Truth (British periodical)

Truth was a British periodical publication founded by the diplomat and Liberal politician Henry Labouchère. The first issue was published on 4 January 1877. Labouchère founded the periodical after he left a virtual rival publication, The World. Truth was known for its exposures of many kinds of frauds, and was at the centre of several civil lawsuits. Although Labouchère himself contributed to Truth, it was for the most part controlled by Horace Voules in its early days.

Later in its existence, Truth was close to the Conservative Party. In 1941, it was briefly the subject of political controversy following allegations made in Parliament, but publication continued when the allegations were refuted. Later, Truth came under the direction of Collin Brooks. In its final years, it moved away from its right-wing editorial line back to the more liberal agenda of its early days. Truth ceased publication in 1957.

The Christmas Edition 1890 received international attention, as it published a conversion with a professor of hypnosis who described a dream of the German Emperor, under the title "The Kaiser's Dream". In this dream, the destruction of European monarchies was described, and Truth presented a colored map to show the results after a war in the future. At that time the magazine had a circulation of one million. The story about "The Kaiser's Dream" was somestimes interpreted to be a prophecy for First World War.

In 1892, Labouchère exposed the Society of Science, Letters and Art as a fraudulent learned society which invited eminent but gullible persons, as well as ordinary people interested in the sciences and arts, to pay for fellowship and for permission to append the letters F.S.Sc. after their name.

Under Labouchère, whom media of the time called an "unruly" man,Truth became known for both its investigative journalism into frauds and its legal troubles. The newspaper was sued many times, mostly unsuccessfully. In 1934, Conservative Party politician Derek Walker-Smith, Baron Broxbourne sympathetically wrote:

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