Girlie Magazines, Pin Ups and Other Such Things

[Martin Chuzzletits]

Back in the days of Flecker and Seaman, what was the status of papers such as Titbits and Reveille, not to mention the News of the World? Was possession of such things a thrashable offence? And what of the now-very-tame-seeming '50s-style pin-ups showing girls in one-piece or two-piece swimsuits, cavorting with beachballs? Were they ever allowed to be pinned up? Or would they have been deemed at odds with the whole Anglican foundation thing? And what of the forerunners of girlie magazines, such as Carnival and the original Men Only, Parade and Escort volumes? Were they considered the work of Satan or did all good housemasters and headmasters subscribe to them themselves? And could you actually be expelled for being apprehended in possession of such titles or was the old 'boys will be boys' thing acknowledged even by the grimmest Mr Quelch?

[alterblau]

Throughout my days at CH, during the regimes of Flecker and Seaman, I was certainly aware of the existence of Titbits and Reveille (pronounced Revalley). There were occasionally a few copies floating around but never prominently displayed, or even displayed at all (eg on the inside of dayroom locker doors). It was known there was general official disapproval of them, but never any formal ban, according to my memory. That broad disapproval was enough to keep them out of sight. As was mentioned above they were pretty tame, even in terms of the mores of the 40s and 50s.

[Pe.A]

Back in the days of Flecker and Seaman, what was the status of papers such as Titbits and Reveille, not to mention the News of the World? Was possession of such things a thrashable offence? And what of the now-very-tame-seeming '50s-style pin-ups showing girls in one-piece or two-piece swimsuits, cavorting with beachballs? Were they ever allowed to be pinned up? Or would they have been deemed at odds with the whole Anglican foundation thing? And what of the forerunners of girlie magazines, such as Carnival and the original Men Only, Parade and Escort volumes? Were they considered the work of Satan or did all good housemasters and headmasters subscribe to them themselves? And could you actually be expelled for being apprehended in possession of such titles or was the old 'boys will be boys' thing acknowledged even by the grimmest Mr Quelch?

You certainly seem to have encyclopaedic knowledge of old girlie mags...

I can remember when I was at CH, one would randomly find discarded porn mags stashed in bushes in Shelley's Wood. To this day i can't really work out why anyone would want to bring them off-site and leave them to the mercy of the elements.

One thing was certain though. The circulation of new material always seemed to grow straight after pupils got back from the Ansbach exchange...

[Otter]

There was often an explicit magazine tear-out to be found stuck onto the inside of the same downstairs toilet door in Pe B. Glad I didn't really think at the time how many might have "made use" of the sight. If it was taken down, another picture would reappear a day or two later in a constant cycle.

I never knew who was responsible for that, although when I was there in the advent of the internet in the 90s, one boy got given the nickname of the "Pornmaster" due to his regular bans from his school IT account. Housemaster Mike Gladding also referred to him as such. Although I've just spied on LinkedIn and he's a senior associate at a FinTech company, so I guess his IT knowledge did him well.

[Pe.A]

There was often an explicit magazine tear-out to be found stuck onto the inside of the same downstairs toilet door in Pe B. Glad I didn't really think at the time how many might have "made use" of the sight. If it was taken down, another picture would reappear a day or two later in a constant cycle.

I never knew who was responsible for that, although when I was there in the advent of the internet in the 90s, one boy got given the nickname of the "Pornmaster" due to his regular bans from his school IT account. Housemaster Mike Gladding also referred to him as such. Although I've just spied on LinkedIn and he's a senior associate at a FinTech company, so I guess his IT knowledge did him well.

Pornmaster. Made me chuckle.

[dsm]

They were called bog mags back in my day (late 70s). Someone brought one over from Scandinavia. We'd never seen anything like it in our lives. Almost too much for us hot-blooded teenagers.

[Pe.A]

They were called bog mags back in my day (late 70s). Someone brought one over from Scandinavia. We'd never seen anything like it in our lives. Almost too much for us hot-blooded teenagers.

Bog mags. Made me chuckle even more. It's been a while since I've heard that term...

[rockfreak]

This takes me back a bit. Back to the 50s. Overlooking top table in Col B was a faded sepia photo of an ex-Col B housemaster called Lenny Dale. AH Buck (before he got kicked out for gropery) made much of old Lenny's reputation. He told us that Lenny would not give you your weekly pocket money unless you could punt a rugger ball over a nearby tree. This sort of thing seemed to be v. important with Buck (along with getting p*ssed and groping). Anyway, one summer, just before Old Blues Day, top table got fed up with Lenny and snipped out a picture of the up and coming starlet Brigitte Bardot from a film magazine and pasted it over the picture of Lenny, knowing that sentimental OBs would come and look for old Lenny's picture and instead find the semi-naked young film star. But I think we all agreed it was a big improvement.

[scrub]

They were called bog mags back in my day (late 70s).

Have not heard that phrase used in decades!

There was often an explicit magazine tear-out to be found stuck onto the inside of the same downstairs toilet door in Pe B. ...
I never knew who was responsible for that ...

A couple of names come to mind, but they may have been (just) before your time ...

I remember that the top of the cisterns of the downstairs loos was a likely place to find some toilet reading, if one felt so inclined. Probably the smartest place to keep it really, no point in keeping anything in a study as it'd just get nicked and if you were known for keeping stuff like that in an obvious place, it'd just increase the number of times people went through your study looking for things to steal.

[Jabod2]

You certainly seem to have encyclopaedic knowledge of old girlie mags...

No 'Health and Efficiency'?