Scoops (magazine)

Scoops

The first issue, 10 February 1934; cover art by Serge Drigin[1]
Editor	Haydn Dimmock
Frequency	Weekly
Circulation	100,000
Publisher	C. Arthur Pearson
First issue	10 February 1934
Final issue Number	23 June 1934 20
Country	UK
Language	English

Scoops was a weekly British science fiction magazine published by Pearson's in tabloid format in 1934, edited by Haydn Dimmock. Scoops was launched as a boy's paper, and it was not until several issues had appeared that Dimmock discovered there was an adult audience for science fiction. Circulation was poor, and Dimmock attempted to change the magazine's focus to more mature material. He reprinted Arthur Conan Doyle's The Poison Belt, improved the cover art, and obtained fiction from British science fiction writers such as John Russell Fearn and Maurice Hugi, but to no avail. Pearson's cancelled the magazine because of poor sales; the twentieth issue, dated 23 June 1934, was the last. The failure of the magazine contributed to the belief that Britain could not support a science fiction magazine, and it was not until 1937, with Tales of Wonder, that another attempt was made.