As celebrations continue for Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee in the UK, and of course many other parts around the world I considered a fictional Century 21 royal connection - Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward.
I imagine her antecedents might possibly have moved in royal circles, so with that in mind I've taken a few photos of the first issue of Lady Penelope magazine which was launched in January , 1966, and edited by Gillian Allen, wife of writer Angus Allen. Her Majesty, The Queen would have been around forty years old at that time, but I wonder if any of the royal children read the magazine at the time.
'Lady Penelope' was obviously a girls publication, and contained lots of articles designed to appeal to young ladies, but it did have a few features and comic strips that would have piqued my interest:
I was a big Man from UNCLE fan in the day, and Lady P. carried a very well done comic strip, drawn by J. Gonzalez (possibly Juan Gonzalez, a Cuban-American artist) who produced some fine artwork. The first instalment showed Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin entering 'Del Floria's shop, the secret entrance to UNCLE headquarters and receiving their UNCLE identity badges from a female UNCLE receptionist. ( Artist Ron Embleton took over towards the end of the UNCLE comic strip run in Lady P.)
The back page of Lady Penelope also carried 'Marina - Girl of the Sea', drawn by Rab Hamilton, dealing exclusively with Marina's adventures prior to her joining the WASP's.
The magazine also carried a stand alone strip called 'Space Family Robinson', drawn by John M Burns, which, apart from the title, had no connection with the Gold Key comic, which at that point would have probably now carried the 'Lost in Space' name, following the agreement between Gold Key and the Irwin Allen production.
So here's a few pages I've photographed of my own issue:
