Bottomley period Horatio Bottomley, an MP for the
Liberal Party, relaunched the magazine on 12 May 1906. From its first issue
John Bull adopted a
tabloid style that, despite occasional lapses in taste, proved immensely popular. Among its regular features, Bottomley revived his "The World, the Flesh and the Devil" column from
The Sun, and also adapted that paper's slogan: "If you read it in
John Bull, it is so". Bottomley persuaded
Julius Elias, managing director of
Odhams Limited, to handle the printing, but chaotic financial management meant that Odhams were rarely paid. This situation was resolved when the entire management of the magazine, including the handling of all receipts and payments, was transferred to Elias, leaving Bottomley free to concentrate on editing and journalism. Circulation rose rapidly, and by 1910 had reached half a million copies. After the murder of the Austrian
Archduke Franz Ferdinand on 28 June 1914 in
Sarajevo, allegedly with Serbian complicity,
John Bull described Serbia as "a hotbed of cold-blooded conspiracy and subterfuge", and called for it to be wiped from the map of Europe. When Britain declared war on the
Central Powers on 4 August, Bottomley quickly reversed his position, and within a fortnight was demanding the elimination of Germany.
John Bull campaigned relentlessly against the "Germhuns", and against British citizens carrying German-sounding surnames—the danger of "the enemy within" was a persistent Bottomley theme. The periodical continued production during the
First World War;
Howard Cox estimates its sales by August 1914 at in excess of three quarters of a million copies a week. By the end of October 1914 the cover of
John Bull was '"boasting that the magazine’s circulation was the largest of any weekly journal in the world".
Charles Frederick Palmer served as
John Bulls deputy editor from at least 1918 until his premature death in October 1920. Following the
October Revolution in Russia,
John Bull adopted a strong
anti-communist tone in its articles.
John Bull was the subject of a libel case in 1919 concerning a biographical film about
David Lloyd George. Partly as a result, in 1920 Odhams Press revoked the pre-war partnership agreement and took full control of
John Bull. Bottomley was made editor for life, but a year later Odhams terminated this arrangement with a final pay-off of £25,000, which ended Bottomley's connection with the paper. (In 1927, Bottomley tried to resurrect his business career by starting a new magazine,
John Blunt, as a rival to
John Bull, but the new venture lasted little more than a year before closing, having lost money from the start.)
Odhams period In 1923, the magazine was said to be "ultra-patriotic." Geoffrey Williamson was editor around this time. Evidence of the magazine being in print are cited in 1931, 1939, and 1944. The "popular"
Tom Darlow was editor during the period 1936–1938.
Elkan Allan, later to become a television producer, worked as the magazine's picture editor in the 1940s. The 1946 relaunch featured covers that encapsulated
post-war Britain and employed some of Britain's finest illustrators. During this period, the magazine also included short stories by major British authors such as
H. E. Bates,
Agatha Christie,
Nicholas Monsarrat,
N. J. Crisp,
Gerald Kersh,
J. B. Priestley and
C. S. Forester. During
John Bulls run it incorporated other magazines, such as
Illustrated (1958),
Passing Show, and ''
Everybody's Weekly'' (1959).
End of publication Following a sharp drop in circulation, the magazine was renamed
Today, The New John Bull in 1960. Officially, it was merged with
Weekend magazine. ==References==