The news yesterday that Britain’s oldest magazine, The Lady, is in liquidation strikes a blow not only for the stately magazine’s loyal readership – but also for those who post in its surprisingly raunchy classified ads.
The magazine, which was founded in 1885 and appears to be facing closure unless as rescue deal can be struck, has long been as famous for its eyebrow-raising classifieds as its articles on how to navigate life in the higher echelons of society.
The magazine’s owners, the Budworth family, are desperately trying to salvage the historic publication’s future – and the wealthy daters who post ads looking for love on the magazine’s website will be hoping a resolution is found soon.
In the meantime, it’s very much business as usual it seems, with many of the ads not backwards in coming forwards about how they’re looking for someone who can satisfy, well, both upstairs and downstairs.
Take the learned ex Cambridge Professor who’s looking for ‘a younger woman for the mutual enjoyment of intimacy’ or the 59-year-old ‘Lean, fit, funny, creative flaneur’ who’s looking for ‘thongtastic’ female companionship.
Then there’s the ‘hard-working man’ in his late fifties who’s keen to set up a series of ‘discreet liaisons’ with a ‘like-minded woman’, or the ‘voluptuous’ blonde in her 60s on the hunt for ‘a successful man’.
Who could resist a ‘refined, svelte, cheeky’ potential love interest seeking a ‘worldly comfy fellow for mutual, er, support, in all senses’?
The imaginatively-written ads conjure up images of the kind of well-heeled romancers that might be straight out of a Jilly Cooper bonkbuster – Rivals lothario Rupert Campbell-Black himself might have penned them.
Britain’s oldest and most regal magazine is in trouble…so, what will become of the high society romancers who use the publication’s personal ads for ‘discreet liaisons’ (Pictured: Kate Middleton on the cover of The Lady in 2024)
And should one need the right person on one’s arm for a prestige event, the magazine also carries ads for VIP Chaperones, which describes itself as providing professional chaperones for ‘companionship and assistance for any occasion’.
The Lady’s yesteryear readership and writers – Alice In Wonderland author Lewis Carroll and Nancy Mitford were among its contributors – would certiainly blanche at the salacious wants of those filling the magazine’s personal ads.
During its heyday, the publication was a go-to for tips and advice to help women negotiate the perilous waters of upper class etiquette, hosting, housework, diet and relationships.
Love, according to on 1909 article, shouldn’t be deemed essential to a marriage.
The piece opined: ‘Love is not always a reliable basis for a life-long companionship.
‘It is well known that there is a tendency in human nature to love precisely where love is certain to bring misery.’
And a 1968 article entitled Silent Isn’t Golden To Me suggested that strong and silent men could be terrible to live with: ‘In most romantic fiction the monosyllabic hero is regarded with considerable approval, as though being tongue-tied was a special virtue.
‘But in real life, particularly in marriage, the truly reticent male can drive any wife crazy. Matrimonial bliss can be ruined by a silent husband.’
Real-live Rivals? The upper class posters on the personal ads of The Lady don’t hold back on what they’re looking for, from ‘discreet liaisons’ to ‘thongtastic female buddyship’
Tha magazine’s advertisements – traditionally placed by the nobility seeking domestic staff – have perhaps been even more celebrated than its articles in recent decades
The first issue of The Lady, released on February 19, 1885. The magazine celebrated its 140th birthday a couple of months ago
And when it comes to hosting guests for dinner in 1920, you’d better not invite someone out of your social circle unless they have something special to offer.
‘The secret of the successful “little” dinner is that all the people present belong to the same clique: if an outsider is present he or she must have some special brilliance.’
‘Soup must be served in cups to guests before they leave, a custom that is very much appreciated in cold weather’ suggested another nugget from 1909.
Another, penned in 1928, suggested that a life without joy was the noblest: ‘As a general rule, one’s stern duty in life seems to be to avoid the things in life that are pleasant, especially in the matter of diet.’
One written in 1932, suggests that fun is hard to come by – and advises women to fight for it: ‘Leisure is a secret vice, a treasure to be fought for and planned for as ruthlessly as any first baby’.
It hasn’t aged well but a 1891 pearl of wisdom at least nodded to the power of women: ‘When an intelligent woman makes up her mind to accomplish a thing, there are very few deeds which she cannot achieve.’
It was revealed this week that the magazine has issued a shower of redundancy notices.
‘The letter arrived on Saturday. It said that The Lady is insolvent and now in liquidation,’ a contributor told the Daily Mail.
The abruptness of the announcement has left many in shock. But it was, agreed another contributor, ‘a surprise to everybody – apart from the owners’.
And it is the owners, the Budworth family, who, in recent years, have become the centre of attention – a development which was much to the regret of the redoubtable Julia Budworth, who died last May aged 92.
Granddaughter of the magazine’s 1885 founder, Thomson Gibson Bowles, and also a cousin of Nancy Mitford and her five sisters – Mrs Budworth had watched in dismay as The Lady, under her son Ben, attempted to adjust to the 21st century, most notably by hiring Rachel Johnson as editor in 2009.
Ben Budworth and Rachel Johnson pictured at the book launch party for Diary of the Lady
The offices of The Lady magazine in Covent Garden, London, which were sold for £12.4 million by Ben Budworth
Declaring that she wanted to make the magazine ‘more hip, less hip replacement’, Johnson seemed – to Mrs Budworth, at least – to have an entirely different anatomical interest.
‘Rachel cannot speak about any subject without bringing the conversation back to penises,’ she announced.
‘All she thinks of is sex… Penis this, penis that. What is the matter with the girl?’
Johnson’s decision to make the magazine the subject of a memorable television documentary, The Lady And The Revamp, did nothing to ease Mrs Budworth’s distress.
There was more scandal in 2012 when the first male editor of the magazine, Matt Warren, arrived saying he would ‘raise the testosterone levels by 100 per cent’.
Less than six months later, it appeared he may have taken those words a bit further than his female bosses intended.
Mr Warren was thrown out by his second wife for having an affair with his secretary.
The news was said to have shocked the ageing Mrs Budworth. When informed of the affair, she responded: ‘Oh, God. What goings-on are these?’
Mrs Budworth, then 80, had hoped the appointment of Mr Warren would be a fresh start for the magazine, after her highly publicised falling out with Johnson.
But even greater trauma was to come. Ben sold the magazine’s Covent Garden offices in London’s in 2019 for £12.4 million.
Simultaneously, a number of staff received voluntary redundancy notices.
By then, Ben, who arrived at the offices in a chauffeur-driven car, had shelled out £1.9million for the sprawling Bylaugh Hall in Norfolk, living there with Helen Robinson,
The Lady’s managing director who subsequently became his wife – and editor of the magazine.
