The culture and history podcast that every modern woman should know. Join Franki and Lucy as they dive into the glossy archives of women’s magazines to find out what's still hot, and what's definitely not. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Franki Cookney Podcasts
Can men cook dinner? Would you consider doing a job-share? Have you been overthinking picnics? This week we return to our new favourite magazine, Company! We last hung out in 1979 and now we’re back for 1981. And she does not disappoint. It’s a vibrant issue for a less-than-vibrant period in British history. Calling itself “the livelier magazine,” …
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Are you betraying the sisterhood if you dress like a 50s housewife? No, this isn't a discussion of the latest Tik Tok trend. This is a debate from 1974, when Over 21 interviewed three trans women in order to dig into "what it means to be a woman." We had to cut large chunks of this chat from the main episode for time reasons but we're sharing it in…
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Four shillings and how much? The Hags are pre-decimalisation this week as they head back in time to October 1970 to meet the mother of British women’s magazines: Nova. Demonstrating that smart and sexy are not mutually exclusive, Nova has it all: premium art direction, radical reporting at the cutting edge of culture… and adverts for snakeskin shoe…
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Somewhere around the mid-50s, car manufacturers cottoned on to the idea that women drive cars. Not only that, but women *have opinions* about the sort of car they drive. This ushered in a whole new creative challenge for the second half of the 20th century: How to sell cars to girls. And where better to reach them than in the magazines they were re…
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Former more! editor Fiona Gibson on girl power, and Position of the Fortnight
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Something a little different this week… Franki and Lucy aren’t doing a magazine deep dive. Instead, they’re turning the spotlight on a woman with far more expertise in women’s mags: Fiona Gibson. Fiona is the former editor of Just 17 and more! magazines – not to mention the writer behind a Mag Hags’ favourite – “How to throw a disaster-free dinner …
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Sidebar: Unpacking the Vogue wine and eggs diet
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In 1977 Vogue published a crash diet that advocated three days consuming nothing but white wine and boiled eggs. In 2018 this diet was unearthed and went viral as people shared it, horrified (but also somehow smugly vindicated) to learn that this was the advice women were being given in the 70s. But the idea that something like this would be publis…
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Remember RIVA magazine? Nope, didn't think so. It lasted just seven issues!. And Lucy's got an inkling as to why. This week she’s taking us back to 1988 on a tour of a short-lived mag attempting to bring the gloss of a monthly in a fast-moving, weekly format. There’s plenty for our duo to rake through in this existentially confused mag. Like, why h…
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Cling film, coital alignment, and reverse cowgirl: 90s and 00s magazines promised to help us "drive him wild." But does anyone actually *want* to be surprised during sex? If you've ever alternated an ice cube with a sip of tea while going down on a partner, this one's for you. Welcome to Mag Hags “Sidebar” where we talk about the stuff we couldn’t …
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Are you MAD FOR IT?? This week, the Mag Hags are in 1996, scaling Peak Britpop and working their way through a magazine determined to prove that women can objectify men too. Sex by the inch! Tastiest man in the world stripped bare!! In entirely coincidental timing, the Mag Hags meet some real life Patsys (as in Kensit) and Liams (as in Gallagher). …
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Embarrassed to go to the doctor? Cheating on your boyfriend with another man? Worried you might be a nympho? Put your Big Girl pants on, we’re diving into the world of magazine problem pages. Welcome to Mag Hags “Sidebar” where we talk about the stuff we couldn’t fit into the main episode. Or else go off on a mad tangent about something that’s spar…
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It’s March 1974 aka the last moment in history before anyone had heard of ABBA! Striking coal miners have brought down a Conservative government and the UK is gripped by its first post-war recession… but the Mag Hags are boldly wading in, armed with a copy of Over 21 magazine. This week, we come to terms with some hang-ups in a feature that takes u…
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Do you know your masthead from your standfirst? Could you make a pull quote out of a vox pop? And what, oh what, is a slug? Welcome to Mag Hags “Sidebar” where we talk about the stuff we couldn’t fit into the main episode. Or else go off on a mad tangent about something that’s sparked our interest. This week: Lucy talks us through some common magaz…
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The Mag Hags are back! It’s July 1987 - aka Lucy’s birth month - and to kick off the new season she’s leading a voyage of “style with content” to Elle magazine! The contradictions of the late 80s are writ large: we’ve got innovation and progress (portable CD players!! Iced coffee!!!) alongside depressing accounts of workplace harassment and laborio…
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Mag Hags is back! We've got smashing financial advice, explosive relationship drama, and the latest shoulder pad discourse. If you love magazines, 20th century pop culture, and questionable life advice, then join us every week to find out what’s still hot, and what’s definitely not. First episode drops WEDNESDAY JUNE 11 2025. Subscribe to our newsl…
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It’s the end of season one! And what better note to end on than right back where we started: with the OG of having it all, Cosmopolitan. It’s October 1992 and Lucy is at the helm as the Mag Hags navigate post-Thatcher pre-Loaded gender politics to explore the timeless editorial territory of: has feminism been bad for men? There’s a recession on, bu…
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Kicking off the new year with a bang, the Mag Hags are manifesting the season they want… with a June magazine issue. Franki is taking us back to the 80s to 19 magazine – a sister title to Honey that’s ticking all the women’s mag tropes. Directive diet features! Reductive psychology quizzes! The Mag Hags reckon with some food demons from their child…
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Burn your bras, lads: we’re back in the 70s this week – only this time the magazine under the spotlight *has* caught up with the decade’s radical social progress. Lucy is leading the way through a tour of Cosmo’s little sister mag: the recently launched Company. There’s a report into how technology is about to transform work as we know it, some tim…
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Gather round, high-flying spinsters! The Good Friday Agreement has been signed, the US president is definitely *not* having sexual relations with that woman, and we are hitting New Labour's economic zenith : it’s 1998 and the Mag Hags are reading Marie Claire. Franki is in the driving seat as the Mag Hags dive into plastic surgery tourism and ponde…
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Grab your Barbour and don your wellies – it’s time for Tatler! Lucy is taking the Mag Hags back to Tina Brown’s formative career years and a festive issue of the high society bible. Here, Franki and Lucy learn some valuable lessons in how to *really* show off one’s status and discuss the British aristocracy’s take on Quiet Luxury. There is some que…
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Welcome to Guess The Meat with Lucy and Franki! ... Only joking! That would be insane. This episode, Franki is taking the Mag Hags deeper into the archives than they have gone before… to Woman’s Own, November 1972. A relic of the mid-century suburban housewife, this mag is serving up hobby how-tos, a guide to hats, and a free sheet of ‘foil-edged c…
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Dig out your Union Jack tea-towel dresses, girls! This time, Lucy is leading the way through a magazine that’s channeling all the Girl-Powered benign anarchy of Spice World: The Movie. It’s New Woman, September 1997. There’s a ‘how-to’ for spying on your boyfriend, bafflingly horny ads and – in depressingly 90s style – a feature about how you can w…
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The Mag Hags are back and cooking with gas! This episode Franki and Lucy ponder on some cutting edge household appliances – cordless iron, anyone? Because, yes, Franki is guiding us on a tour through Good Housekeeping, March 1988. There’s Ovaltine innuendo, shoulder-revealing fashion, and a self-help book extract suggesting that Lucy could be a thr…
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Lucy and Franki are back with more dispatches from vintage women’s glossies. This week, Lucy is heading to Honey magazine March 1976 – but it’s less Patti Smith and Sex! on the Kings Road, more women named Sue and unequal division of household labour. We also meet the last of debutantes, contemplate a bath-time workout, and witness a disastrous PR …
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Welcome to the very first episode of Mag Hags, the podcast that every modern woman should know. Join Franki and Lucy as they dive into the glossy archives of women’s magazines to find out what's still hot, and what's definitely not. And where else to begin than the OG of having it all: Cosmopolitan. Franki has travelled back in time to October 1982…
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Mag Hags is a brand new podcast that celebrates and interrogates the glossy women’s magazines of the 70s, 80s, and 90s. If you love magazines, 20th century pop culture, and questionable life advice on glossy paper stock, then join us each fortnight when we’ll be diving into a vintage issue to find out what’s still hot, and what’s definitely not. Fi…
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