Picture: Cover of June and School Friend Magazine – 10th December 1966

An innocent, pre-to-early teen magazine/comic for girls in the mid 1960’s.

June and School friend fact: “Schoolfriend” was the biggest-selling girls’ comic throughout the ’50s, followed closely by the slightly more modern “June”, then publishers Fleetway combined the two in the 1960s, keeping the most popular features of each.

The stories in the annual were typified by uplifting tales of triumph over terrible adversity or heart-wrenching ordeals. Of course there was also the staple of all Girls magazines – Fashion, advice, competitions and pinups of beautifully groomed dogs.

This edition from 10th December 1966 featured a Star Special on Ian Hendry. Some notable points included are that he went to school at Culford, Sussex (should of course have been Suffolk), that he starred in Casino Royale ( well he did but ended up – with several others notable actors – on the cutting room floor!) and that he had ‘a part’ in The Avengers. The latter being a slight understatement as the series was created as a new vehicle for him, in which he starred of course as the lead Dr. David Keel.

June and School Friend Magazine

The School Friend was published by Amalgamated Press as a story paper for girls from 1919 to 1929, when it was renamed The Schoolgirl, and continued until 1940.

Picture: Cover of School Friend Magazine – October 13th 1923

School Friend was revived as a comic in 1950, publishing a mixture of comic strips and prose stories, and was published by AP, then Fleetway and IPC. It had a circulation of c.945,000 in the mid-50’s, dropping to about 445,000 in 1961. It ran until 1965, when it was merged with June magazine, becoming June and School Friend. The Editor of June and School Friend was Mavis Miller. Art Editor: Colin Parker. Sub-editors: Terence Magee, Jackie Davies. Art Assistants: Ken “Sherry” Sherrington, Roger Prickett

Art Agencies used were run by Dick and Jack Wall; Temple Art Agency by Danny and Pat Kelleher; Bardon Art Associates by Barry Coker; Creaciones Ilustradas by Luis Llorente

Series included:

“Babs and the Family”
“Bessie Bunter” (Billy Bunter’s sister), written by Jim Storrie
“Cherry and the Children”, drawn by John Armstrong
“Dilly Dreem”
“Jill Crusoe”, written by Johnny Johnson and drawn by Roland Davies
“Kim – Dog of Mystery”
“Lucky’s Living Doll” (written by Frank Redpath and drawn by Robert MacGillivray)
“My Friend Sara”
“Scamp” (Harry Hargreaves)
“The Silent Three”, written by Horace Boyten and Stewart Pride, drawn by Evelyn Flinders
“The Strangest Stories Ever Told”, a pipe-smoking teller of spooky stories (various writers such as Scott Goodall, Len Wenn, Terence Magee and various artists)
“Terry Brent”, drawn by C. L. Doughty
“Sindy”, the famous toy doll, written by Cecil Graveney

There was also a School Friend Picture Library, published from 1962 to 1965, when it became June and School Friend Picture Library, and then June and School Friend and Princess Picture Library in 1966.

A companion paper was Lindy, published in 1975 and folding 6 months later. The Editor was Norman Worker. One of the stories was “Hard Days For Hilda”, written by Terence Magee.

Until next time,

Neil Hendry
Editor, Official Website of Ian Hendry

Further Reading

A detailed account of the life and work of Ian Hendry in the new biography:

Read:  ‘Send in the Clowns – The Yo Yo Life Of Ian Hendry’ by Gabriel Hershman