Man About Town (magazine)

Man About Town

The innocent cover of Man About Town, summer 1956, featuring the magazine's mutton chops personification.
Categories	Men's lifestyle
Frequency	Quarterly then monthly
Year founded	1952
Final issue	1968
Company	Cornmarket
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Man About Town, later About Town and lastly Town, was an important British men's magazine of the 1950s and 60s. Press Gazette called it the "progenitor of all today's men's style magazines". It was the customer offshoot of the well-established weekly trade magazine for tailors, The Tailor & Cutter.

John Taylor (1921–2003) had been interviewed for the editorship of The Tailor & Cutter in 1945, after being demobilised from the Royal Navy, but did not get the job. After his initial failure, he secured another chance and wore his "Fleet Air Arm uniform with gold pilot wings and lieutenant's rings" and this time he was successful. This lesson in the importance of clothes and style formed a lasting impression on Taylor. He went on to edit that magazine for 24 years and his weekly comments on the dress of celebrities, politicians and royalty attracted international attention and fame, transforming Tailor & Cutter into what The Times called "the most quoted trade magazine in the world".

Man About Town began as a quarterly magazine in 1952 and Taylor's editing was typically irreverent, not least about the magazine itself. It was said that a subscription, at sixteen shillings, showed "that a fool and his money are soon parted" and included the statement "Man About Town is edited by John Taylor, but never mind".

Magforum said: "For [John] Taylor, Man About Town was a platform to indulge his interests in fine wines, especially champagne, good food, women and entertaining company" and the magazine once carried the slogan "women and various other bad habits".

The Press Gazette called Man About Town the "progenitor of all today's men's style magazines". In earlier editions it was personified by a middle aged man with a mustache and mutton chops who appeared on the cover as the main figure, or smaller leaning against the title and on the contents page inside. Later, the appearance and content of the magazine changed significantly as it took its place in the media of 1960s Swinging London. More photographic material was used and art director Tom Wolsey was important in helping photographers like Terence Donovan and Don McCullin become established. Mike Dempsey said of Wolsey's work: "The look of the magazine was dynamic in its use of typography, space to breathe and wonderful images." Also featured were cartoons by Michael Heath, Mel Calman and Gerald Scarfe.