Tate gallery; £2.95; 86 pages (double cover). Editor: Tim Marlow |
Sports DigestOctober 1993. £1.95; 130 pages. Editor: Ian BurnsSporting legends supplement. Copy provided by Fleet Street writers |
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Top GearOctober 1993. BBC Magazines. £2.40. 252 pages. Editor: Kevin Blick.Gatefold and split cover with silver ink. Came with poster and sticker. Compare use of silver half cover with Bike December 1996 BBC Magazines profile Car magazines case study |
EdgeOctober 1993. Future, Bath; £3; 146 pages. Editor: Steve Jarratt. First issue sealed in a black plastic bag. "The future of video gaming"Future profile |
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CarweekAugust 25 1993. EmapLaunched as a weekly tabloid newspaper. Failed despite expensive marketing campaign and relaunches, first as an A4-tall newspaper format and final an A4 glossy. Closed January 95 having cost £7 million. Emap profile Motoring case study |
ForeAugust1993Golf maganine launched in in plastic holder with cover gifts |
The ZineJuly 1993 |
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BiteJune 1993. Ann Summers Ltd. £1.95; 100 Pages. Editor: Catherine HandcockWomen's glossies profiled |
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Guess Who!Summer 1993. Harmsworth Magazines. Editor: Leonard Stall. Cover showed Elton John and Princess Diana.Hello! spoof see OK! |
 Max Power's blend of lad's mag and boy-racer appeal took it to the top spot for a time |
Max PowerEmap National Publications, Peterborough. Ed: Grahame Steed; chief designer: Peter Comely. £2. 148ppHeadlines such as ‘Throbbing purple monster’ identified a magazine that had 'plenty of humour and even more attitude; but no jargon and no bullshit’ (according to editor Grahame Steed's opening letter called 'Max Torque'). The staff writer was Vicki Butler-Henderson. The first issue took the unusual step of using its back cover, inside
back and the page opposite to promote the first two issues. The centre
spread had a four-page, A5 pull-out subscription form (the title was
stapled) with the selling copy 'Free petrol for life' – inside it revealed
'Offer open to anyone with a speeding conviction in a Sinclair C5. |
Your GardenMay 1993. IPC, London; £1.45; 112 pages. editor: Graham Clarke. Free gloves. Gardener's World-like contents and cover |
 OK! – first issue as a monthly in April 1993  OK! – free sample issue  OK! -
first weekly issue on 20 March 1996 |
OK!April 1993. Northern & Shell plcLaunched as a large format monthly competing with weekly Hello!. 16-page preview distributed with Sunday Express (below left). Taken weekly by ex-Woman's Own, TV Times and Redwood editor Richard Barber in March 1996. Running battles with Hello! over copycat accusations and celebrity photographs. N&S had built up publishing empire with franchise for Penthouse and more down-market men's titles such as Asian Babes. Attempts to 'go straight' failed until success of OK!. Links with Express resulted in buying up Express newspapers from United News & Media in late 2000. Copyright fight over Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas wedding photos resulted in right to privacy being recognised in English law. Northern & Shell profile Women's glossies profiled Women's weeklies Women's magazine covers Cover secrets |
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Top SanteMarch 1993. Presse Publishing, London; £1.30; 100 pages. Editor: Frankie McGowan."The magazine about feeling and looking good". Bought by Emap in March 1997 Emap profile |
Homes & AntiquesFebruary 1993. BBC/Redwood, London; £1.40; 116 pages. Editor: Jill Churchill. Free guide to china marksBBC Magazines profile Redwood Publishing profile Customer magazine publishers profiled Magazine industry sectors |
Games MasterJanuary 1993. Future, Bath/Channel 4, London. £1.75; 148 pages. Editor: Jim Douglas.'The greatest show on TV is now a magazine.' Free stickers and cheats handbook |