The inside story of the rise and fall of a great magazine
Narrated by Rene Cutforth
It was read and enjoyed by millions. In October 1938 it flared into sight like a comet. By tea-time on the day it first appeared you couldn't buy a copy anywhere in the country. It showed ordinary people, as well as the great, as they were. It gave Britain a new view of itself, yet the man who invented it was a Hungarian who only a year before had borrowed from a girlfriend to start making his own way in British journalism. It combined glamour, wit and social concern. The views it expressed were often ahead of their time. Many believe it helped change the course of British politics. But in 1957 it appeared for the last time. What were the secrets of its vast popularity, and why did it die?
Among the people involved were Stefan Lorant , Tom Hopkinson Lionel Birch
Sir Edward and Lady Hulton Fvfe Robertson. James Cameron Lord Jacobson, Lord Castle Robert Kee, Bert Hardy
Film editor CHRIS LAWRENCE Written and produced by I JOHN ORMOND
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