A HISTORY OF ADVICE

We take a look at how our favourite agony aunts came to be

The early days

The founding father of problem pages was London bookseller John Dunton, who created a periodical made up of answers to anonymous questions in 1691. By the mid-19th century, problem pages were soaring.

1920s

Pioneering agony aunt Marie Stopes began offering sex advice after her marriage broke down, publishing her manual, Married Love, in 1918. Although banned in the US, it became a bestseller.

1930s

The Daily Mirror became the first national paper to introduce problem pages in 1935, with advice from US agony aunt Dorothy Dix. At the time of her death, she was America’s highest paid female journalist.

1940s

Woman’s Own appointed Mary Grant, who advocated for a new era of emotional openness. Grant wrote about how a lack of understanding of ourselves can have far-reaching consequences.

1960s

Prior to the 1960s, words such as ‘bottom’ and ‘masturbation’ were considered too taboo to print. Then, a new wave of trailblazing agony aunts began offering frank sexual advice. Teen magazine Jackie would receive letters on everything from concealing love bites to school discos.

1970s

Marjorie Proops began a 25-year tenure at the Mirror, speaking out in favour of contraception, gay rights and sex education for children, while the broadcaster Anna Raeburn co-presented a pioneering radio phone-in show, discussing sexual and emotional problems in detail on air.

1980s

Former nurse Claire Rayner, an agony aunt at various teen and women’s magazines, shocked viewers when she demonstrated putting a condom on a penis model on breakfast television. The model, carved from wood, was sent in by a reader.

1990s

Sex continued to take pride of place on problem pages. Each week, Deidre Sanders received thousands of letters and emails for her Dear Deidre column in The Sun until her retirement in 2020.

2000s

Forty years on from the revolutionary 1960s, agony aunts were still hugely influential. Denise Robertson of ITV’S This Morning was appointed an MBE, while Mariella Frostrup responded to Observer readers.

2010s

In 2013, Red launched its own agony aunt column written by psychotherapist Philippa Perry, who answered your dilemmas over the next eight years, going on to offer her sage advice in a bestselling book.

2020s

Agony aunts have moved online. For Dolly Alderton’s Sunday Times column, readers’ dilemmas are shared on Instagram prior to printing, giving followers a chance to offer their own advice before Dolly gives hers.