7 February 1962
What makes a great Private Eye cover? It’s a mixture of luck and that old comedy essential – timing – as much as the choice of image or wit of the speech bubble. It’s very hard to pick 10 covers out of 1,299 – and many favourites have been omitted. So the following selection is much like the Eye – unsparing. This cover, from 1962, predated the now traditional bubble covers, but remains a classic example of British self-deprecation. The Americans had Project Mercury, the Russians the Soyuz programme – and we had the Albert memorial. I particularly like the inclusion of Queen Victoria, drawn by Willie Rushton, saying: “ho ho very satirical” Photograph: Private Eye
16 September 1988
The use of bubbles was suggested early on by Peter Cook, Private Eye’s new owner, the genius comedian and star of Beyond the Fringe. Cook had seen them used in an American magazine called Help!. Soon, they were to define the Eye – selling a magazine that was sharp, iconoclastic and, above all, very, very funny. This was Cook’s response to the inquest into the ruthless killing of IRA members by the SAS in Gibraltar in 1988. Its warped logic (Soldier 1: “Why did you shoot him 16 times?” Soldier 2: “I ran out of bullets”) was classic Cookie. In January 1995, he was sadly to make his own cover – under the headline “So Farewell Then…” Photograph: Private Eye
15 May 2011
Covers can take seconds to produce – or long, sweated hours. We come in on the morning of press day (Monday), sift through the week’s pictures for inspiration and throw out possible lines. Sometimes, the cover subject is obvious, such as this picture of a key moment in history, the elimination of Osama bin Laden. Luckily, the assassination of the world’s most wanted man coincided with the dismal performance of the Lib Dems in the local elections. The juxtaposition of ideas proved hugely popular with readers. “I saw it in my local newsagents,” said Nick Clegg, “and I laughed out loud immediately” Photograph: Private Eye
9 December 2005
The covers today are created by editor Ian Hislop, former editor Richard Ingrams and myself. Until his retirement last year, Barry Fantoni was an essential member of the team – and years ago cartoonist Michael Heath contributed to the cover sessions. We now have occasional help from Eye gag men Tom and Nev (nobody at the magazine seems to know which is which – or what their surnames are). This was one of their first – another lucky juxtaposition of news stories: a Frenchwoman’s face transplant coinciding with the arrival of the new Tory leader. An incredibly simple and funny idea, which needed no speech bubble Photograph: Private Eye
22 July 2011
The right cover at the right time can add thousands of readers (who can vote for their favourite cover at completeasurvey.co.uk/privateeye50).”Gotcha!” – which covered this year’s hackgate scandal and the closure of the News of the World – sold 50,000 extra copies. On press day, we were unsure how the week’s events were going to unfold. Ian retrieved this reversal gag about the Sun’s infamous Belgrano headline from the joke pages and tried it on the cover. Using narrow vertical pictures, our ace designer Bridget Tisdall somehow made it look as if they were behind bars. The response from readers said it all Photograph: Private Eye
14 August 1970
The royals always make popular cover stars – many cite the death of Diana “MEDIA TO BLAME” cover as their favourite for bursting the balloon of hysteria following her demise (the issue included a free form for cancelling your subscription on account of objection to the cover/jokes/cartoons/crossword). For undiluted cynicism, I also liked the cover on the 10th anniversary of Diana’s death - a picture of her saying: “I hope they don’t put me on the cover just to sell more copies.” But for jaw-dropping rudeness, this 1970 cover of Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon takes the Duchy Original: “What’s all this about us rowing in public?” “Shut up you fat bitch and keep smiling” Photograph: Private Eye
19 February 1999
Our beloved boxwallahs who run the Eye’s business side have various theories about the effect on sales of putting politicians on the cover (sadly unavoidable). Gordon Brown was, apparently, a real turn-off for readers as well as voters, and although we put Tony Blair on the cover a near-record 92 times (beaten only by Margaret Thatcher’s 95), he was by no means a guarantor of sales (judging by the groans emanating from our managing director, Sheila Molnar, every time he appeared). However, this 1998 cover about Blair’s backing for GM food (“There is no danger at all”) is laugh out loud and the perfect match of image and subject matter. I remember it as one of Barry Fantoni’s inspired gags – but once again, the arrival of the picture on our desk that week was pure serendipity Photograph: Private Eye
6 December 1968
The magazine’s response to Enoch Powell’s 1968 “rivers of blood” speech provided one of the Eye’s most acclaimed covers. Often credited to Peter Cook, the Eye’s first editor, Christopher Booker, (still going strong in the joke pages) claims authorship. It’s often difficult to pin down exactly who thought of which joke – the collaborative process often means the jokes are developed by the whole team gradually. What’s the issue? What’s the subject? What’s the joke about the subject? Sometimes, indecision or lack of a clear target – or a plethora of good ideas – demand a multi-bubble cover. Not so with Enoch Photograph: Private Eye
23 December 2006
As an indulgence over Christmas, the editor often runs cartoon covers. I’ve drawn a few; Ed McLachlan produced a classic (Father Christmas, sleigh and reindeer being diced by a wind turbine); Steve Bell has drawn wonderful parodies of nativity masterpieces, such as “The Adoration of the Major”, with Maggie as the Madonna and the Y-fronted one as the baby Jesus; and great artists such as Bruegel and Fra Angelico have also contributed to the festive cheer (Joseph saying to the Wise Men bearing gifts: “Thanks very much. That should cover the tuition fees”). But for sheer simplicity, Roger Latham’s snowman gets my seasonal vote Photograph: Private Eye
7 February 2003
Bad news for the globe is invariably good news for the Eye. Doom and gloom seem to incubate a hunger for the blackest of humour. Whether it’s financial crisis (“Darling in Creek Drama” – the then chancellor in September 2008 on his tiny fishing boat saying: “Where’s my paddle?”) or the threat of war (post-9/11 presidential aide to Bush: “It’s Armageddon, sir”, to which a panic-stricken Dubya replies: “Armageddon outahere”), disaster has always provided a boost for the magazine. And few more so than this 2003 cover on the eve of the invasion of Iraq. Bring on the end of the world! Photograph: Private Eye
