The Cantuarian

The school magazine The Cantuarian first appeared in November 1882, with an editorial by the Headmaster, George Blore.

"Our object", he wrote, "is to provide information as to the condition and progress of the school and those who belong to it, in work and in play, at Canterbury, at the Universities, and elsewhere. We wish to combine with this certain original contributions in prose and verse; and we would fain hope that while the news thus furnished will be of interest to all who care for the well-being of the place of their education, our other writings may not reflect discredit on our ancient and famous school, and its many glorious traditions."

It cost 6d (annual subscription 4s) and the plan was to produce one issue a month. (In the event six issues were published within a year.) 11 of the 30 pages were devoted to sport, and the rest of the magazine was a mixture of School News, OKS News (including letters from Oxford and Cambridge), articles of general interest, and poetry. Although the balance of features has varied, the structure has remained recognisably similar, but with the publication of a separate OKS Review and then Offcuts from the mid-1990s, OKS News has largely disappeared from The Cantuarian.

 

From the 1920s there was a regular pattern of one issue per term until 1995, when this became two per year (and from 2005 one). Photographs appeared in 1936, when a new cover was designed and the page size was slightly enlarged. A plain white cover appeared in 1952. In 1995 the format changed to A4, and colour illustrations were added and incorporated into the text. A blue cover appeared in 2002 and the white cover was revived in 2010.

The School Library and the Archives have full sets of the magazine, as indeed do the copyright libraries.

The editor is Amanda Young: all@kings-school.co.uk