SCOOTER WORLD

Starting in 1955, Scooter World was not the first scooter magazine in the UK. But by keeping going to 1973 it outlasted all its rivals and earned itself a secure place in the history of scootering in this country. Published in Leeds, for most of its life it was edited by Jon Stevens – famed as the author of an excellent book on scootering. Although all aspects of scooters were covered, it is probably true to say that there was a bias towards technical matters as opposed to club scootering – although there were always pages devoted to the latter. Other strengths included regular reports on overseas shows with good picture features. Scooter World was always slightly more male-orientated than some of its rivals. For example there was no regular “Women’s page” as in “Scooter and Threewheeler”.

As time went on, and the readership shrank to just scooter sport enthusiasts, this trend became more pronounced. By the late sixties a couple of the winter issues were being deleted each year, and in mid 1970 Jon Stevens decided to throw in the towel. This wasn’t quite the end, however, as Jeff Armiststead took over as editor and struggled on gamely until May 1973. By this time “and lightweight motorcycle” had been added to the title in a desperate bid to broaden appeal – but it was still very much a scooter magazine. It’s a pity it couldn’t have kept going another six or seven years n order to catch another generation of scooterists, but it had still done better than all of its rivals.

Looking back at old issues now, one or two things stand out. The first is the huge amount of advertising. For example, the May 1959 issue runs to 60 pages including its cover. But at least 40 of these are occupied by advertising of one sort or another. Scooter World seems also quite reluctant to criticise machines supplied for road test, even when they were dodgey British makes. But in this it was merely conforming to the standards of the time. On the car front, there were only two magazines prepared to break the unwritten “don’t criticise” convention. “Motor Sport” and “Small Car” (now “Car”) routinely suffered advertising embargoes and a lack of machines to road test as a consequence of their honesty. So it’s not too suprising that small scooter magazines did not feel that brave.

Scooter World is possibly the most highly regarded scooter magazine of its era, and there are quite a few copies in circulation at an average price of about £5 each. Here is a review of some of its regular features.

There’s no better way of judging the readership that by scrutinising the letters pages. The fifties scooterist tended to be concerned middle-class members of society, and this was reflected in both the range and the detail of the letters. The majority of scooterists at this time were probably office workers who spent a lot of their time dealing with correspondence. So it was entirely natural that even the vaguest scooter-related thought should be immediately followed-up with a letter to Scooter World! The May 1959 letters (four pages of them) included a detailed description of the scooters accompanying the Aldermaston CND march; the case for a slotted windscreen as opposed to a non-slotted one; a description of how to fit a box on the rear carrier in order to transport a puppy, and a conspiracy theory that Lambretta deliberately detuned the last LD in order to make the LI seem better!

As the fifties became the sixties so the readership changed. It became younger with a far narrower range of concerns. By the second half of the decade there was only one concern – top speed. This led to a seemingly unending stream of Lambretta v Vespa letters –with ever more extravagant performance claims. How about 85 mph for a bog standard TV200? And as for the Sportique that would do 55mph in third…. To their credit, the Scooter World technical team mostly resisted the temptation to add comment, doubtless hoping that things would get better.

Which they never did. The last issue in May 1973 includes the usual pleas for more performance tips and also a cry for help from a LD owner. He couldn’t can anybody –even the few remaining Lambretta dealers – to fix his machine for him. Things had certainly changed.

The caption for this 1957 cartoon reads “How’s that for acceleration!” There was always at least one cartoon every month and they were usually of about this standard. From the perspective of the twenty first century it is difficult to decide if humour has changed or whether such cartoons were ever considered funny in the first place! Completely baffling.

This feature started in the sixties and continued into the next decade. The majority of requests were from males requiring suitable partners. In July 1970, what girl could resist Bryan of Banbury? “I am seventeen years old and own an SX 200. I would like to correspond with birds of my own age who groove to progressive blues and folk as well as scooters.” Then again “If you think you would look sweet on the dual seat of an immaculate Starstream 125cc” then Keith (“ a mod, five foot three inches tall”) would have liked to have heard from you. Expunged from the nightlife of central London this is what Mod had become. The preserve of midgets riding Starstreams in Burnley.

This was a sort of extended editorial that started in the sixties and did not quite make it to the end – so it may have been a vehicle for Jon Stevens’ personal views. Favourite targets included the Government, lorry drivers, scooter organisations and British scooter manufacturers.

The Office Cat was the soul of Scooter World and was featured in a different pose in each issue. Office Cat transfers could be obtained free of charge from the publishers. Does anybody have any?

A Lenton

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN ISSUE 31 OF SCOOTERIST SCENE, 2002