125 glorious years
A few highlights among many from the eclectic world of COUNTRY LIFE
A cottage for £800
In response to reader requests for advice on building a weekend retreat, a competition was initiated to design a ‘cottage’ on a Home Counties village site, with outbuildings and garden, including tennis lawn and vegetable patch, to cost no more than £800. The judges, Sir Edwin Lutyens, Arthur Bolton and Lawrence Weaver, awarded first prize of 40gns to architect Mr C. F. W. Dening. (September 28 and December 7, 1912)
Hole in two
Dr A. Mackenzie, a distinguished golfing architect, won first prize (£20) in a COUNTRY LIFE competition to design a two-shot hole (between 360 yards and 460 yards). His winning entry, which had five possible routes, was described as ‘most ingeniously devised’ and is still being played as part of the Masters course in Augusta, US. The golfing editor, Bernard Darwin, reported disapprovingly that ‘one frankly humorous person, having read that there was no restriction in regard to hazards, sent in a design comprising a carry over a gas-works and a row of workmen’s dwellings, for which he demanded a special consolation prize that has not been awarded him’. (August 1, 1914)
Chequers given to the nation
In the October 6, 1917 issue, COUNTRY LIFE announced that Chequers was to be given by Sir Arthur and Lady Lee (right) as the country home of future prime ministers and printed an article on it, which praised the owners’ restoration of the house to its 16th- and 17th-century original after previous incumbents had spent much money ‘obliterating its history and its beauty under a pervading coat of mock mediaeval frippery’. Nearly 100 years later, COUNTRY LIFE was exclusively invited to re-visit and produce a two-part article, published in May 2020.
Cheering the troops
COUNTRY LIFE obtained special permission from the War Office for copies to be sent to the Front during the First World War, simply by handing them over at any post-office counter. The magazine did not shrink from gritty reporting of the conflict and, on January 16, 1915, published this account from a reader, a subaltern in the trenches during the appalling first winter: ‘A form of khaki porridge is now the stuff our men live in. One of the most dangerous results is that parapets… are no longer bullet proof… having become spread out like jam on a plate.’ Black humour was much in evidence, too, with another (or the same) subaltern sending sketches and stories, ending with his return home sans one leg and finding a ‘nice safe horse’ for hunting.
Every year, month and day, I realise how fortunate I am to have grown up and spent most of my life in the countryside
The Princess Royal, Guest Editor, July 29, 2020
The Dictionary of English Furniture
COUNTRY LIFE published Volume l of this in 1924 at £4 14s 6d. It was written by Percy Macquoid and Ralph Edwards with an introduction by H. Avray Tipping and was described as ‘the most important work yet published on this subject’. It was incredibly detailed— the chapter on cabinets alone had 52 illustrations and chairs 182—and it remains an invaluable reference work.
The 2,000th number
The Prince of Wales sent a message of goodwill on the occasion of the 2,000th issue in 1935, saying of the magazine: ‘Its popularity, both at home and overseas, assures it a prosperous future.’ Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin wrote: ‘It is hard to exaggerate the amount of pleasure that the paper has given, not only to those who are fortunate enough to live in the country, but to the millions less fortunate who, like myself, are condemned to live in towns, and to Englishmen scattered all over the world.’ The architect Clough Williams-ellis highlighted the quality of photographic reproduction and said that every architect was deep in the debt of COUNTRY LIFE for educating ‘the client class’ and its ‘valiant defence’ of the countryside. (May 18, 1935)
Tiger, tiger burning bright
This remarkable photograph of a tiger, appearing to glow in the dark, appeared on the Frontispiece on October 5, 1935. Taken by F. W. Champion, it was shown in a COUNTRY Life-sponsored International Exhibition of Nature Photography in the Whale Hall at the Natural History Museum.
70th birthday
A 70th-birthday editorial marvels: ‘Who could have forecast that 70 years later it would have become a household name throughout the English-speaking world, and that it would have an estimated readership of more than a million?… Its greatest impact has probably been in the sphere of architecture and design: not merely by recording great houses while they were still lived in by their owners and while their contents were still intact: but by promoting good standards of design in the building of smaller houses and cottages and by sympathetic yet forthright assessments of new trends.’ It mentions support of ‘a progressive policy in agriculture’ and Nature conservation, plus the saving of Box Hill in Surrey from development and its support of exhibitions and sporting events. (January 12, 1967)
Keeping calm and carrying on
During the Second World War, there was a deliberate policy of providing a distraction from the horror. A notice urging readers to order their copies ahead of a paper shortage read: ‘It will reflect, but only as circumstances demand, the repercussions of war upon the realm it has, through half a century, made peculiarly its own. It will continue to illustrate and describe the homes and the sports and pastimes of country-loving folk, the way of a bird in the air, the life of field and forest, and, in so doing, we believe it will provide, as the days go by, a welcome respite from the carking cares and anxious pre-occupations of the daily round in wartime.’ We hope that, amid the pandemic and the invasion of Ukraine, the magazine continues to fulfil a similar role.
The fox that came to stay
Tales of readers’ pets are nothing new and, in 1962, one wrote in to tell of their adopted fox cub, Jackie: ‘She has discovered whisky, by leaping onto the bar, breaking a bottle and lapping up the contents. She also likes sucking the stem of a pipe.’ The author was one H. A. R. (Kim) Philby, writing from his flat in Beirut: ‘Her agility, though admirable and spectacular in itself, has its drawbacks. But we need not have worried… Jackie now canters round the top of the parapet in carefree fashion, doing horrible damage to our geraniums and periwinkles, but remaining unscathed herself.’ (December 6, 1962)
A royal winner
The winner of Crossword No 1266 was announced, without any fanfare, as HRH The Princess Margaret, Clarence House, St James’s, London. (May 27, 1954)
Country houses in danger
‘It is not just the building or the great works of art that people come in such numbers to see, but the continuing family life that it represents,’ wrote Sir Michael Culme-seymour on the opening of the exhibition of ‘The Destruction of the Country House 1875–1975’ at the V&A Museum and Architectural Editor John Cornforth’s report on the subject, published by COUNTRY LIFE. The article highlighted the fact that 780 houses had been demolished, gutted or semi-ruined since 1945 (such as Streatlam Castle, Co Durham, right) and about 50 had lost most of their contents. In a House of Lords debate on the proposed wealth tax, the Duke of Grafton quoted the Gowers Report: ‘The English country house is in fact the greatest contribution made by England to the visual arts.’ (October 10, 1974)
Grey Owl revealed
‘It was real theatre,’ the late Richard Attenborough recalled of his meeting with the charismatic COUNTRY LIFE contributor Grey Owl. As a young boy, Lord Attenborough and his younger brother, ‘Dave’, attended a lecture by Grey Owl, who turned out to be a hoaxer par excellence. He was, in fact, Archie Belaney from Hastings, East Sussex, who had worked as a hunter and trapper in Canada.
Belaney adopted the persona of an Apache and persuaded COUNTRY LIFE to commission several articles from him lamenting the destruction of the wilderness and campaigning for beaver protection. He would now be a hero to some conservationists, but his career ended in ignominy when he was exposed. However, Lord Attenborough’s 2000 film, Grey Owl, starring Pierce Brosnan, gave him a positive spin. (October 26, 2000)
A royal visit
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh visited the COUNTRY LIFE offices in our former home of King’s Reach Tower, SEI, where they were shown around by the Editor, Michael Wright, and Assistant Editor, Geoffrey Lee. The report says that the guests were ‘keenly interested in the wide variety of subjects covered by the magazine’. (February 23, 1978)
Through the doors
One of Mark Hedges’s first innovations on becoming Editor was the Adventcalendar cover, which was introduced in 2007. It seems that no one is too old for an Advent calendar and it has enchanted staff and readers ever since.
A gold medal
The COUNTRY LIFE and Hiscox Insurance Centenary Garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 1997, designed by Rupert Golby with furniture by Linley, was awarded a Gold medal. The garden was inspected by The Queen and the departing Prime Minister, John Major. (May 29, 1997)
The COUNTRY LIFE Olympics
As Olympic fever hit Britain in 2012, with the brilliantly executed London Games, COUNTRY LIFE awarded its own gongs. Among the medallists were the National Trust for saving Seaton Delaval; the late Philip Wayre for his effective otter-recovery programme; Sir David Attenborough, not only for superb footage, but for remaining behind the camera instead of showing off in front of it; the garden restoration at Wrest Park; and Frankel (above, ‘the best racehorse you’ve ever seen’). (July 11, 2012)
39 steps to being a gentleman
This simple piece of light relief, for GENTLEMAN’S LIFE, garnered the magazine almost more publicity than anything else, even appearing on the BBC’S Have I Got News For You, especially the items about being able to undo a bra with one hand, knowing that ‘making love is neither a race nor a competition’ and understanding when to use an emoji. Other less-publicised rules included being able to train a dog and a rose, tell the difference between a rook and crow and cook a decent omelette. Above all, however, a gentleman is kind. (October 13, 2015)
Royal editing
The tradition of royal Guest Editors began in 2013, with The Prince of Wales’s 65th birthday, since when he has written an annual birthday leader. His wife, The Duchess of Cornwall, takes the reins for the July 13 issue. Farming —organically and of native breeds—was very much to the fore: ‘It cannot be right that a typical hill farmer earns just £12,600, with some surviving on as little as £8,000 a year, while the big retailers and their shareholders do so much better out of the deal, having taken none of the risk… many small and medium-sized farms, and not just in the uplands, cannot afford to make crucial long-term reinvestment, and I fear this will create huge problems in the near future, especially in the dairy sector.’ (November 13, 2013)
Britain’s naughtiest dog
Our quest to find the UK’S naughtiest dog, in association with Lily’s Kitchen, elicited an enormous and entertaining postbag from a strongly dog-owning readership, but the entry for six-year-old Violet Irwin’s Rabbit was outstanding. Among other crimes, the hairy little Cairn-cross stowed himself away in an Amazon van where he chewed all the parcels. ‘He really is very naughty,’ said Violet, ‘but I love him to bits.’ (March 25, 2015)
COUNTRY LIFE was perhaps lucky in being born at the time of this renaissance in taste, but we hope it will be judged to have made good use of its fortune Leader, January 3, 1947
Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home
The introduction in 2018 of a ‘Sustainability’ issue is a sign of the times—the word wasn’t bandied around in 1897—and one of our simplest, and most popular, innovations has been the ladybird discreetly placed on every cover. This email from Karen, a newsagent in Point Lonsdale, Victoria, Australia, is a typical reader response: ‘The customers who buy your magazine—and some who don’t—enjoy finding your ladybird. We found the “Where the poppies blow” cover the most challenging. I was looking without any assistance and someone was using a magnifying glass, which I classed as cheating, but it didn’t matter because I found it first.’
Who’s going to save my cows?
One of the greatest services COUNTRY LIFE has done for farming is to highlight the injustice of bovine TB, which devastates beloved pedigree cattle herds, but is, in part, transmitted by badgers, who seem to have many more vociferous friends. At the Bath & West Show, then Deputy Editor Rupert Uloth bumped into farmer Maurice Durbin (above), who once had the world’s biggest Guernsey herd. He epitomised the grief cattle farmers suffer and became the star of a BBC programme centred on the magazine, Land of Hope and Glory: British Country Life. ‘The badger-protection lobby, with high-profile champions such as Brian May, draws attention to the culling of the badgers, but who is publicly standing up for the nearly half a million cows that have died?’ (March 2, 2016)
Winning terriers
This delightful trio of Lakeland terriers photographed by Sarah Farnsworth for July 26, 2017, won COUNTRY LIFE Cover of the Year in the 2018 BSME/PPA awards (we have been nominated again this year; results are out on June 22). It was only one of numerous industry awards, which have included Magazine of the Year in 2019 and prizes for columnists such as Carla Carlisle, Kit Hesketh-harvey and John Lewis-stempel.