''The Modern Boy'' (later ''Modern Boy'') was a British boys' magazine published between 1928 and 1939 by the

Amalgamated Press The Amalgamated Press (AP) was a British newspaper and magazine publishing company founded by journalist and entrepreneur Alfred Harmsworth (1865–1922) in 1901, gathering his many publishing ventures together under one banner. At one point the ...

. It ran to some 610 issues. It was first launched on 11 February 1928 and cost 2d (two old pence, when there were 240 pence to the pound: see

pound sterling Sterling (abbreviation: stg; Other spelling styles, such as STG and Stg, are also seen. ISO code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound ( sign: £) is the main unit of sterling, and ...

), the magazine ran to 523 weekly issues until 12 February 1938. The next week, on 19 February 1938 it was re-launched in a new size as ''Modern Boy'' (dropping the word "The") and its issues were re-numbered from number one again. It then ran until issue 87 published on 14 October 1939, before production ceased due to wartime paper shortages. ''The Modern Boy'' was well known for the stories published in it, notably the works of

W. E. Johns William Earl Johns (5 February 189321 June 1968) was an English First World War pilot, and writer of adventure stories, usually written under the pen name Capt. W. E. Johns: best known for creating the fictional air-adventurer ''Biggles''. Ea ...

famous as the creator of

Biggles James Bigglesworth, nicknamed "Biggles", is a fictional pilot and adventurer, the title character and hero of the ''Biggles'' series of adventure books, written for young readers by W. E. Johns (1893–1968). Biggles made his first appearance ...

. Johns initially painted the cover artwork for issue 98 and went on to submit other cover paintings and articles. His first signed article was published in issue number 148 (dated 6 December 1930) and was called "The Plane Smashers", but it is believed that he wrote articles earlier as "Our Air Expert". From issue 257, Johns's 'Biggles' stories were published and these ran in many issues until publication ceased in 1939. Firstly, all the individual stories from the first Biggles book (''The

Camels A camel (from: la, camelus and grc-gre, κάμηλος (''kamēlos'') from Hebrew or Phoenician: גָמָל ''gāmāl''.) is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. ...

Are Coming'') were published, and eventually Johns's new books were first published in 'The Modern Boy' in episode format, the true first editions of the stories. The stories were later published as books with changes in the text. New and original Biggles stories were published in the ''Modern Boy'' and were later collected in the two 'Boy's Friend Library' books ''Biggles Learns to Fly'' and ''Biggles in France''.

References

External links

http://www.themodernboy.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Modern Boy 1928 establishments in the United Kingdom 1939 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Children's magazines published in the United Kingdom British boys' story papers Defunct magazines published in the United Kingdom Magazines established in 1928 Magazines disestablished in 1939