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UK Reader’s Digest closes after 86 years. Memories?

(61 Posts)
Primrose53 Wed 01-May-24 20:59:38

These little magazines were part of my childhood. We never bought them new as we were not very well off and you had to subscribe. Mum used to pick up a bundle of them at jumble sales and my Dad loved them. He used to read out all the jokes and loved the quizzes where you were given a word and you had to choose which was the correct meaning.

So I grew up watching them read them and when I was older could read them myself. There were always short stories, medical articles, word puzzles, Laughter is the Best Medicine and Readers’s letters. I spent many happy hours devouring these mags.

Mum never threw any away so if any neighbours were in hospital one of my parents always took some in because they were small and light and easy to hold in bed.

Ali08 Tue 07-May-24 10:50:04

I thought they had already stopped as I haven't seen any for donkeys years!
It's reading one of those that I first heard about 'Oak Island' and the money pit. Which is where I think the men who keep looking for it, on Oak Island, first heard about it when they were young boys.
I did love watching them for a while, but I'm now so surprised that there's still an island left to walk on, and they've put so much money IN to it without much coming out!

Esmay Wed 08-May-24 09:49:23

I get most of my books from our local charity shops .
I haven't seen any Reader's Digest condensed books in them for a long time .
I had a Google and have found that they have a considerable second hand value .

Katek Wed 08-May-24 10:20:29

Bump on a thread means Bring Up My Post - it's a way of keeping thread active.

engfish Sun 18-Aug-24 17:13:54

Please let me know if you're ever interested in unloading them. I read RD to the blind over the radio, and the smaller (and fewer) issues in the U.S. always mean I'm having to use "Classic" articles of the past to fill in. (I have a few from the 70s, 80s, and 90s for universal stories.) Thanks for considering!

Margs Sun 18-Aug-24 17:37:18

My old doctor's waiting room provided reading material consisting of three specific titles: The Field, Horse & Hound and, of course, Readers Digest.

Nothing was less than 2 years old and all were gloriously dog-eared.

Labradora Sun 18-Aug-24 18:55:33

They were so useful in the Doctors and Dentists surgeries!
What a shame. End of an era.

nickandgabs Fri 18-Oct-24 18:04:59

Years ago, back in the 1970s, I was in a doctor’s waiting room and idly flicking through a copy of Reader’s Digest when I happened upon an item in one of the sections - it may have been Life’s Like That or other humorous category of article. There I discovered a small paragraph which was a note from a doctor or a nurse at a hospital in the Greater Manchester area in which they described a mother who had just given birth being asked whether she wanted her child with syndactyly to have his toes separated. The mother replied, “What God has joined together, let no man put asunder.” As I was born in Ashton-Under-Lyne I was shocked beyond belied. That’s me! I thought and, if it was me, why did she do that? It was a question that I was probably ten years too late to ask. My question to this forum is, can anyone track down that article please? I'm writing a book and would like to quote it and provide a screenshot of the page it appeared on. I reckon the edition would probably have been sometime between 1970 and 1975. All help gratefully received!

twiglet77 Fri 18-Oct-24 18:15:11

Oh gosh, my mother must have got piles of Reader’s Digest from jumble sales too - though she did buy Woman’s Weekly, The People’s Friend and Competitor’s Companion. I loved reading them, even through my teens.

LadyGaGa Fri 18-Oct-24 18:23:56

A lovely memory. My grandma used to buy them and I loved reading them. I didn’t realise I remembered what was in in til I read this thread! Was there a weekly story about a little robin? She also used to read ‘The Friendship Book’ that came out every year - by Francis Gay. Had to google it, but remember the blue hard cover so well. It was full of little poems and thoughts. When I grew older I used to buy one for my Grandma at Christmas.

Lovetopaint037 Sat 19-Oct-24 02:26:45

yogagran

We had The Readers Digest Complete Do It Yourself Manual. It was very well used!

Ah! Yes. We had one of those and used it for years.
Agree the RD was entertaining. Only problem was when you wanted to stop subscribing. Kept receiving letters suggesting I didn’t really want to and think again. My friend also had the same trouble and replied that “now I can read big words I do not need it”. I was angry when my elderly dad kept receiving it when he no longer wanted it. I wrote them a letter suggesting the were taking advantage of an old man who just wasn’t up to the process of stopping it. He was giving them to me as not reading them himself and although I used to enjoy it I had lost interest.