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 A July 2011 cover following the closure of theNews of the World, making ironic use of a1982 headline fromThe Sun | |
| Editor | Ian Hislop |
|---|---|
| Categories | Satiricalnews magazine |
| Frequency | Fortnightly |
| Circulation |  232,638 (Jul–Dec 2024)[1] |
| Founded | 1961; 64 years ago (1961) |
| Company | Pressdram Ltd |
| Based in | LondonW1 United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Website | www |
| ISSN | 0032-888X |
Private Eye is a British fortnightlysatirical andcurrent affairs news magazine, founded in 1961.[2] It is published in London and has been edited byIan Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely recognised for its prominent criticism andlampooning of public figures. It is also known for its in-depthinvestigative journalism into under-reported scandals and cover-ups.[3]
Private Eye is Britain's best-selling current affairsnews magazine,[4] and such is its long-term popularity and impact that many ofits recurring in-jokes have entered popular culture in the United Kingdom. The privately owned magazine bucks the trend of declining circulation for print media, having recorded its highest-ever circulation in 2016 of over 287,000 for that year's Christmas edition.[5]
With a "deeply conservative resistance to change",[6] it has resisted moves to online content or a glossy format: it has always been printed on cheap paper and resembles, in format and content, a comic rather than a serious magazine.[7][8] Both its satire and investigative journalism have led to numerouslibel suits.[3] It is known for the use ofpseudonyms by its contributors, many of whom have been prominent in public life—this even extends to a fictional proprietor, Lord Gnome.[9][10]
The forerunner ofPrivate Eye wasThe Walopian, an underground magazine published atShrewsbury School by pupils in the mid-1950s and edited byRichard Ingrams,Willie Rushton,Christopher Booker andPaul Foot.The Walopian (a play on the school magazine nameThe Salopian) mocked school spirit, traditions and the masters. AfterNational Service, Ingrams and Foot went as undergraduates toOxford University, where they met future collaborators includingPeter Usborne,Andrew Osmond[11] andJohn Wells.[12]
The magazine was properly begun when they learned of a new printing process,photo-litho offset, which meant that anybody with atypewriter andLetraset could produce a magazine. The publication was initially funded by Osmond and launched in 1961.[13] It is agreed that Osmond suggested the title, and sold many of the early copies in person, in London pubs.[14]
The magazine was initially edited by Booker and designed by Rushton, who drew cartoons for it. Usborne was its first managing director.[15] Its subsequent editor, Ingrams, who was then pursuing a career as an actor, shared the editorship with Booker from around issue number 10 and took over from issue 40. At first,Private Eye was a vehicle for juvenile jokes: an extension of the original school magazine, and an alternative toPunch.
Peter Cook—who in October 1961 foundedThe Establishment, the first satirical nightclub in London—purchasedPrivate Eye in 1962, together withNicholas Luard,[16] and was a long-time contributor.[17] Others essential to the development of the magazine wereAuberon Waugh,Claud Cockburn (who had run a pre-war scandal sheet,The Week),Barry Fantoni,Gerald Scarfe, Tony Rushton,Patrick Marnham andCandida Betjeman.Christopher Logue was another long-time contributor, providing the column "True Stories", featuring cuttings from the national press. Thegossip columnistNigel Dempster wrote extensively for the magazine before he fell out withIan Hislop and other writers, while Foot wrote on politics, local government and corruption. The receptionist and general factotum from 1984 to 2014 wasHilary Lowinger.[18]
Ingrams continued as editor until 1986 when he was succeeded by Hislop. Ingrams remains chairman of the holding company.[19]
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Private Eye often reports on the misdeeds of powerful and important individuals and, consequently, has received numerouslibelwrits throughout its history. These include three issued byJames Goldsmith (known in the magazine as "(Sir) Jammy Fishpaste" and "Jonah Jammy fingers") and several byRobert Maxwell (known as "Captain Bob"), one of which resulted in the award of costs and reported damages of £225,000, and attacks on the magazine by Maxwell through a book,Malice in Wonderland, and a one-off magazine,Not Private Eye. Its defenders point out that it often carries news that the mainstream press will not print for fear of legal reprisals or because the material is of minority interest.
As well as covering a wide range of current affairs,Private Eye is also known for highlighting the errors and hypocritical behaviour of newspapers in the "Street of Shame" column, named afterFleet Street, the former home of many papers. It reports on parliamentary and national political issues, with regional and local politics covered in equal depth under the "Rotten Boroughs" column (named after therotten boroughs of the pre-Reform Act 1832 House of Commons). Extensiveinvestigative journalism is published under the "In the Back" section, often tackling cover-ups and unreported scandals. A financial column called "In the City" (referring to theCity of London), written by Michael Gillard under the pseudonym "Slicker", has exposed several significant financial scandals and described unethical business practices.
Some contributors toPrivate Eye are media figures or specialists in their field who write anonymously, often under humorous pseudonyms, such as "Dr B Ching" (a reference to theBeeching cuts) who writes the "Signal Failures" column about the railways. Stories sometimes originate from writers for more mainstream publications who cannot get their stories published by their main employers.
Private Eye has traditionally lagged other magazines in adopting new typesetting and printing technologies. At the start, it was laid out with scissors and paste and typed on threeIBM Electric typewriters—italics,pica andelite—lending an amateurish look to the pages. For some years after layout tools became available the magazine retained this technique to maintain its look, although the three older typewriters were replaced with an IBM composer. Today the magazine is still predominantly in black and white (though the cover and some cartoons inside appear in colour) and there is more text and less white space than is typical for a modern magazine. Much of the text is printed in the standardTimes New Roman font. The former "Colour Section" was printed in black and white like the rest of the magazine: only the content was colourful.
A series ofparody columns referring to the Prime Minister of the day has been a long-term feature ofPrivate Eye. While satirical, during the 1980s, Ingrams andJohn Wells wrote an affectionate series of fictional letters fromDenis Thatcher toBill Deedes in theDear Bill column, mocking Thatcher as an amiable, golf-playing drunk. The column was collected in a series of books and became a stage play ("Anyone for Denis?") in which Wells played the fictional Denis, a character now inextricably "blurred with the real historical figure", according to Ingrams.[20]
In The Back is an investigative journalism section notably associated with journalistPaul Foot[21] (theEye has always published its investigative journalism at the back of the magazine).[22]Private Eye was one of the journalistic organisations involved in sifting and analysing theParadise Papers, and this commentary appears inIn the Back.[23][24]
Nooks and Corners (originallyNooks and Corners of the New Barbarism), an architectural column severely critical of architectural vandalism and "barbarism",[25] notably modernism andbrutalism,[26] was originally founded byJohn Betjeman in 1971 (his first article attacked a building praised by his enemyNikolaus Pevsner)[27] and carried on by his daughterCandida Lycett Green.[28][29] For four decades beginning in 1978, it was edited byGavin Stamp under the pseudonymPiloti.[29] The column notably features a discussion of the state of public architecture and especially the preservation (or otherwise) of Britain's architectural heritage.[30]
Street of Shame is a column addressing journalistic misconduct and excesses,[31][32] hypocrisy, and undue influence by proprietors and editors, mostly sourced from tipoffs[33]—it sometimes serves as a venue for the settling of scores within the trade,[34] and is a source of friction with editors.[33] This work formed the basis of much of Ian Hislop's testimony to theLeveson Inquiry, and Leveson was complimentary about the magazine and the column.[35] The termstreet of shame is a reference to Fleet Street, the former centre of British journalism, and has become synonymous with it.[9][36][37]
TheRotten Boroughs column focuses on actual or alleged wrongdoing in local or regional governments and elections, for example, corruption, nepotism, hypocrisy and incompetence. The column's name derives from the 18th-centuryrotten boroughs.
There are also severalrecurring miniature sections.
The magazine has occasionally published special editions dedicated to the reporting of particular events, such as government inadequacy over the2001 foot and mouth outbreak, the conviction in 2001 ofAbdelbaset al-Megrahi for the 1988Lockerbie bombing (an incident regularly covered since by "In the Back"), and the purportedMMR vaccine controversy (since shown to be medical fraud committed byAndrew Wakefield) in 2002.
A special issue was published in 2004 to mark the death of long-time contributorPaul Foot. In 2005,The Guardian andPrivate Eye established thePaul Foot Award (referred to colloquially as the "Footy"), with an annual £10,000 prize fund, for investigative/campaigning journalism, in memory of Foot.[38]
The magazine has many recurringin-jokes and convoluted references, often comprehensible only to those who have read the magazine for many years. They include euphemisms designed to avoid the notoriously plaintiff-friendly English libel laws, such as replacing the word "drunk" with "tired and emotional",[39][40] or using the phrase "Ugandan discussions" to denote illicit sexual exploits;[39] and more obvious parodies using easily recognisable stereotypes, such as the lampooning ofConservative MPs as "Sir Bufton Tufton". Some of the terms have fallen into disuse when their hidden meanings have become better known.
The magazine often deliberately misspells the names of certain organisations, such as "Crapita" for the outsourcing companyCapita, "Carter-Fuck" for the law firmCarter-Ruck, and "The Grauniad" forThe Guardian (the latter a reference to the newspaper's frequent typos in its days asThe Manchester Guardian). Certain individuals may be referred to by another name, for example,Piers Morgan as "Piers Moron",Richard Branson as "Beardie", andRupert Murdoch as the "Dirty Digger". QueenElizabeth II and KingCharles III are known as "Brenda" and "Brian" respectively, names that originated with palace servants.[citation needed]
The first half of each issue, which consists chiefly of news reporting andinvestigative journalism, tends to include these in-jokes more subtly, to maintain journalistic integrity, while the second half, generally characterised by unrestrained parody and cutting humour, tends to present itself in a more confrontational way.
As well as many one-off cartoons,Private Eye features several regular comic strips:
Some of the magazine's former cartoon strips include:
At various times,Private Eye has also used the work ofRalph Steadman,Wally Fawkes,Timothy Birdsall,Martin Honeysett,Willie Rushton,Gerald Scarfe, Robert Thompson,Ken Pyne, Geoff Thompson, "Jorodo",Ed McLachlan, Simon Pearsall,Kevin Woodcock, Brian Bagnall,Kathryn Lamb andGeorge Adamson.
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Private Eye has, from time to time, produced various spin-offs from the magazine, including:
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Some have found the magazine's irreverence and sometimes controversial humour offensive. Following the death ofDiana, Princess of Wales in 1997,Private Eye printed a cover headed "Media to blame". Under this headline was a picture of many hundreds of people outsideBuckingham Palace, with one person commenting that the papers were "a disgrace", another agreeing, saying that it was impossible to get one anywhere, and another saying, "Borrow mine. It's got a picture of the car."[51]
Following the abrupt change in reporting from newspapers immediately following her death, the issue also featured a mock retraction from "all newspapers" of everything negative that they had ever said about Diana. This was enough to cause a flood of complaints and the temporary removal of the magazine from the shelves of some newsagents. These includedWHSmith, which had previously refused to stockPrivate Eye until well into the 1970s and was characterised in the magazine as "WH Smugg" or "WH Smut" on account of its policy of stocking pornographic magazines.
The issues that followed theLadbroke Grove rail crash in 1999 (number 987), theSeptember 11 attacks of 2001 (number 1037; the magazine even included a special "subscription cancellation coupon" for disgruntled readers to send in) and theSoham murders of 2002 all attracted similar complaints. Following the7/7 London bombings the magazine's cover (issue number 1137) featured Prime MinisterTony Blair saying to London mayorKen Livingstone: "We must track down the evil mastermind behind the bombers...", to which Livingstone replies: "...and invite him around for tea", about his controversial invitation of the Islamic theologianYusuf al-Qaradawi to London.[52]
During the early 2000sPrivate Eye published many stories on theMMR vaccine controversy, supporting the interpretation byAndrew Wakefield of published research inThe Lancet by theRoyal Free Hospital's Inflammatory Bowel Disease Study Group, which described an apparent link between the vaccine andautism and bowel problems. Many of these stories accused medical researchers who supported the vaccine's safety of having conflicts of interest because of funding from the pharmaceutical industry.
Initially dismissive of Wakefield, the magazine rapidly moved to support him, in 2002 publishing a 32-pageMMR Special Report that supported Wakefield's assertion that MMR vaccines "should be given individually at not less than one-year intervals". TheBritish Medical Journal issued a contemporary press release[53] that concluded: "TheEye report is dangerous in that it is likely to be read by people who are concerned about the safety of the vaccine. A doubting parent who reads this might be convinced there is a genuine problem, and the absence of any proper references will prevent them from checking the many misleading statements."
In a review article published in 2010, after Wakefield was disciplined by theGeneral Medical Council, regular columnistPhil Hammond, who contributes to the "Medicine Balls" column under the pseudonym "MD", stated that: "Private Eye got it wrong in its coverage of MMR" in maintaining its support for Wakefield's position long after shortcomings in his work had emerged.[54]
Senior figures in the trade union movement have accused the publication of having aclassist anti-union bias, withUnite chief of staffAndrew Murray describingPrivate Eye as "a publication of assiduous public school boys" and adding that it has "never once written anything about trade unions that isn't informed by cynicism and hostility".[55] TheSocialist Worker also wrote that "For the past 50 years, the satirical magazinePrivate Eye has upset and enraged the powerful. Its mix of humour and investigation has tirelessly challenged the hypocrisy of the elite. ... But it also has serious weaknesses. Among the witty—if sometimes tired—spoof articles and cartoons, there is a nasty streak of snobbery and prejudice. Its jokes about the poor, women and young people rely on lazy stereotypes you might expect from the columns of theDaily Mail. It is the anti-establishment journal of the establishment."[56]
The 2004 Christmas issue received many complaints after it featuredPieter Bruegel's painting of anativity scene, in which one wise man said to another: "Apparently, it'sDavid Blunkett's" (who at the time was involved in a scandal in which he was thought to have impregnated a married woman). Many readers sent letters accusing the magazine ofblasphemy andanti-Christian attitudes. One stated that the "witless, gutless buggers wouldn't dare mockIslam". It has, however, regularly published Islam-related humour such as the cartoon which portrayed a "Taliban careers master asking a pupil: What would you like to be when you blow up?".[57]
Many letters in the first issue of 2005 disagreed with the former readers' complaints, and some were parodies of those letters, "complaining" about the following issue's cover[58]—a cartoon depictingSanta's sleigh shredded by awind farm: one said: "To use a picture of Our Lord Father Christmas and his Holy Reindeer being torn limb from limb while flying over a windfarm is inappropriate and blasphemous."
In November 2016,Private Eye's official website appeared on a list of over 150"fake news" websites compiled by Melissa Zimdars, a US lecturer. The site was listed as a source that is "purposefully fake with the intent of satire/comedy, which can offer important critical commentary on politics and society, but have the potential to be shared as actual/literal news."[59] TheEye rejected any such classification, saying its site "contains none of these things, as the small selection of stories online are drawn from the journalism pages of the magazine", adding that "even US college students might recognise that the Headmistress's letter is not really from a troubled high school".[60] Zimdars later removed the website from her list, after theEye had contacted her for clarification.[60]
In 2023,Private Eye published a satirical cover on theGaza war, reading "This magazine may contain some criticism of the Israeli government and may suggest that killing everyone in Gaza as revenge for Hamas atrocities may not be a good long-term solution to the problems of the region." The magazine was both criticised and praised for its stance, with some accusing the magazine ofantisemitism, while others called it brave for criticising the Israeli government. Critics such as investigative journalist David Collier condemned the magazine, while supporters defended its critique as not antisemitic but a legitimate questioning of the proportionality of Israel's response.[61]
Ian Hislop is listed in theGuinness Book of Records as the most sued man in English legal history.[62][63][64][65]Private Eye has long been known for attractinglibel lawsuits which, inEnglish law, can easily lead to the award of damages.[66] The publication "sets aside almost a quarter of itsturnover for paying out in libel defeats"[67] although the magazine frequently finds other ways to defuse legal tensions, such as by printing letters from aggrieved parties. As editor since 1986,Ian Hislop is one of the most sued people in Britain.[65] From 1969 to the mid-1980s, the magazine was represented by human rights lawyerGeoffrey Bindman.[68]
The writerColin Watson was the first person to successfully suePrivate Eye, objecting to being described as "the little-known author who ... was writing a novel, veryWodehouse but without jokes". He was awarded £750.[69]
The cover of the tenth-anniversary issue in 1971 (number 257) showed a cartoon headstone inscribed with an extensive list of well-known names, and theepitaph: "They did not sue in vain".[70]
In the 1971 case ofArkell v Pressdram,[71] Arkell's lawyers wrote a letter which concluded: "His attitude to damages will be governed by the nature of your reply."Private Eye responded: "We acknowledge your letter of 29th April referring to Mr J. Arkell. We note that Mr Arkell's attitude to damages will be governed by the nature of our reply and would therefore be grateful if you would inform us what his attitude to damages would be, were he to learn that the nature of our reply is as follows: fuck off."[72] The plaintiff withdrew the threatened lawsuit.[73] The magazine has since used this exchange as a euphemism for a blunt and coarse dismissal, i.e.: "We refer you to the reply given in the case ofArkell v. Pressdram".[74][75] As with "tired and emotional" this usage has spread beyond the magazine.
In 1976James Goldsmith broughtcriminal libel charges against the magazine, meaning that if found guilty, editorRichard Ingrams and the author of the article,Patrick Marnham, could be imprisoned. He sued over allegations that he had conspired with theClermont Set to assistLord Lucan to evade the police, who wanted him in connection with the murder of his children's nanny. Goldsmith won a partial victory and eventually settled with the magazine. The case threatened to bankruptPrivate Eye, which turned to its readers for financial support in the form of a "Goldenballs Fund". Goldsmith was referred to as "Jaws". Goldsmith's solicitorPeter Carter-Ruck was involved in many litigation cases against Private Eye; the magazine refers to his firm as "Carter-Fuck".[76][77]
Robert Maxwell won a significant sum from the magazine when he sued over their suggestion that he looked like a criminal. Hislop claimed that his summary of the case: "I've just given a fat cheque to a fat Czech" was the only example of a joke being told onNews at Ten.
Sonia Sutcliffe, wife of the "Yorkshire Ripper"Peter Sutcliffe, sued over allegations in January 1981 that she had used her connection to her husband to make money.[78] Outside the court in May 1989, Hislop quipped about the then-record award of £600,000 in damages: "If that's justice then I'm a banana."[79] The sum was reduced on appeal to £60,000.[79] Readers raised a considerable sum in the "Bananaballs Fund", and Private Eye donated the surplus to the families of Peter Sutcliffe's victims. In Sonia Sutcliffe's 1990 libel case against theNews of the World, it emerged that she had indeed benefited financially from her husband's crimes, although the details ofPrivate Eye's article had been inaccurate.[78]
In 1994, retired police inspector Gordon Anglesea successfully sued theEye and three other media outlets for libel over allegations that he had indecently assaulted under-aged boys inWrexham in the 1980s. In October 2016, he was convicted of historic sex offences.[80] Hislop said the magazine would not attempt to recover the £80,000 damages awarded to Anglesea, stating: "I can't help thinking of the witnesses who came forward to assist our case at the time, one of whom later committed suicide telling his wife that he never got over not being believed.Private Eye will not be looking to get our money back from the libel damages. Others have paid a far higher price."[81] Anglesea died in December 2016, six weeks into a 12-year prison sentence.[82]
In 1999, formerHackney London Borough Council executive Samuel Yeboah won substantial damages and an apology after theRotten Borough column "at least 13 times" described him as corrupt and claimed he used "therace card" to avoid criticism.[83]
A victory for the magazine came in late 2001 when a libel case brought byCornishchartered accountant John Stuart Condliffe was dropped after six weeks with an out-of-court settlement in which Condliffe paid £100,000 towards theEye's defence.[84] Writing inThe Guardian, Jessica Hodgson noted, "The victory against Condliffe—who was represented by top media firm Peter Carter-Ruck and partners—is a big psychological victory for the magazine".[84]
In 2009,Private Eye successfully challenged an injunction brought against it byMichael Napier, the former head of theLaw Society, who had sought to claim "confidentiality" over a report that he had been disciplined by the Law Society for a conflict of interest.[85] The ruling had wider significance in that it allowed other rulings by the Law Society to be publicised.[86]
The magazine is owned by an eclectic group of people and is published by a limited company, Pressdram Ltd,[87] which was bought as an"off the shelf" company by Peter Cook in November 1961.
Private Eye does not publish a list of its editors, writers, designers and staff. In 1981 the bookThe Private Eye Story stated that the owners were Cook, who owned most of the shares, with smaller shareholders including actorsDirk Bogarde andJane Asher, and several of those involved with the founding of the magazine. Most of those on the list have since died, however, and it is unclear what happened to their shareholdings. Those concerned are contractually only able to sell their shares at the price they originally paid for them.
Shareholders as of the annual company return dated 26 March 2021[update],[citation needed] including shareholders who have inherited shares, are:
Within its pages, the magazine always refers to its owner as the mythical proprietor "Lord Gnome", a satirical dig at autocratic press barons.
The magazine's masthead features a cartoon logo of an armoured knight, Gnitty, with a bent sword, parodying the "Crusader" logo of theDaily Express. Gnitty is occasionally redrawn to reflect current events; for instance, during theCOVID-19 pandemic, Gnitty was pictured wearing amask.[88]
The logo for the magazine's news page is a nakedMr Punch caressing his erect and oversized penis while riding a donkey and hugging a female admirer. It is a detail froma frieze by"Dickie" Doyle that once formed the masthead ofPunch magazine, which the editors ofPrivate Eye had come to loathe for its perceived descent into complacency. The image, hidden away in the detail of the frieze, had appeared on the cover ofPunch for nearly a century and was noticed byMalcolm Muggeridge during a guest-editing spot onPrivate Eye. The "Rabelaisian gnome", as the character was called, was enlarged byGerald Scarfe and put on the front cover of issue 69 in 1964 at full size. He was then formally adopted as a mascot on the inside pages, as a symbol of the old, radical incarnation ofPunch magazine that theEye admired.
The masthead text was designed byMatthew Carter, who later designed the web fontsVerdana andGeorgia, and theWindows 95 interface fontTahoma.[89] He wrote, "Nick Luard [then co-owner] wanted to changePrivate Eye into a glossy magazine and asked me to design it. I realised that this was a hopeless idea once I had met Christopher Booker, Richard Ingrams and Willie Rushton."[90]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)Unite chief of staff Andrew Murray made much of the Eye's coverage of [the expulsion of David Beaumont from Unite], telling the panel:'Private Eye is ... a publication of assiduous[sic] public school boys which has never, never once written anything about trade unions that isn't informed by cynicism and hostility.'
Mr Callaghan is referred to the Eye's reply in the famous case of Arkell v. Pressdram (1971).
PRESSDRAM LIMITED
C/O MENZIES LLP
LYNTON HOUSE
7–12 TAVISTOCK SQUARE
LONDON WC1H 9LT
Company No. 00708923
Date of Incorporation: 24 November 1961
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51°30′53″N0°08′01″W / 51.51485°N 0.13372°W /51.51485; -0.13372
