I sat staring at my computer screen, unable to do anything of any merit. I didn’t really want to talk to anyone. I got angry when I saw people talking about other, more trivial (in my view) things. Continue reading “A sense of physical loss”
more! magazine is closingIn January 2001, I stepped through the office doors of more! magazine to begin two of the most entertaining and educational years of my career, so I am immensely sad that today Bauer Media has announced that the magazine is closing.
Quite simply, more! magazine was an institution. You’d be hard pushed to find a woman who didn’t flick through its pages at some point during her formative teenage years, either giggling at Position of the Fortnight, or laughing at the latest celebrity gossip.
For me, one of the great things about more! was that it had a proper personality. Cheeky and irreverent, humour was at the centre of its appeal, but it didn’t shy away from the topics that were important for young women.
While there, I wrote countless sex and relationships features, but I also reported on subjects such as rape, drugs and egg donation.
Easy target
For many, more! was an easy target for feminists claiming that it degraded women, was too exploitative and focussed too much on the ladette binge-drinking culture of women in their late teens and early 20s.
But the core audience that more! catered to – especially during its glory years of the mid-90s through to the early 2000s – existed (and still exists) and needed someone to speak to them and empower them.
There are young girls out there who need someone to make sense of their world, to give them a voice, and not treat them as some sort of alien species. Most of the time, more! fitted that brief to a tee.
Office life
What was key for me, as well, was that those of us on the magazine also thoroughly enjoyed putting it together and cared about the readers.
For 2 years at more!, I had the most fun I’ve had in any job over the past 19 years, learned huge amounts and made some amazing friendships.
Unsustainable
That more! is no longer sustainable as a commercial concern, is hugely depressing. I’m sure that there are many women out there who still fit the description of the core more! reader, but they no longer need to wait a fortnight to read the latest celeb gossip, pore over fashion and beauty tips, or get advice about sex and relationships.
Paul Keenan from Bauer said: “The prospect of continuing challenging economic conditions has led us to reach this decision as the title has become unviable.”
I feel hugely sorry for Channy Horton and her team and I also feel very sorry for the young women who will never get to experience more! in its true glory.
They may be lots of ways of finding the same thing on the internet nowadays, but it won’t come in the same fantastically-funny, well-written and joyously entertaining 140-page package that more! always was.
To many 30- and 40-somethings, he will be remembered as the host of iconic quiz show Blockbusters, but his career started long before that, being an early BBC Radio host (alongside Terry Wogan and Jimmy Young) and he was also the first person ever to voice James Bond.
However, my memories of him are more personal, having been lucky enough to appear on Blockbusters in the late 90s and a far less well-remembered primetime game show called Raise the Roof in the mid-90s.
The genial face he put across on screen was completely mirrored off-screen. The atmosphere backstage at Blockbusters was bit like a youth club, with up to 40 contestants waiting in the green room at any one time to appear on the next programme (some contestants waited up to 2 weeks to go on).
At lunchtimes in the canteen, Bob happily ate with all of us and chatted away about his life and experiences, as well as found out about all of us – it was clearly a fantastic gig, as far as he was concerned.
Much later – in 1995 – Yorkshire TV tried an ultimately-doomed Saturday night game show with Bob once again in the quizmaster’s chair.
He claimed he remembered me from my appearance on Blockbusters 6 years previously – which I know now probably wasn’t true, but at the time, it seemed emininently believeable.
As before, he was very warm, genuinely interested in all the contestants and merely confirmed my previous memories of him.
That Raise the Roof failed to become the star vehicle for Bob that he probably deserved was in no way down to him – the format and questions were the problem, not the host.
One of the nicest men in showbusiness – completely genuine and totally unstarry. RIP Bob!
* Yes, I know it wasn’t Bob who played on Baker Street – it was really Raphael Ravenscroft.
We’ve all lost someone we care about. It’s devastating. You feel as if there’s a big hole somewhere inside you. 
