Keele University
Forever:Keele
Stay in touch with each other and with us
Alumni and Support Keele pages
Alumni
Explore this Section
Early Student Publications
Every university enjoys a colourful history of student-written and student-published newspapers, magazines and pamphlets and Keele is no different....
The University Library holds an almost complete set of "Cygnet" dating from 1956 to 1982. The only missing issues are now 16 and 19. Other University and student publications held by the Library include copies of "Keele Left", "Keele Newsletter", "Sacred Cow", "University of Keele Bulletin", and "WOOP!" The Keele Oral Project has collected and added many previously absent copies of "Cum Grano", "Scythe", "UNIT", "WOOP!" and some missing issues of "Cygnet" to the stock and we welcome further additions to fill the gaps. "Concourse" is still published by Keele University Students' Union and KUSU maintains its own archive of this newspaper along with its predecessors.
CUM GRANO (WITH A GRAIN...)
"Cum Grano was an early literary style publication during my time at Keele.. I have vague memories of being on the Editorial Board but the product never really gained momentum." Bill Lighton (1954)
"Cum Grano was already in existence in 1956. Zulfikar Ghose was editor for at least two years and I'm happy to say he published me. I came second to David Pownall in a short story competition in 1957 or 1958 - I still have that Cum Grano if only I knew in which box in the attic. I have a number of copies of Cum Grano because Keele was THE formative experience of my life." Brian “Ned” Lusher (1960)
"In the 1950's Cygnet was a newsletter of what was happening on campus. The magazine we all read then was Cum Grano with, especially, poems by Zulfikar Ghose who became a published writer." Alex Wotherspoon (1962)
"For the literary minded, Cum Grano enabled people like Bryan Read, Zulfikar Ghose and Bryan Tyson to show off there talents; and the newspaper Cygnet, the best part of which was a regular Swiftian satire on Keele in the mould of Gulliver’s Travels written by Hugh Oliver called ‘Hoblyn’s Tour of Leek’. I had developed no literary bent at that time, but was Business Manager of Cygnet for a while following after Tony Powell." Brian Vale (1960)
"I have a copy of Cum Grano edition published around September 1955. The Editors were then Harry Law and John Barker. It is around A5 in size and has over 100 pages including photographs, sketches, and advertisements from a fascinating and large number (about 100) of organisations and firms throughout the Potteries and beyond, which is almost a trades directory of the period A scrap metal merchant based in Stoke is also described as a rabbit skin merchant! A "literary style magazine" is a good way of describing the edition I have. It contains much readable prose and poetry and is not at all parochial. Contributors included John Blake, Peter Whelan and Frangcon Price, Bernard Gilhooly, Geoffrey Williams, John Periton and many others among the "literati" of Keele at the time. It was published by Batiste Publications Ltd, 20 Bedford Street, London WC2. It also contains an interesting Supplement "intended primarily as an introduction to the organisation and workings of the Students' Union". This lists all of the Union Societies existing at the time and the names of their officers. It shows that there was just one telephone in the Union at the time (Keele Park 232) and that one could buy one of two designs of scarf for 24 Shillings and Sixpence from the College Outfitters in Newcastle, namely Henry White's Ltd. Ties could be bought for between 9 and 15 shillings." John Groom (1956)
"Cum Grano was a publication of the Students' Union. It was 'professionally' printed, by a printer in the Potteries. W hen I edited CG, we had a very amicable relationship with Audley Printers. I recall visiting their workshop, seeing the silvery metal in pots, the fresh metal letters and inhaling the smell of printing ink. It helped to set me off on a lifetime's fascination with printing and publishing. Offset litho and digital have none of those tactile pleasures! I was editor taking over from Edward Lambton probably around 1959. Audley Printers used to give us so many days credit for printing CG. We would go there in the car, dump them in the back seat, get them to the campus and sell them as soon as possible! The next visit to the printers saw us with pockets-full of cash, to hand over to the relieved printers. It was an early lesson in how to succeed in business without capital!" John Idris Jones (1961)
CYGNET (1952-1964)
"If recollection be correct, Ted Cawley and I co-founded, confounded, and co-edited the Cygnet circa 1955-56; Tony Powell made it financially viable. Despite our feeble editorial scribblings the early editions were well received, thanks mainly to the symbiotic culture, with many faculty fully engaged." James Howe (1958)
"When I arrived at Keele in the Autumn of 1954, there was no student newspaper. That didn’t seem right, even though there were only about 600 undergraduates, and not much news. So I started one, and the first edition came out in the early summer of 1955. I called it The Cygnet to end speculation about whether and when the Keele swans would ever produce offspring. We borrowed the Union Office after they finished work, so we could use the typewriter and duplicating machine: the long-gone sort where you turned a handle ~ one revolution, one page. Susan, later my wife, and a number of good friends helped turn and staple. I had to charge a few pence to cover paper costs, so publication day was a bit fraught, but the queue formed even before we started selling. Somehow or other we managed to gather or invent enough material to fill it each month, and the readers kept buying it. One of the few regular features I recall was “Keele Mots”, gems culled from lectures and elsewhere: e.g. Professor X “The main difference between children’s bones and adult bones is that adult bones are bigger.” After about a year it was well enough established for me to contemplate having it printed properly, so I went to see the Editor of the Staffordshire Times in Newcastle. He was incredibly supportive, gave me a lot of encouragement and advice, and best of all quoted me a printing charge which seemed feasible. I then spent many hours trudging round shops and businesses, mainly in Newcastle, until I achieved the magic number. I remember still the excitement of standing beside the press as the first copy was run off. I was also very happy that the front page of that edition in the Autumn of 1956 carried a large photograph and story celebrating the arrival of Sir George Barnes as Vice-Chancellor, following a distinguished career at the BBC. I edited The Cygnet for another year, again with the indispensable help of friends, including Tony Powell who took over the crucial task of generating advertising revenue, but it involved a lot of work, and I could see a Third looming. I finally managed to persuade someone I trusted, who was also daft enough to take over. I was quite sad when I discovered recently that it is now defunct. I managed to lose all my copies during our many moves of the last 50 years. I don’t suppose anyone has kept one or two that a sentimental old fool could share?" David “Ted” Cawley (1959)
Photo of Swans: John D Smith (1957) for Keele Chrismas Card 1956
"If recollection be correct, Ted Cawley (1959) and I co-founded, confounded (?), and co-edited the Cygnet circa 1955-1956. Tony Powell made it financially viable. Despite our feeble editorial scribblings the early editions were well received, thanks mainly to the then symbiotic culture, with many faculty fully engaged." James Howe (1958)
"According to the Editorial of the 8 May 1957 issue, David Edward Cawley, a founding editor of Cygnet in May 1956, relinquished his responsibilities to myself and Bryan Reed who co-edited the newspaper for the next several months. The latest issue I have (March 1958) shows Les Dickinson as Editor and Dave Pownall as Sports Editor." Hugh “Hoblyn” Oliver (1960)
"The editor from 1956-1957 was Bryan Reed, when I was Assistant Editor. I then edited it from "I am surprised nobody has told you of the origin of The Cygnet. It was started in 1956 or 1957 by David (Ted) Cawley and Brian Reed. Cawley was always complaining about having to cycle to the printers in Stoke on Saturday mornings with copy that Reed was inevitably late in getting together." Rob Edmunds (1958)
"Cygnet was founded in 1955. I took over from Tony Powell (best man at my first marriage and a really good mate) in early 1957 as Business Manager, first with Bryan Reed as Editor and then David Pownall. We lived on a razor's edge - usually finding a printer who would give us 10 days' credit-just long enough to get out an edition, collect some cash and rush to pay enough to escape! In March 1958 I was on my way to deliver copy when Dave Gledhill and I (on Dave's BSA Bantam) had a horrendous accident on the hill into Newcastle. The copy was eventually delivered!" Brian “Ned” Lusher (1960)
"I did 1957-1958. I cannot recall who took over from me." Leslie Dickinson (1959)
"I was editor and deputy editor of Cygnet" Barry Carter (1961)
"I can offer some information about Cygnet. I was the editor/proprietor in about 1964-65, having taken it on from Simon Spencer and eventually passed it on to Sandy Saunders who may well have passed it on to Phil Soar. The origins were already lost in the mists of time even then, because I don't think Simon had been the first proprietor. I know there was an edition produced under Sandy for the first time the New Universities Festival was held at Keele (and nobody bought it and it lost money, but then it was never exactly a licence to print money in the first place!). And it nearly got me thrown out, but that's another story." Simon Sweetman (1966)
"My recollection is that in my final one or two years (I was 1962-1966), the Editor of Cygnet was a mate of mine, Alun Michael, who went on to be the first First Minister of Wales, had various Westminster ministerial posts including responsibility for getting the fox-hunting ban through Parliament, and is now a backbencher." Paul Sommerfeld (1966)
"I have retained a number of copies of Cygnet, which were on display at my 60th birthday bash in June, and enjoyed by the ten or so Keele contemporaries who were kind enough to turn up. Some great writing in Cygnet at that time. I think it ceased some time in the 1970s. It was certainly going strong when I arrived in October '64, edited by Simon Sweetman. Among my fond memories of him are his "A thinking man looks at his team" articles about Stoke City in Cygnet and, after he left Keele, playing cricket against the Inland Revenue side which he captained with great enthusiasm. There was the famous edition which had a front page article over-printed so it couldn't be read, following threats to the editorial board from Harold Taylor. I think that article was about contraceptives. I would guess that the sin he referred to by Simon may have been that article (although I wouldn't claim knowledge of all his Keele sins!) What I can't recall is how on earth Harold Taylor found out about it after the paper had been printed but before it had gone on sale, which seems very odd - perhaps Simon can enlighten us." Malcolm Clarke (1968).
"Martin Huckerby was one of Cygnet's luminaries. A sharp yet erudite and cultured publication, it merged commentary and analysis with other items in artistic style - much out of the general mould of 'That was the Week that Was'. It was also very reliable in its publication - I think fortnightly in term time. It was a good quality yet unpretentious medium to open the eyes and minds of undergraduates (and to give them an outlet for their developing talent)." Michael Rigby (1968)
"Simon Sweetman was one of the great Keele characters of our day and he remains in our memory for several things. One was playing Winnie the Pooh in Kathy Unsworth's dramatisation of A A Milne. Another was his wonderful Marxist-Leninist football report in Cygnet of a game between Stoke City and Moscow Dynamo." John Meager (1968) and Alice Meager (Wild)(1969)
"The student magazine "Cygnet" was the more "progressive" one issued alongside "Concourse" in my time. It was "owned" by Phil Soar and lost by him in a late night card game." David Harris (1970)
“CYGNET passed from Sandy Saunders to me in a rather murky way. I ran into Sandy some years later at a party he was giving in London. Uncharacteristically Sandy asked me to leave…. I cobbled together a few editions. Contributors gradually increased their contribution. Phil Soar provided most of the back page. By the second term I tired of the pre-dawn print run. Once, Phil Soar drove my car back to Keele as I was exhausted. I woke up around half-way. We were racing down a particularly steep hill somewhere near or in the Peak District. Not entirely sure he had a licence, I was terrified. It was time the next generation took over editing and the print run which came with editing. Disposing of ownership was much harder as nobody could see much point in selling advertising and incurring personal debt with the printers. Someone mischievously suggested I might accept £100 and the new editors proposed a game of poker. Ramin Taraz put up his hi-fi system against CYGNET. I would like to say I contrived to lose. Ramin was a very likeable and gifted card player. Witnessed by a small crowd of his friends he won embarrassingly quickly. The following day he and his friends refused to accept their winnings - they had discovered the funding problem. During Sandy's tenure CYGNET had lost its London-based advertising representation. I agreed to continue ownership if they sent out rate cards for 1969/70, which I suppose they must have. They continued to produce amusing editions. At least they told me they were funny. I don't actually recall reading them. It wasn't entirely clear to me who exactly was editing CYGNET now. I merely agreed the number of pages when asked and paid the print bills. One issue unusually contained two photographs, which cost extra then, one of which I contributed. Before leaving Keele I passed over the bank account and paid the last print bill. I had no idea whether CYGNET continued. I made a point of removing comments likely to excessively wound students but not those aimed at staff, although none come to mind. Only one libel action was threatened and disposed of by ridicule. The intending litigant subsequently became a barrister. Every edition sold out instantly although someone did once ask for his money back! A lot of fun was had, often at other people's expense. Not very nice really.” John Walker (1970)
"I was a former Editor of "Cygnet", the unofficial alternative student paper - presumably long since defunct - which was itself a part of the "swan" tradition, as its name obviously indicates. As for the history of Cygnet, ownership passed from Phil Soar to Stu Cresswell and Ric Lewak and friends, then on to me and some co-conspirators including Pete Sykes, with Ed Kubiak as business manager(!). I bequeathed it in about 1972 to the late Danny McGroryand various others (Owen Kelly? Alan Warne?).. I remember Danny from Keele days - he was one of the gang who moved into the 'Cygnet' orbit, so I suppose it had something to do with his becoming a journalist. He was a journalist through and through, with a great instinct for a story and a truly distinguished career. It's a real blow that he has gone.What happened thereafter I know not - maybe others can reveal how much longer Cygnet survived?" Brian Stewart (1972)
"I was at Keele between 1968 and 1972, and remember Cygnet clearly. Remember the competition to see which female students had the biggest breasts? You’d never get away with that now. One comment I clearly remember was something like: ‘Keep at it, Sue and Annie, you’ll get there on aggregate.’ I survived Keele and became a novelist in the end." Carol Birch (1972)
"All this talk of Swans has made me remember The Cygnet. Do you have old back copies of that home-made magazine? I just have the one in which I got a mention. There must be some around and I think they are an amazing record of the politics - radical, sexual and otherwise - of those heady days in the 70s when I were a lass." "Fizle" Sagar (1974)
Then a long gap until...
"I worked on Cygnet in about 1981-82 with then editor, Gerry O'Kane. Concourse, the union newspaper, had become rather pretentious at that point and we regarded ourselves as an alternative that was more involved in Keele life. We won that struggle and Cygnet stopped publishing (apart from a special perhaps) when I became Editor of Concourse." Peter Foley (1985)
Former Chief Executive of Nottingham Forest FC and football supporters’ aficionado was once Editor of Cygnet. Peter Foley (1985) Edited Cygnet 1981-82 and Concourse 1982-85. He’s now Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Arizona.
SCYTHE
"I have a few ancient copies of Sycthe dating from the late 50s as I was involved in writing for it and also helping with typing it I think. My room-mate Angela Mellersh, now Myers, was also involved. It was probably even more transient than Cygnet. I also had some poems in Cum Grano." Roberta Buchanan (1960)
"Scythe was a kind of little sister of Cum Grano; it was produced amateurishly, from typescript, from a photocopier, and was a squarish format whereas Cum Grano was near A5, with a full-colour cover." John Idris Jones (1961)
"I was searching through piles of paper the other day when I came across a copy of Scythe, issue No 2, Dated October 1957, price sixpence. Raymond Southall got it together and edited it. This issue contains poems by HFH Oliver, G Roberts, Angela Mellersh, Bryan Reed, M Brown (I blush to say) I Maddox, Raymond Southall, Zulficar Ghose, J I M (Ted Cawley and I have been wracking our brains to think who that might be, with no success) and G Roberts. I don't know how many editions the publication went through, probably no more than two or three. But it is a little bit of history from those early years. It is surprising that it has lasted so long. The paper is quite thick, and the printing is obviously on a Gestetner." Michael Brown (1958)
More about Scythe will be added in due course
UNIT
"I have a collection of old copies of Cygnet in a box somewhere in our garage, which also contains an assortment of old copies of Concourse and "Unit" (the Arts magazine), some "Potty" rag mags, and even some of the more memorable lunchtime fliers stencilled out on Mrs Boote's Gestetner in the Union building which we used to distribute around the refectories." Brian Stewart (1972)
"In my time at keele, we had three papers and at least one magazine. I was the art editor of Unit, first brought out in 1965 and printed locally at first. For some reason we later chose a printer in Port Talbot. It was a long train journey. Under Tony Eliott's control, Unit morphed into Time Out." Marshall Colman (1968)
There's a lots to tell about about UNIT and more will be added in due course
WOOP!
As a representative of WOOP! - the semi-scurrilous and barely humorous Rag Day magazine we'll let Tony Powell (1959) speak for all writers, printers, distributors, sellers and readers wih excerpts from his evocative contemporary diary:
Tuesday, February 18th 1958: The Rag is at the forefront of all minds. WOOP 3 magazine is at this very moment being churned out on the Leicester presses, and we'll pick up the first batch tomorrow, by car.…The big day for sales is this Saturday, the 22nd, and the Rag takes place on Saturday, March 1st. I had originally hoped to have sales in Longton, Burslem, Tunstall, half a dozen Training College towns and at several universities, but it looks as though at least the latter will have to be dispensed with, due to transport difficulties (nobody has any vehicles!)
Friday, February 22nd 1958: WOOP came yesterday, that is to say, the first 5,000 copies. Brian Lusher has gone to Manchester to pick up another 14,000, and the remaining thousand will arrive next week. We began sales tonight at dinner in the College Refectory, and disposed of just over 300, whereas I had expected 6 or 700. Nevertheless, the staff are as yet untouched, and I feel we could get rid of another 300 within Keele.
Sunday, March 2nd 1958: As the week dragged on, the weather got worse; snow followed by rain, right up to Rag morning. ,,, We got only about a dozen salespeople on Wednesday, when we revisited the outer towns, and raked in about 10. Then on Friday, things began to change, The rain stopped, we hit the shifts at Shelton Iron and Steel, Wedgwood, and Newcastle - sent parties to sell in Hanley, Stoke and Newcastle pubs, cinema and bus-queues in the afternoon and evening, and sold at Trentham Gardens (1 am) in the exodus from Joe Loss's Orchestra, getting rid of approximately 6,000 more…. So we came to Rag Day, with about half the WOOP magazines sold and about 800 from various sources in the kitty. The ground had dried out by eight a.m., and finishing touches were being put all over the grounds to the floats, with hammers and saws creating a riot. After breakfast the lorries began to arrive, and the real flap began. Students selling WOOP and holding out collecting tins - even buckets! - invaded the Towns; stunts began, and the skiffle group was kept hard at work. Tableaux were loaded onto their transports, and a complete melee ensued as they were 
marshalled into order; the loudspeaker van blared almost continuously, and Ticker Hayhurst, Rag Chairman, got really hot and bothered. … Up to the start of the procession, 5,000 magazines were on the streets, and compliments on layout and content were already flowing in. .... I was on the Committee coach with Dot Pitman (Appeals Officer) dealing with loaded tins, Chas Syms (Treasurer) dealing with the money, helped by Norman Brown (Union Treasurer) and Dave Thorne (Union Secretary) and 2000 WOOPs, the rest being in mobile depots at the front and rear of the procession under the control of Brian Lusher. The floats closed up in Lower Street Newcastle and we inched our way through cheering, laughing crowds along High Street and the Ironmarket. Part-way along, we underwent a minor attack from Nelson Hall Training College and Newcastle Art School, which fizzled out after Diana Hilton broke a bag of flour over the head of an NH girl she knew and didn't get on with. Collectors and salesmen were having a field-day of it - the floors of the dustcarts in the procession were ringing with thrown pennies which piled up in heaps. We stopped at the Fire Station in King Street for the walking parties to board coaches, and off we went to Hanley…. 
The second time into Newcastle was even better than the first. I sold out of WOOPs three times, and practically every living person there was holding a copy. Collections - money was still raining in. We just had to hold out a bucket, and it became the target of the day for small- and not so small - children. The WOOPs we had remaining were Disposed of at any price we could get, some were even given away to kids. And so we wended our weary way back to Keele, jingling as we went…. My own main part in the procession had at first been to hand out bundles of WOOPs and collecting tins to our salespeople, but I soon got tired of this (Dot was very competent) so I rushed about selling and collecting, which I felt was a much more valuable use of time.…
Thursday 6th March 1958: Well, a couple of dozen of us went down to the bank yesterday. The money collection looked like pirate hoards, a mixture of every British coin and a few foreign ones to boot, gathered in two great chests. We tumbled them out onto trestle tables and counted the take for the next four hours. We counted the disappointing sum of 870 collected on the day itself, 900 from WOOP sales, 550 from the competitions, and 530 from advertisements, about 2300 in all. Not bad, I suppose - and what a hell of a good day we'd had. Tony Powell (1959)
Concourse
In 1964, the Student's Union began to publish "Concourse" and it has remained operational ever since.... Stories about Concourse will appear here soon.HONOURABLE MENTIONS
Lots of other student publciations have waxed and waned over the decades, including:
"Thre were other publications. In the late 60's and early 70's we had Cygnet of course, plus Keele Left, New Penny Red and UNIT. Any others?" Geof Branch (1971)
"Don't forget Subversity, the short-lived rival to Keele Left produced by the International Socialists." Jason Hill (1971)
"I still have a few copies of Dagger Dagger from the mid/late 70's, a sort of arts/politics/music/current affairs/science fiction magazine - i.e. usual student magazine stuff!" Chris Parkins (1981)
"Not forgetting the Fuzzy Duck, which was going strong in the late 90s" Laura Stamps (2001)
"Green Monster'was as far as I remember an unofficial publication in the 1990s. I have a vague memory of it being banned for publishing what it claimed to be the most offensive joke in the world." Joline De Ste Croix (1999)
AND FINALLY...
"The early days at Keele were very special , the relationships between staff and students were exceptionally close; the sports teams were remarkably good , drama, debate and academically related societies had high standards . At the end of the first four years there were also some pretty good degrees, but I do not recall a particularly left wing emphasis .Lord Lindsay's politics were well known and the new institution was certainly known as the Little Kremlin in the Potteries but to most students this was not an issue." David Jeakins (1954)
Update January 2011
The University Library holds an incomplete set of "Cygnet" dating from 1956 to 1982 (as it was published irregularly and without issue numbers, it's not always easy to tell which issues are missing). The Keele Oral History Project has supplied many previously absent copies of "Cum Grano", "Scythe", "UNIT", "WOOP!" and "Cygnet" and we welcome further additions to fill the gaps. Thanks to alumni, we now have complete sets of both Cum Grano and UNIT, but there are still gaps in our holdings of WOOP (we need 1959, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1968) . Other University and student publications held by the Library include copies of "Keele Left", "Keele Newsletter", "Sacred Cow", "University of Keele Bulletin" and "Concourse". Concourse is still published by Keele University Students' Union and KUSU maintains its own archive of this newspaper along with its predecessors.
Helen Burton, Special Collections and Archives Administrator, Keele University Library
Did you enjoy this? Why not read more stories from the Keele Oral History Project?
