The People's Friend is a British weekly magazine founded by John Leng on 13 January 1869[2] as an offshoot of The People's Journal[3] and currently published by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. Its tagline is "The famous story magazine".[4] It was originally a monthly magazine but became a weekly magazine in 1870, and had its first illustrated cover on 11 May 1946.[2]
Annie S. Swan wrote for the magazine.[5] The current editor is Stuart Johnstone.[2]
The magazine is principally aimed at older women.[6] Each issue contains at least seven self-contained short stories and two serials (frequently more), a craft project (usually knitting or sewing) and various factual articles, one of which is a piece on a particular town. Pets, family and traditions are also common themes. During World War 1, the focus of the magazine shifted to women.[3]
The magazine holds an annual craft competition called "The Love Darg" (a Scots term for a day's work done without asking payment) in which readers are asked to make toys and garments. After judging, the entries are distributed to charities.[7]
The magazine's geographical location in Dundee is reflected in a general bias toward Scottish subjects. The main front cover image is invariably a painting of a picturesque location somewhere in Britain or Ireland, and readers can also buy prints of these pictures. The paintings are made by a variety of artists but are credited to the collective pseudonym J. Campbell Kerr, which is also used for the "Round Britain" feature within the magazine.[6][8]
