Vole (magazine)
Vole was a British environmentalist magazine published between 1977 and 1980. The magazine was intended to have a more light-hearted tone than the other countryside and ecology magazines of the time: the founders' working title for the magazine (shortened when it began actual publication) was "The Questing Vole", from a nature column written by the hero of Evelyn Waugh's novel Scoop - "Feather-footed through the plashy fens passes the questing vole".
The magazine contributed to raising awareness of serious Green politics at a time when many people's view of the issue was coloured by the BBC sitcom The Good Life.
Vole was founded in 1977 by Richard Boston with funding from Terry Jones. Contributors included:
- Richard Adams
- John Arlott
- Pete Atkin, writing about DIY
- Tony Benn
- Jeremy Bugler
- John A Burton
- Gillian Darley, Museum Correspondent
- Paul Foot
- David Helton
- Richard Ingrams
- Terry Jones
- Miles Kington
- Richard Mabey
- Richard D. North
- Bryan Reading (cartoonist)
- Posy Simmonds
- Ralph Steadman
- Bill Tidy
Bryan Reading's cartoon strip 'The Belchers' (commissioned by Richard Boston), featuring the bucolic adventures of metropolitan emigrants Nigel and Fiona Allbran, appeared throughout Vole's four-year lifetime. In June 1980, the Managing Editor of Vole was Charles Alverson.
The numbering of the issues was slightly unconventional. From September 1977 to August 1978 they were numbered 1 to 12 though number 8 was misnumbered as 7, subscription copies being manually corrected. The next issue was October 1978, Vol 2 No 1 through to Vol 2 No 11 of September 1979 (but dated October). Volume 3 began with No 1 of October 1979 and goes through to Vol 3 No 10 of July 1980. At this point the format changed to a tabloid size for the remaining three issues, No 11, October 1980, to No 13, December 1980. Volume 4 runs from Jan 1981 to September 1981 numbered 1 - 8 and retains the tabloid form.
Vole's ISSN was 140-4571.