editor
hiraethified
After spotting this old sign in Stockwell Road, I did a bit of research into the now defunct Picture Post magazine and was surprised how political it was.
First published in 1938, the magazine was an immediate smash with the public, shifting 1,350,000 copies a week and featuring the work of a talented team of writers and photographers, including the famousBert Hardy.
Not afraid to confront political and social issues, the magazine ran a campaign against the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany before the war.
In January 1941, they published their 'Plan for Britain,' which was a radical document demanding minimum wages throughout industry, full employment, child allowances, a national health service, the planned use of land and education reform.
Despite the war, the Picture Post was selling 950,000 copies a week in December 1943, reaching a circulation of 1,422,000 by 1949 and raking in healthy profits in excess of £2,500 a week.
The left wing editor, Tom Hopkinson, was often in conflict with the Tory owner, Edward G. Hulton, who complained in 1945 that, "I cannot permit editors of my newspapers to become organs of Communist propaganda. Still less to make the great newspaper which I built up a laughing-stock."
In 1950, the editor sent James Cameron and Bert Hardy to cover the Korean War, and one of the pieces they sent back was about how South Koreans were treating their political prisoners.
The boss considered their report to be "communist propaganda" and forced Hopkinson to resign.
Several journalists promptly refused to continue working for the magazine and left, and by June 1952 the circulation had plummetted to 935,000.
Sales continued to decline, and after crashing to 600,000 copies a week, the magazine closed for good in May 1957.
Picture Post history
More pics: http://www.urban75.org/brixton/features/stockwell-brixton-adverts.html
(apols for the rubbish thread title!)