The Lady Magazine

13 February 2015

Dear Readers, When I was born, on 11 July 1974, The Lady was already a decade or so older than my beloved great-grandmother, Nana Clarke. Now, I am 40 and the magazine is still in jolly fi ne fettle. In fact, on 19 February, she celebrates her 130th birthday – and gosh, doesn’t she look well. Over the course of those decades, The Lady has had only 10 editors – quite a feat in an industry that never has been known for its stability. She rolled out of the presses throughout the First and Second World Wars, as a generation marched off to the trenches and the bombs fell on London. She has survived booms, busts and decimalisation – and has sold under six different monarchs. William Gladstone was prime minister when she was printed for the first time in February 1885 and she has since witnessed 23 other men and women walk through 10 Downing Street’s glossy black door. In a fi ckle, changing world, The Lady has been one, reassuring constant. Not that she hasn’t evolved. How diff erent she looks now to that first edition some 47,450 days ago (and yes, that is a rough calculation). The key to The Lady’s longevity, however, perhaps comes down to her founding mission statement. It promised that the magazine would ‘provide information without dullness, and entertainment without vulgarity, and be at once useful and necessary without ceasing to be bright and lively’, pledging ‘we will not restrict ourselves to the old paths, but shall seek the aid of novelty’. Those words have been the foundation stone of The Lady, setting her apart from her rivals and allowing her to evolve without losing sight of what makes her special, unique, and, in a way, timeless. May there be many more anniversaries to come. Very best wishes, Matt Warren, Editor