Fiesta (magazine)

Last updated
Fiesta
Fiesta magazine logo 1984.svg
Fiesta 28 4 cover.jpg
Fiesta vol 28 issue 4. The covergirl is Charmaine Sinclair.
Categories Pornographic magazine
FrequencyMonthly
Format8.5" x 11"
First issue1966;57 years ago (1966)
Final issue2020
CompanyGalaxy Publications Limited
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
ISSN 0265-1270
OCLC 877750950

Fiesta was a British adult magazine featuring softcore pornography, published by Galaxy Publications Limited. [1] It was a sister publication of Knave magazine, launched two years later. [2]

Contents

Launched in 1966 by the British photographer Russell Gay, [3] Fiesta quickly became Britain's top-selling adult magazine. Dubbed "the magazine for men which women love to read", the monthly magazine's readers were responsible, in the early 1970s, for creating a feature that has been adopted in magazines worldwide: Readers' Wives. [4] Central to this theme was the monthly "Readers' Wives Striptease" section, which shows a set of photos of a supposed wife or girlfriend of a reader being photographed by Fiesta undressing (often, but not always out of everyday clothing) to full nudity. [5] The Readers' Wives section was the subject of a song by John Cooper Clarke on his album Disguise in Love .

As well as its Readers' Wives and photographic girl sets, Fiesta was built around a core of readers' letters from men and women. In addition there were male-interest features, cartoons and reviews, sexy puzzles and a regular erotic horoscope, together with Firkin, an underground-comics style cartoon strip drawn by Hunt Emerson and written by Tym Manley. [6]

Mary Millington modelled for the magazine in 1974, prior to her exclusive signing to work for David Sullivan's magazines. [7]

Nicholas Whittaker, journalist and author of Platform Souls, Blue Period and Sweet Talk, worked for the company from 1980 to 1982, when he left to go and work for Paul Raymond Publications, where he played a major role in establishing the new Razzle magazine. His experiences at Fiesta and Razzle are the subject of his book Blue Period. [8]

Sales of Fiesta were 238,000 in 1991 but had dropped to 162,000 in 1996, mirroring the decline in the market for softcore magazines at that time. [9] Nevertheless, in the mid-2000s it was still the country's top selling adult magazine. [10] Fiesta ceased production in 2020, after 54 years of publication. [11]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Hustler</i> (magazine) American pornographic magazine

Hustler is a monthly adult-targeted magazine published by Larry Flynt Publications (LFP) in the United States. Introduced in 1974, it was a step forward from the Hustler Newsletter, originally conceived by founder Larry Flynt as cheap advertising for his strip club businesses at the time. The magazine grew from an uncertain start to a peak circulation of around 3 million in the early 1980s; it has since dropped to approximately 500,000. Hustler was among the first major US-based magazines to feature graphic photos of female genitalia and simulated sex acts, in contrast with relatively modest publications such as Playboy. In the 1990s, Hustler, like several of its competitors, began featuring depictions of sexual penetration and oral sex.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hardcore pornography</span> Explicit graphic depictions of sexual acts

Hardcore pornography, or hardcore porn, is pornography that features detailed depictions of sexual organs or sexual acts such as vaginal, anal, oral or manual intercourse, ejaculation, and fetish play. The term is in contrast with less-explicit softcore pornography. Hardcore pornography usually takes the form of photographs, films, and cartoons. Since the mid-1990s, hardcore pornography has become widely available on the internet, making it more accessible than ever before.

<i>Escort</i> (magazine) British pornographic magazine

Escort is a British men's adult magazine which contains softcore pornography and erotica. It is published by Paul Raymond Publications, a company that also publishes a number of similar magazines, including Club International, Mayfair, Men Only, Men's World, and Razzle. The origin of these titles lies in businessman Paul Raymond's expansion from strip club management into magazine publishing in the 1960s.

<i>Mayfair</i> (magazine) British adult magazine for men

Mayfair is a British adult magazine for men. Founded in 1966, it was designed as a response to US magazines such as Playboy and Penthouse, the latter of which had recently launched in the UK. For many years, it claimed the largest distribution of any men's magazine in the UK. It is a softcore magazine, and thus is available in newsagents, although some larger retailers require a modesty bag to hide the cover.

<i>Razzle</i> (magazine) British softcore pornographic magazine

Razzle is a British pornographic magazine featuring softcore pornography. It was founded in 1983 and is published by Paul Raymond Publications. It currently focuses on girl-next-door style pornography, offering cash for any photos of "readers' wives" printed; in the past, however, several notable glamour models were featured, including minor celebrity Jo Guest. It also includes the traditional feature of sexual fantasy tales presented as "true" stories.

Paul Raymond Publications is a British publisher of softcore monthly pornographic magazine titles, including Escort, Club International, Mayfair, Men Only, Men's World and Razzle. The company's lawyers scrutinise the magazine content before publication to ensure that it is likely to comply with the Obscene Publications Act 1959 since UK law does not allow hardcore R18 imagery to be sold on newsstands. The magazines are generally available in most newsagents, although some larger retailers require them to be sold in bags to protect minors from seeing the cover photographs. The magazines have also been published in digital format since 2013. They were initially available from the dedicated Paul Raymond digital newsstand, but since that closed they have been sold via the publisher's main website which contains both softcore and hardcore pornography. Blue Active Media Ltd. is the parent company.

<i>Club International</i> British mens magazine

Club International is a British softcore pornographic magazine published by Paul Raymond Publications that features pictures of nude women. It is a sister magazine of American magazine Club.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pornographic magazine</span> Magazines that contain content of an explicitly sexual nature

Pornographic magazines or erotic magazines, sometimes known as adult, sex, or top-shelf magazines, are magazines that contain content of an explicitly sexual nature. Publications of this kind may contain images of attractive naked subjects, as is the case in softcore pornography, and, in the usual case of hardcore pornography, depictions of masturbation, oral, manual, vaginal, or anal sex.

This is a list of topics related to pornography in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Millington</span> English model and pornographic actress

Mary Ruth Maxted, known professionally as Mary Millington from 1974 onwards, was an English model and pornographic actress. Her appearance in the short softcore film Sex is My Business led to her meeting magazine publisher David Sullivan, who promoted her widely as a model and featured her in the 1977 softcore comedy Come Play With Me, which ran for a record-breaking four years at the same cinema.

<i>Asian Babes</i> British pornographic magazine

Asian Babes was a British softcore pornographic magazine which featured photographs of women of South Asian, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, and Thai origin. The magazine was launched in March 1992 and initially used only Indian and other South Asian models from the United Kingdom. Later, Asian models from other countries were also included. The magazine was initially published by Northern & Shell, a newspaper and magazine publishing group owned by the businessman Richard Desmond. In 2004 Northern & Shell sold the magazine to Remnant Media, as part of a package of Northern & Shell's other pornographic titles. Remnant went into administration in 2007 and the magazine was then bought by Trojan Publishing and subsequently by Interactive Publishing. Asian Babes had ceased publication by 2012.

<i>Knave</i> (British magazine) British softcore pornographic magazine (1968–2015)

Knave was a long-running British adult magazine featuring softcore pornography, published by Galaxy Publications Limited. Originally launched in 1968 by the photographer Russell Gay, it was the upmarket sister publication of Fiesta magazine. Mary Millington modelled for the magazine in 1974, prior to her exclusive signing to work for David Sullivan's magazines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holly Sampson</span> American pornographic actress (born 1973)

Holly Joy Sampson, also known as Nicolette Foster, Andrea Michaels or Zoe, is an American actress and model who has appeared in both mainstream and pornographic films over the course of her career. She is noted for her appearances on several television shows and her appearance in the 1990 comedy-drama feature film Pump Up The Volume. She is also known for playing the title role in the Emmanuelle 2000 series of films.

<i>Men Only</i> British mens magazine

Men Only is a British magazine title that originated in 1935 as a pocket-sized men's magazine. It became a standard-sized pin-up magazine in the 1950s and was relaunched in 1971 by Paul Raymond Publications as a soft-core pornographic magazine.

Color Climax Corporation ApS (CCC) is a Danish pornography producer headquartered in Copenhagen founded by the Theander brothers. It had been one of the leading producers of European pornography up until the 1990s. Since then, CCC has recessed most of its assets, but because its earlier works attract admirers of classic pornography, CCC still functions today via the Internet. Color Climax Corporation (CCC) began in 1967 with the publication of the porn magazine ColorClimax, despite pornography being illegal in Denmark until 1969.

<i>Come Play with Me</i> (1977 film) 1977 film by Harrison Marks

Come Play with Me is a 1977 British softcore pornographic film, starring Mary Millington and directed by George Harrison Marks. Its cast list contains many well-known British character actors who were not known for appearing in such films. The film is regarded by many as the most successful of the British sex comedies of the seventies. It ran continuously at the Moulin Cinema in Great Windmill Street, Soho, London for 201 weeks, from April 1977 to March 1981, which is listed in the Guinness Book Of World Records as the longest-running screening in Britain. A blue plaque on the former cinema's site commemorates this.

In the United Kingdom, pornography is regulated by a variety of laws, regulations, judicial processes, and voluntary schemes. Pornographic material generally has to be assessed by regulators or courts to determine its legality. British censorship laws with regard to pornography have often been some of the most restrictive in Western Europe.

<i>The Playbirds</i> 1978 British film

The Playbirds is a 1978 British sexploitation film, made by Irish-born director Willy Roe and starring 1970s pin-up Mary Millington alongside Glynn Edwards, Suzy Mandel and Windsor Davies. It was the official follow-up to Come Play with Me, one of the most successful of the British sex comedies of the 1970s, which also starred Millington.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicholas Whittaker</span> British writer

Nicholas Whittaker is a British writer of non-fiction books on popular culture, often incorporating autobiographical extracts from his own life. He was born in Shrewsbury and lived in Burton upon Trent until 1975. Whittaker has worked as a freelance journalist for pornographic magazines, interviewing figures such as Ray Cooney, Divine, Donald Sinden, Steve Harley, Justin de Villeneuve, Uri Geller and Kingsley Amis for Club International.

References

  1. "Galaxy Publications Limited". www.galaxy.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2017-09-02.
  2. "Fiesta". fiesta.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2019-01-15.
  3. "King, Queen, Knave… | Mary Millington". www.marymillington.co.uk. Retrieved 2022-06-18.
  4. Pratt, J. (1986). "Pornography and Everyday Life". Theory, Culture & Society. 3: 65–78. doi:10.1177/0263276486003001006. S2CID   144061458.
  5. Fiesta, Volume 43, Issue 9. Page 70. ISSN   0265-1270
  6. Fiesta, Volume 43, Issue 9. ISSN   0265-1270
  7. Simon Sheridan (24 January 2015). "King, Queen, Knave…". Mary Millington: The Official Website of Britain's Legendary Sex Goddess.
  8. Blue Period, Whittaker, Nicholas, Gollancz, London, 1997
  9. Smith, Clarissa (2005). "A Perfectly British Business: Stagnation, Continuities, and Change on the Top Shelf". In Sigel, Lisa Z. (ed.). International Exposure: Perspectives on Modern European Pornography, 1800-2000. Rutgers University Press. p. 149. ISBN   9780813535197.
  10. Smith (2005), p. 164.
  11. "Fiesta". www.philsp.com. Retrieved 2022-06-22. see final issue, Volume 54, No. 4. Note: this page combines entries for this magazine with the unrelated 1956-era magazine.

Further reading