The People's Friend Magazine

5 January 2022

The People's Friend - Issue 7909 - The best fiction with seven short stories, including 'Follow My Lead', our sparkling new serial by Beth Watson, and 'Round In Circles', an intriguing crime mystery by Richard Bonsall. Neil McAllister finds there’s much to explore in charming Cambridge, 'Friend' writer Annie S. Swan receives special recognition, it’s a milestone for the fabulous Shirley Bassey, and discover the UNESCO cities recognised for their arts and crafts heritage... Plus more stories, serials, health, gardening, knitting, recipes, travel, and much more inside. --- Back in 1869, when the recently widowed Victoria was on the throne and Gladstone was Prime Minister, when Alexander Graham Bell was yet to make the first telephone call and Darwin's "Origin Of Species" had been published just ten years earlier, a brand-new magazine - "The People's Friend" - hit the shelves for the very first time. Right from the start, the "Friend's" mission statement was clear: "We intend that fully one half of the 'Friend' shall be devoted to fiction... the 'Friend' being intended for fireside reading, nothing will be admitted into its columns having the slightest tendency to corrupt the morals either of old or young." As the years passed, the "Friend" grew and thrived. Through massive social upheaval, wars, strikes, financial crashes and natural disasters, the magazine continued, dispensing entertainment, instruction, comfort and good cheer to its readers. It became a constant in readers' lives; a true friend to turn to in times of trouble.