Look and Learn

Does anyone remember this?

Look and Learn was an educational children's magazine, published weekly for twenty years from 1962. Bigger and brighter than most comics of the time, it was an immediate success with its combination of history and high quality art work.

Now, I never got Look and Learn myself; I think it was seen as something for boys (along with Lego and staying up to watch the moon landing - anyone who was a girl in the 1960s will know what I mean). But I know someone who did read it ...

That's me and my brother Stephen on Christmas Day 1965. I look like I've definitely had 'too much Christmas' as my Mum used to say when the excitement was all too much for us but Stephen is eagerly reading his new Look and Learn annual.

Anyway, back to the present and, while visiting my daughter in London a few weeks ago, I found a big book called The Bumper Book of Look and Learn for a couple of pounds in a charity shop. I then made my daughter carry it all the way back to her flat but that's another story.

One of the regulars in Look and Learn was the double page spread about historic houses. This one is about Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire.

I remember us going to visit Nelson's flagship HMS Victory in Portsmouth in the 1960s. Maybe we were inspired by this feature ...

Although, actually, I think Stephen may have had a Jackdaw about the Battle of Trafalgar too. They were another wonderful publication. Each Jackdaw was a folder containing facsimiles of documents relating to a particular subject. I remember being fascinated by the death warrant in the one on the trial and execution of Charles I (what a lovely child I was). 

Look and Learn had longer articles too. I enjoyed this one about the restricted lives of girls in Victorian times which I thought made a change from all the stories about famous men.

The combination of good art and facts is irresistible and is seen in both sets of endpapers. At the front there are labelled pictures of four houses from different periods.

I'm not sure that 'bright and modern house' was particularly typical of the second half of the twentieth century - most of the walls are glass - but the other three houses are interesting.

The endpapers at the back of the book are about Christmas and its traditions; I particularly like the art work here.

I'm sure some of my love for history came from this sort of magazine. I was given an annual of June and School Friend one Christmas which made a big impression on me. I think I've just found a replacement copy online which I'm off to buy now. If it's the one I remember, I'll report back.