The Modern Boy facts for kids

The Modern Boy was a popular British magazine made just for boys. It was published by a company called Amalgamated Press for many years, from 1928 to 1939. This magazine was released every week and had a lot of exciting stories and articles inside.

What Was The Modern Boy Magazine?

The very first issue of The Modern Boy came out on 11 February 1928. It cost just 2d, which means "two old pence." This was a very small amount of money back then. The magazine was published weekly for a long time, reaching 523 issues by 12 February 1938.

A New Look for Modern Boy

After that, the magazine got a fresh start! On 19 February 1938, it was re-launched with a new size. It was simply called Modern Boy (without "The" at the start). The numbering of the issues also began again from number one. This new version of the magazine continued until issue 87, which was published on 14 October 1939.

Why Did the Magazine Stop?

Sadly, Modern Boy had to stop being published because of World War II. There wasn't enough paper available during the war, so many magazines and newspapers had to close down.

Famous Stories in Modern Boy

The Modern Boy was really famous for the amazing stories it published. Many of these stories were written by a very well-known author named W. E. Johns. He is most famous for creating the character of Biggles.

W. E. Johns and Biggles

W. E. Johns first helped with the magazine by painting some of the pictures for the covers. He also wrote many articles. His first article that had his name on it was called "The Plane Smashers." It was published on 6 December 1930. People think he might have written other articles even earlier, using the name "Our Air Expert."

Biggles' Adventures Begin

The exciting Biggles stories started appearing in The Modern Boy from issue 257. These stories were very popular and were printed in many issues until the magazine stopped. At first, the magazine published all the individual stories from the very first Biggles book, The Camels Are Coming. Later, brand new Biggles books were first published as episodes in The Modern Boy. This means that readers of the magazine got to read the true first versions of these stories! The stories were then changed a little bit before they were published as full books.

New and original Biggles stories that appeared in Modern Boy were later collected into two special books. These books were called Biggles Learns to Fly and Biggles in France.