Among other things, it featured the Pen-Friends pages, a popular section where readers could make new friends overseas.
Pre-publication history
Look and Learn was the brainchild of Leonard Matthews, the editorial director of juvenile publications at Fleetway Publications which was already publishing the long-running Children's Newspaper. An early attempt by Matthews to launch a new educational title along the lines of Italian educational magazines Conoscere and La Vita Meravigliosa had been turned down by the board of directors.[1]
A British edition of Conoscere was brought out in 1961 under the title Knowledge and Matthews reassessed his original proposal and approached the board again, this time receiving the go-ahead to produce a dummy of the proposed magazine.
The dummy was put together by the firm's Experimental Art Department headed by David Roberts and Trevor Newton. David Stone, a former sub-editor with Everybody's Weekly, was appointed editor and, with the dummy approved, the magazine began publication. However, before the new title reached the newsstands, John Sanders replaced Stone as editor.
The first issue of the magazine sold about 700,000 copies and settled down to a regular sale of over 300,000 copies a week.[2] The success of the magazine has been put down to the high quality of the magazine's content. Historian Steve Holland has said, "The premise of Look and Learn was to delight and inspire the imaginations of its young readers. To advance this principle, the features were clearly and briskly written and illustrated by some of the finest artists of the era resulting in a magazine of unmatched quality."[1]
This amalgamation was overseen by recently appointed editor John Davies who had replaced Sanders when the latter left to edit the short-lived Ranger in 1965. Davies had previously edited The Children's Newspaper until it merged with Look and Learn (issue 173, 8 May 1965).
It amalgamated with its competitor Finding Out in 1967.
Davies continued the magazine with the same mixture as before (the page count of the magazine having increased from 32 pages to 36 to accommodate the additional content), as did the editors who followed him, Andy Vincent (1969–1977) and Jack Parker (1977–1982).
The magazine absorbed World of Wonder in March 1975, and Speed & Power with issue no. 724 (29 November 1975).
It was under Parker's editorship that the paper underwent a facelift with issue 844 (18 March 1978), absorbed World of Knowledge in early 1981, and celebrated its 1,000th issue later that same year (9 May 1981). Sales had, however, been declining throughout the 1970s, a decade which had seen the price of the paper rise from 7½ pence to 30 pence due to sharply increasing production costs. Price increases in the early 1980s added a further 10 pence to the weekly cost of the magazine and the editor had to admit that "we simply do not sell enough to meet the very heavy cost of producing a magazine of the quality of Look and Learn and we are therefore unable to continue publication."[3]
Look and Learn folded with issue 1049, dated 17 April 1982.
Comic strip section
It did include a comic strip section, the most important strip was The Trigan Empire, a science fiction series written mainly by Mike Butterworth and most notably drawn by Don Lawrence, which first appeared in Ranger in September 1965. It transferred to Look and Learn in issue 232, June 1966 when the two titles merged, and ran there until the title ceased publication. It told the story of an alien culture that contained an educational blend of science and Earth-like ancient civilizations.[4] Another strip was Rob Riley, also originally from Ranger.
Donald Southam Lawrence was a British comic book artist and author.
The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire, later shortened to The Trigan Empire, was a science fiction comic series written mainly by Mike Butterworth with artwork by Don Lawrence, among others. It told the story of an alien culture in which futuristic technology, such as antigravity vehicles and energy ray weapons, was blended with architecture, dress, and customs reminiscent of ancient civilizations, the most obvious being those of Ancient Greece and Rome. The stories revolved around a strong and heroic leader who defended his empire from constant threats from both outside and within. The comic featured unique artwork by Don Lawrence in a painterly photo-realistic style.
Tiger was a weekly British comics periodical published by Amalgamated Press, Fleetway Publications and IPC Magazines from 11 September 1954 to 30 March 1985. The title was initially launched in a large tabloid size to mimic newspapers; while it featured some action-adventure stories Tiger contained a large number of sport strips. The most famous of these was "Roy of the Rovers", which debuted in the first issue and was the comic's most popular feature, eventually transferring to its own comic in 1975. Tiger would go on to become one of the company's longest-running titles, notching 1573 issues before being merged with Eagle in 1985. Over the course of its run, Tiger featured columns by numerous famous sports figures, including Ian Botham, Geoff Boycott, Tony Greig, Trevor Francis, and Charlie Nicholas.
Ranger was a weekly British comics periodical published by Fleetway Publications from 18 September 1965 to 18 June 1966. Intended as an educational publication, the cover described it as "The National Boys' Magazine" and the content mixed comic strips with a much larger quotient of factual articles than most other Fleetway children's titles of the time. Ranger lasted 40 issues before being merged with Fleetway's fellow educational title Look and Learn in 1966.
Valiant was a weekly British comics periodical published by Fleetway Publications and later IPC Magazines from 4 October 1962 to 16 October 1976. A boys' adventure comic, it debuted numerous memorable characters, including Captain Hurricane, The Steel Claw and Mytek the Mighty. Valiant lasted for 712 issues before being merged with stablemate Battle Picture Weekly.
TV Century 21, later renamed TV21, TV21 and Tornado, TV21 and Joe 90, and TV21 again, was a weekly British children's comic published by City Magazines during the latter half of the 1960s. Originally produced in partnership with Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's Century 21 Productions, it promoted the company's many science-fiction television series. The comic was published in the style of a newspaper of the future, with the front page usually dedicated to fictional news stories set in the worlds of Fireball XL5, Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and other stories. The front covers were also in colour, with photographs from one or more of the Anderson series or occasionally of the stars of the back-page feature.
Playhour was a British children's comics magazine published by Amalgamated Press/Fleetway/IPC between 16 October 1954 and 15 August 1987, a run of approximately 1,700 weekly issues. Playhour contained a mixture of original tales for young children and adaptations of well-known fairy tales.
Ronald Sydney Embleton was a British illustrator who gained fame as a comics artist. In the 1950s and 1960s, Embleton also pursued a career as an oil painter, and he exhibited his works widely in Britain, Germany, Australia, Canada and the USA. He was a member of the London Sketch Club and the National Society of Painters, Sculptors and Printmakers, and in 1960 was elected a member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters.
Vulcan was a British weekly boys' comic published by IPC Magazines from 1 March 1975 to 3 April 1976, when it merged with Valiant. The comic was unusual among IPC's weeklies for several reasons - it used a much smaller format than most of the company's weeklies and featured more colour; until September 1975 the title was only available in Scotland as the format was tested; and it consisted entirely of reprints of extant material. It was also published simultaneously in German as Kobra.
Gerry Embleton is a British artist, born in London. He is best known as an illustrator of military and historic subjects. He has illustrated more than 40 titles for the military publisher Osprey. He is the younger brother of illustrator Ron Embleton.
John Michael Butterworth was a British comic book writer, best known for his comic strip The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire in the British weeklies Ranger and Look and Learn.
Rob Riley was a British comic strip, drawn by Stanley Houghton, that appeared in every issue of Ranger comic from 1965 on before this was incorporated into Look and Learn after forty issues. Rob Riley continued to be featured during the 1960s and 1970s.
Arthur Geoffrey Campion was a British comics artist who drew adventure strips for Amalgamated Press/IPC.
Leonard James Matthews was a British editor, publisher, writer and illustrator of comics and children's magazines, best known as the founder of the educational magazine Look and Learn.
Knowledge was a British weekly educational magazine for children which was assembled in blue binders into an encyclopedia.
Treasury of British Comics is a line of comic book collections published by Rebellion Developments, collecting British comics stories from the libraries of Amalgamated Press/Fleetway Publications/IPC Magazines.
Knockout was a weekly British comics periodical published by Amalgamated Press and later Fleetway Publications and IPC Magazines from 4 March 1939 to 16 February 1963. A boys' adventure comic, the title ran for 1227 issues before being merged with Valiant.
City Magazines was a British publisher of weekly comics and men's magazines that operated from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s. The company's most notable publications were comics magazines based on licensed television properties, including TV Century 21 and Lady Penelope, both of which featured comics based on Gerry Anderson's Century 21 Productions Supermarionation shows.
Princess was a British weekly girls' comic anthology published by Fleetway Publications and, later, IPC Magazines. The first version was published between 30 January 1960 and 16 September 1967, and featured a mix of comic strips, text stories and a large proportion of features; it was merged with Tina to form a new title - Princess Tina - after 399 issues.
Eagle, sometimes referred to as The New Eagle and known at various points in its life as Eagle and Scream!, Eagle and Tiger, Eagle and Battle, Eagle and M.A.S.K. and Eagle and Wildcat, was a British boys' adventure comic published by IPC Magazines from 27 March 1982 to January 1994. A revival of the famous Eagle, the title was initially a weekly publication until turning into a monthly in May 1991. The title was finally cancelled in January 1994, after 505 issues.
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