Read on Twitter
A few weeks ago I missed out on the “Who was on the cover of Vanity Fair when you were born?” meme because I am so old that it didn’t exist, so I did Woman’s Own instead. I then bought that very issue, and as it’s my birthday today I’m going to share it with you… https://twitter.com/rudemrlang/status/1294669474071797768">https://twitter.com/rudemrlan...
The first thing to note is that is has a massive number 45 on the cover, and I’m 45 today, so that’s definitely a bit SPOOKY.
The opening spread is a big ad for FAGS. Seems weird to see this now when tobacco advertising has been banned for so long, but back in 1975 people absolutely loved smoking, and loads of money was spent on advertising it.
This is the contents page and editor’s letter, all about how fabulous it is to swan around London being the editor of Woman’s Own. I should point out that the pages are HUGE, the size of a tabloid newspaper.
Bad breath and headaches, both still going strong 45 years later. The Doctor’s Diary is all about curing hiccups – he recommends breathing in and out of a large paper bag.
The letters pages features hot takes on everything from the ridiculous size of platform shoes to a lady with a compulsion for buying broken lampshades. Some beautiful 70s avocado bathrooms on the facing ad, too!
This full colour fashion spread is actually fairy lavish for the time - most of the mag is printed in black and white with occasional spot colours. The hot boutiques include French Connection, Wallis, C&A and, of course, Marks & Spencer!
Next up is some fairly bleak “romantic” fiction, in which a young divorcee goes out with an absolute BASTARD. She ends up having an abortion after he abandons her and then she TAKES HIM BACK AT THE END.
Obsessed with the sci-fi font on this “computer quiz”, designed by a “computer expert” to help readers find the perfect hairdo.
Poor girl!
Now we have a very densely typeset feature about modern slavery, warning “travel-bugged girls” about the perils of going abroad to work.
The ads are all quite different from what we’re used to these days - loads of copy, full of information, very serious in tone, and lavishly illustrated. Not a slogan in sight!
Just a single page near the back of the book given to a deeply sad account by Diana Dors about the still-birth of her premature son. It’s all reported in a very matter-of-fact way, which makes it even sadder really.
The sudden appearance of a lengthy extract from Agatha Christie’s latest Poirot novel is quite a curveball
Last up is, of course, the problem page. The main letter is from someone who has discovered her husband likes to wear women’s clothes, and both the letter and response are sensitive and respectful.
Finally, on the back page, EVEN MORE FAGS, this time in a beautifully brown 70s scene with some wine and grapes. So that’s what women were reading in September 1975 just as I was making my first appearance. I wonder if my mum saw this issue at the time!
OMG I nearly forgot about Claire Rayner on vaginismus!
Next week’s issue looks like a cracker too! Knitting! Slimming! TWIGGY!
