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

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.

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.

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.

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!

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

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.

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!

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

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 .

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!

My parents subscribed to the magazine. I can remember reading (in the 1980s?) about something called 'the information super-highway' which was being developed to connect people around the world. I was intrigued.......look at it now!

Louella12

Very good question, Urmstongran!

I just didn't want to throw them away. Simple as that. I don't want to give them away either. I'm quite precious with reading material, ì have hundreds of books as well.

I won't re-read them.

My children will have to sort them out once I've departed!

I’m the same! I could never just bin a book. They go to charity shops or the charity book stalls at Aldi and Tesco. Expensive knitting and crochet magazines I keep for about a year then pass on to likeminded friends.

Reader's Digest are my beach reading as I'm not fussed if they get wet or sandy. I have both 🇺🇸 and 🇨🇦 versions as well as several I managed to pick up at charity shops last time I was in the 🇬🇧 .
And yes, each magazine is a bit different.

Very good question, Urmstongran!

I just didn't want to throw them away. Simple as that. I don't want to give them away either. I'm quite precious with reading material, ì have hundreds of books as well.

I won't re-read them.

My children will have to sort them out once I've departed!

They were good magazines with a huge vatiety of topics and something we'll never see again.

Louella12

granfromafar

They will become collectors' items now!

I hope so! I've got hundreds. My mum always got it and I took on the subscription when she died.

Sad to see it go

Just curious. Why keep ‘hundreds’ of them? Do you plan to re-read them??

My DM discovered her mental breakdown was caused by the menopause after reading an article in the RD. I remember her rushing in waving the little magazine saying “I knew there was more to it!” She took it with her to the doctor - was prescribed HRT and she was back to normal in no time.

I've no idea where they came from but we always had a few around in my parents' house. Interesting little magazine. We had the cookery book and the DIY book too - both frequently referred to. I'm sad it won't be part of my Gchs lives.

Hello new to the forum, a male over 55, but I've had the forums are good on here. My grandparents used to get Readers Digest every month and I liked all the features from current affairs to music. Also kept a few copies from the seventies until I lost them as I liked the adverts for half forgotten cars and shops that have closed down.

You can download 32 of the Most Memorable Reader’s Digest Stories Ever. Google takes you to the selection going back from the first issue in 1922.

My in laws had piles and piles of Reader's Digest and very old magazines .
They were never thrown away .
Their selection reminded me of the ones that we had in our doctor's waiting room .
My parents had some Reader's Digest books , which I read until I was told that it was lazy reading for stupid people !
I can't remember all the titles The Leopard is one .
I particularly enjoyed the story of a family , who relocated to Puget's Sound and had to carry a huge American washing machine in a row boat in a storm .
I'd like to read the full version .

Always could read them at Doctors or Dentists offices,nice memory.

It pays to increase your wordpower. Always did it with my mum. Very improving!!!

Marydoll

My favourite was Laughter is the Best Medicine .

Was there not a word quiz, with multiple choice or have I made that up? I'm sure DH and I used to do it.

There was Marydoll. It was the word power vocabulary quiz where you selected the right word from three similar words to fit a sentence, if I remember correctly.

One of my ex wifes aunts bought me a subscription for several years that ended when we divorced.