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'For its 10,000 issues, The Spectator has educated and entertained, thundered and titillated, raised eyebrows and smiles, and always been stimulating.' 'The combination of eloquence and irreverence, of influence and independence, of not taking itself seriously, of wearing its learning lightly.' As well as being the world's oldest current affairs magazine, none has been closer to spheres of power and influence in Britain than The Spectator. Since its first appearance in 1828 during the dying days of the Georgian era, it has been ready to spar - with the Tories and their Prime Minister, the Duke of Wellington, with a corrupt political system, and with the lacklustre literary world of the day. Over the subsequent 54 Prime Ministers, it has not just watched the world go by, but has waded into the fray, campaigned on consistently liberal lines, fighting for voters' rights, free trade, the free press and the decriminalisation of homosexuality, while offering open-minded criticism of every modern taboo and orthodoxy. From radical weekly newspaper to moralising Victorian Guardian to wartime watchdog to satirical magazine, it remains an irreverent and influential 21st century publication, 'A refuge for logic, fun and good writing'. - Boris Johnson. The book weaves together copious quotations from the archive, the contemporary press, private letters and staff anecdote with astonishing headlines such as a Times advertisement from February 1934 Whither Hitler? - the first report of our Special Investigator, now in Germany, appears exclusively in this week's issue Spectator. There were mistakes of course - the magazine went gaga over Mussolini and even showed some warmth for Stalin during its least impressive period. Its editors were nearly always men (no women yet) of eccentricity, courage and eloquence - two Johnsons, two Lawsons, a chancellor and two future chancellors, some industrial drinkers and womanisers, some churchy monks. Its prize columnists included two who went to prison, Edward Gibbon Wakefield and the incomparable Taki. Kingsley Amis said 'The chief problem with the Spec side is not getting arseholed whenever I go there.' 256 very large pages in softback, many colour and archive illustrations throughout including a fabulously satirical cartoon by Henry Heath on the suppression of the free press (1830) and many front covers.