Private Eye (magazine)
A July 2011 cover following the closure of the News of the World, making ironic use of a famous 1982 headline from sister paper The Sun
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| Editor | Ian Hislop |
|---|---|
| Categories | Satirical news magazine |
| Frequency | Fortnightly |
| Circulation | 250,204 (July-Dec 2016) |
| Year founded | 1961 |
| Company | Pressdram Ltd |
| Based in |
London, W1 United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Website | private-eye.co.uk |
| ISSN | 0032-888X |
Private Eye is a British fortnightly satirical and current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986.
The publication is widely recognised for its prominent criticism and lampooning of public figures such as politicians and media tycoons, and of organisations that it considers incompetent, inefficient, corrupt, pompous or self-important; it has established itself as a thorn in the side of the British establishment. It is also known for its in-depth investigative journalism into under-reported scandals and cover-ups.
Private Eye is Britain's best-selling current affairs magazine, and such is its long-term popularity and impact that many of its recurring in-jokes have entered popular culture. The magazine bucks the trend of declining circulation for print media, having recorded its highest ever circulation numbers in the second half of 2016.
The forerunner of Private Eye was a school magazine, The Salopian, published at Shrewsbury School in the mid-1950s and edited by Richard Ingrams, Willie Rushton, Christopher Booker and Paul Foot. After National Service, Ingrams and Foot went as undergraduates to Oxford University, where they met their future collaborators Peter Usborne, Andrew Osmond,John Wells and Danae Brook, among others.
The magazine proper began when Usborne learned of a new printing process, photo-litho offset, which meant that anybody with a typewriter and Letraset could produce a magazine. The publication was initially funded by Osmond and launched in 1961. It was named when Osmond looked for ideas in the well-known recruiting poster of Lord Kitchener (an image of Kitchener pointing with the caption "Wants You") and, in particular, the pointing finger. After the name Finger was rejected, Osmond suggested Private Eye, in the sense of someone who "fingers" a suspect. The magazine was initially edited by Booker and designed by Rushton, who drew cartoons for it. 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 to Punch. However, according to Booker, it got "caught up in the rage for satire".
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