The Fence #26
200 x 270 mm, 64 pages
London, UK
Quarterly
First published in 2019
Editor: Charlie Baker
Design: Studio Mathias Clottu
‘The UK’s only magazine’
The Fence has developed a devoted readership for its scurrilous and very English mix of humour, investigation and politics. Smartly presented in black and orange with copious illustration, it’s a unique publication that describes itself as ‘The UK’s only magazine’. Patently untrue of course—perhaps a better description comes from Graydon Carter: ‘The illegitimate offspring of Private Eye and Evelyn Waugh.’ It’s certainly a very English magazine, if not a London one.
This issue is dubbed ‘The Print Special,’ with a major feature looking at how the printed magazine has fared in the first 25 years of the 21st century. It includes the thoughts of a range of print ‘icons’ including Ian Hislop, Graydon Carter and Alex Bilmes. Plus our own Jeremy Leslie. A very useful contribution to the endless ‘death of print’ narrative. Naturally, the big type on the back cover this time is simply the magazine’s URL.
A nice detail: the cover (by Martin Groch) is monochrome instead of the usual orange and black, but the issue is stapled with orange staples.
On episode 39 of the magCulture Podcast:
Editor Charles Baker discusses his magazine
Listen here