Dear Readers,
I’m delighted to announce that Issue 29 is here. It will be arriving with subscribers tomorrow and Saturday, and will hit the shops next week. Is it the best one yet? I’ll leave that for you all to decide.
At the heart of the issue is a profile. Owen Oyston, one of the most fascinating – and controversial – figures of the last 40 years. For those unfamiliar: he’s a miner’s son turned actor turned multi-millionaire; a property baron and media maverick; the largest private funder of Neil Kinnock’s Labour Party; the victim of a decades-long conspiracy by members of the local Conservative Party; a convicted rapist who spent three and a half years in prison on charges he still vehemently denies; a boyhood fan of Blackpool FC who eventually bought the club and turned its fans against him and his family.
But at the age of 92, he’s not done yet. I went to Lancashire this summer to meet him, and he told me that he plans to take ownership of Blackpool again – but to give it back to the fans.
Rachel Dastgir and Ralph Jeffreys joined me in putting together the piece. It’s a saga that has dominated headlines in the north-west for 40 years, and the final act is yet to be played out.
We also thought it high time to look back at the life and legacy of Victor Lewis Smith. He was a character we might charitably term ‘complicated’ – a prankster, critic, broadcaster and general iconoclast. Mark Blacklock spoke to an array of Lewis Smith’s ex-employees, colleagues and friends, including Ian Hislop, Sebastian Cody and Paul Sparks, and the result is, I have to say, outstanding.
Our third feature is from Nell Whittaker, who travelled in the heat wave to not one but two Miss Great Britain beauty contests. She reports from the stands on the strange and storied tradition, looking at the business and the women behind it with fresh eyes. It’s one of our zippiest features yet.
I am absolutely delighted to have a short story by William Boyd in the fiction slot. He is one of my favourite living writers, so it’s somewhat surreal to find him within our pages.
Leo Robson is perhaps the most eminent youngish literary critic in the British Isles. For a year and a half, I have been asking him to write about his love of Taylor Swift – and he has finally delivered a beautiful essay.
Plus, there’s a scene safari from our very own Bertie Brandes; Shaad D’Souza on the economics of indie bands and Alex Bilmes meets the funkiest undertaker in London.
We are also thrilled to be partnering with two iconic brands – Phoebe Philo and Cubitts – plus the independent film Better Go Mad in the Wild.
There are ten subscription codes here giving you 30 per cent off a subscription for a year, that’s print, digital or both, and it applies internationally. BACK30 at checkout, but do snap them up quickly.
We return on Tuesday with our usual newsletter beat, and please do get in touch with any queries or questions. If you’d like to know more about the articles above or see a media pack, please do email me at cb@the-fence.com.
Warmly,
Charlie