Jackie was a weekly girls’ paper which launched during Beatlemania. It cost 6d (2½d) and the cover of the first edition featured a youthful Cliff Richard.
Jackie had 24 pages from 1964 to 1970, 32 pages to 1979, 36 pages to 1986, 48 pages to 1990 and 40 pages up to its closure in 1993. It cost 50p in 1993. It was the first magazine printed on the Goss rotary photogravure press installed at Kingsway, Dundee in 1962.
A symbol and standard-bearer for the 1960s and beyond, Jackie was the first title to cater explicitly for young teens and went on to sell in excess of a million copies a week, against similar London-based opposition, principally Boyfriend and Valentine. It offered readers’ letters, beauty tips, picture strip stories, fashion, colour pop pin-ups and its highly influential ‘Cathy and Claire’ agony aunt’s page. By the 1970s this feature alone attracted 400 letters a week from the paper’s 10-16 age group readership. ‘Cathy and Claire’ were replaced by ‘Dear Ellie’ from 11 July 1987.
Entering the 1980s, Jackie’s pages were packed with pin-ups, problems, photo stories, boys, bands, fashion and features. The last issue of Jackie in 1993 advertised a new magazine aimed at the same target audience called Shout. Shout closed in 2023.
Even after Jackie ceased publication in 1993, its cultural legacy and impact continued to be felt. There was Jackie the Musical, sponsored by The Courier, and based on the magazine. It was opened at the Gardyne Theatre, Dundee in September 2013, and was recreated with a new cast in 2016.
Editors of Jackie were: Gordon Small (1964-), Dave McColl, Emil Pacholek (until 1974), Nina Myskow (1974-1978), Harrison 'Harry' Watson, Sandra 'Sandy' Monks, Anne Rendall (1988), Maggie Dun, Gayle Anderson, Pam Wilson (to 1993).
For this newspaper, we have the following titles in, or planned for, our digital archive:
- 1964–93 Jackie (London, England : 1964)
