Yes, I’ll admit it! I’ve been reading rather a lot of magazines lately. Mainly by virtue of the fact that I went to Scotland for a week in August and travelled by train. It’s a five hour journey and whilst I can quite easily get my head stuck into a good book for such a duration, I do find ... Read review
Advantages: Easily readable, light, non-intellectual, aimed at the more mature woman Disadvantages: A tad old fashioned, but perhaps I am too?
...and stories, money saving tips, best buys on certain products, clothes & hair features as well as fiction, letters, book reviews and puzzles to name but a few.
My conclusion is that I definitely liked this. I felt that it was solid and down to earth and was packed with lots of features, stories and information that made the 70p cover price feel like great value to me. Even better, it looked like it carried a minimal amount of advertising ... ...The magazines strapline is “Britain’s best weekly” and although I thought it was OK, I’m not sure I’d go quite that far, but that’s marketing for you. So, clearly it’s a weekly publication and it’s available in newsagents and other retailers for 70p, which is reasonable value. Subscriptions are also available direct from the publishers “National Magazines” for £44.95 for 51 issues, which means that you’re paying 88p per issue! Well, if I was going ... more
Yes, I’ll admit it! I’ve been reading rather a lot of magazines lately. Mainly by virtue of the fact that I went to Scotland for a week in August and travelled by train. It’s a five hour journey and whilst I can quite easily get my head stuck into a good book for such a duration, I do find that the density of the text combined with the motion of the train, makes me feel sick after a while. So, magazines, with their colours and layouts make a good alternative. That’s my excuse anyway.
One of the magazines that I picked up was “best”. Whilst doing a little research for this review, I was surprised to discover that this publication has been around since 1987. Apparently, it is aimed at female readers between the ages of 25-55, but has a median reader age of 40. Heh, that’s me! Certainly, as I flicked through it I was pleasantly surprised to feel that it had definite appeal and relevant information, news and stories for me as an individual. It “feels” to me like a publication that fills a gap somewhere between “Bella” and “Woman’s Own”.
Page 3 provides content information broken down into “On the cover”, “Celebrity insider”, “Real life”, “Health”, “Fashion & Beauty”, “Cookery”, “Every Week” and “Puzzles”.
I have to confess I quite enjoyed this. I found there was a lot of reading in this publication, and that it was relevant and interesting to me. However, what never ceases to amaze me is the sheer number of stories that all of these types of magazines contain about real life tragedy. For example, the issue that I’m reviewing contains stories entitled “How could my daughter have been killed mowing the lawn?” and “A cat fell asleep on my baby - and almost killed her.” What I find interesting about this is what motivates people to share such pain with the public at large? I’m not sure I could do it. However, having said that, I know that I’ve written about things that have been difficult in my own life and shared them with fellow Ciao originators. So, I’m sitting here asking myself if this is different and trying to come up with an answer. Certainly, those kind of writings have been a cathartic experience for me, and so I can only assume that this is the case for these people too?
I’ve decided that my favourite feature in “best” is the “Health” section. Certainly on the cover page, there is a banner headline proclaiming “Reader’s Intimate Health Problems Solved - Too shy to ask your doctor?”. And sure enough, when you reach those pages, there are questions there that would make my hair curl. I was always under the illusion that I was relatively unshockable too! For the more delicate reader’s amongst you, I don’t want to go into too much detail, but there are questions in there about condoms, flatulence, nipples and digestive systems galore. I definitely found it eye opening and informative.
Other content includes all the normal features that one would expect from a woman’s weekly. This issue contains a soap story “War on Corrie St, Leanne & Jamie’s affair is doomed”, there’s a kitchen makeover, dieting advice and stories, money saving tips, best buys on certain products, clothes & hair features as well as fiction, letters, book reviews and puzzles to name but a few.
My conclusion is that I definitely liked this. I felt that it was solid and down to earth and was packed with lots of features, stories and information that made the 70p cover price feel like great value to me. Even better, it looked like it carried a minimal amount of advertising with just 9 full pages of adverts out of a total of 60, which I thought wasn’t too excessive at all.
On the negative side, “best” seems to regularly carry numerous “inserts”. You know, those bits of card and leaflets that certain companies use to advertise or market their products. They are the bane of my life and I hate them with a passion! But perhaps this is why “best” can keep advertising within the magazine itself to a minimum?
So, if you’re looking for a light hearted, down to earth, entertaining read that doesn’t involve the need to analyse what you’re reading, and if you’re around the 40 mark, “best” could be the magazine for you. I don’t intend to be buying it on anything but a casual basis, but it’s certainly not something I wouldn’t read again either.
The magazines strapline is “Britain’s best weekly” and although I thought it was OK, I’m not sure I’d go quite that far, but that’s marketing for you. So, clearly it’s a weekly publication and it’s available in newsagents and other retailers for 70p, which is reasonable value. Subscriptions are also available direct from the publishers “National Magazines” for £44.95 for 51 issues, which means that you’re paying 88p per issue! Well, if I was going to buy this on a regular basis, I think I’ll stick to buying it from the shop, rather than paying 18p per week extra!
Advantages: Not too hard for the brain Disadvantages: Much of a muchness, same style as Bella, Woman etc.
...bill, I decided to buy Best Magazine. I bought issue 23/05 with date 14th June 2005 on the cover. At 70 pence and with the chance to win a trip to Paris, I just had to buy it.
You can buy this on every newsagent's stand and every forecourt. It's as common as The Daily Mirror however I don't think you can take a subscription out on this, so you have to make that trip out each Friday.
I used to buy Best regularly when it was just an unbelievably ... ...It's www.hairhistories.co.uk, don't tell Best I've told you! Log on and vote for your three favourite hair styles of the 60's, 70's and 80's and then enter your details for a prize draw to get the camera.
YOU CANT CON US:
A consumer complaint help page. So if your toaster stops toasting, this page will help you sort it.
KATRINAS TRUE STORY:
Better than the blondet bimbos and their boob jobs. These sisters fight Hodgkin's disease together. I can ...
mrsmopples 16.06.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Best
Advantages: cheap and helpful Disadvantages: some far fetched stories
Best - Magazine read all about it.
I won my new boobs on the Radio:
Two women, two babies and one man.
Best magazine is a weekly magazine aimed at women. It is a great magazine, which can be brought at most newsagents at the cracking price of 64p.
I have been buying Best now for over 6 months maybe not every week but when I feel like reading a magazine a always pick up a copy of Best.
The front page captures me every time, with its glossy cover, ... ...real life stories.
Best magazine is usually about 65 or so pages long, but about 15 of those pages are advertisements for products such as Woolworth's, Ariel colour, Renault Kangoo and many more. Best has a contents page at the front of their magazine so if you want to read about a particular subject, you can find it quick and easy. Best has a wide variety of interesting topics to read each week.
Real life - These pages talk about real life stories ...
misslook 24.08.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Best
Advantages: Some interesting articles Disadvantages: Far too much space given to things I'm not interested in
...cover refines this to ‘Britain’s best weekly’. Well, I’m not sure exactly what the competition is like, but this is my opinion, based on the issues for May 15th and 22nd.
The magazine costs 64p, but it looks cheap. The pages are thin, the models are thinner. It is a strange contrast between the perfect teeth and perfect skin of the beauty industry employees, and the sheer ordinariness of those in the real-life articles. The ... ...some Selotape, I think it’s best not to comment.
I then trawl through colour photos of delicious desserts that I dare not eat, if I ever aspire to fit into those bikinis on page 10.
The celeb bit is on page 36-37, where Craig Fairbrass (EastEnders, London’s Burning) and Jennifer Grey (Dirty Dancing and, erm, not much else) are interviewed. Not really interested in these two, except reading that Craig is 6’ 3” sends me a ...
KarenUK 24.05.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Best
...to just one question: is Best best?
BEST FOR TRASHY REAL LIFE STORIES?
Probably, yes, if you want really and truly atrociously trashy tales to make you laugh / cry. A typical claim? “My flab saved my life”, “I’m 60, he’s 23, why I love my toy boy husband”, “How can I tell dad I’m a glamour model?” (not, I hasten to add, the same story). Yep, as far as trashy goes, Best’s pretty much got ... ...what you’re after.
BEST FOR CELEBRITY NEWS?
For a magazine not selling itself on having all the latest gossip (like Ok or Now do, for example), Best doesn’t do badly. They seem to extract a scary amount of pleasure from showing photos of the rich and famous looking the worst they ever have in their lives, but then what’s wrong with that? Seeing as it’s weekly, if I get the latest issue I can often find out some interesting, ...
zoe_page 09.07.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Best
Advantages: Light reading Disadvantages: Not as eye catching as some others
...two pages titled Its your best club. It contained readers letters and tips. I am 38 but I felt the letters and tips would have been sent by someone like my mother. There was also a peice asking you to join the best club. To do this you had to ring a a number at 75p per minute and calls would last for up to 2 minutes.
Some of the real life stories were very interesting, like I lost 13 1/2 stone to look like my mum. There was a true crime story which ... ...found this uninteresting.
The Best fashion page tried its best to look young but they focused on Top Tunics (get that sixies look). Fashion and beauty peices took up 5 pages. Next was the cooking and food pages and I have to admit they all looked very nice and took up six pages.All the recipes were the kind my mother would make( eg. Honey mustard roast loin of pork and Herb & Garlic Chicken.
I then came to a Snip and Save page. This page offered ...
vichar68 22.02.2007 (16.04.2007)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Best
This simply the best mag ever with the best journalistic team behind it.I would not be here today without Take a Break and its readers who kept me going through my Leukaemia.I make no apologies for the content.It was as actually happened and there arent many magazines who will tell it as it is.It engages its readers in every way as my boxes and boxes of mail that I received will confirm.There are great prizes to be won each week and many ways to enter.There are brilliant double issues to read over christmas and numerous specials during the year.The quality of the print and pictures are second to none and the articles always cover current topics.They say the proof of the pudding is in the eating well I say bring me more dessert lol!!!!!! ...
donnastill 07.10.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Take a Break
Advantages: Some interesting products Disadvantages: Can be boring and lifeless
Here we go again! This is another one of those shows where you are urged to call and vote. How cliche!
'Best Inventions' is a show hosted by ex-Blue Peter presenter Katy Hill and the incomprehensible Rowland Rivron. The bulk of the show features three budding inventors who have all invented some life changing device (or not) and are hoping to hit the big time. They are helped out by three existing inventors who have already had success and have gone past the stage of hardships and rejections.
The show that I managed to watch had three, drastically varying inventions. The first invention was a childrens train set that featured no track. Instead, a 'track' of hose pipe, any length and shape, could be placed and the train would stick to it like glue. But I wonder how you would cross the tracks? Hmmmmmm.....
The second invention ...
