Happy 40th birthday Page 3.

[doubledd]

40 Years since the inception of our wonderful platform for beautiful women.

Please find a little bit about the history of Page3 and leave your birthday messages below.



Newspaper history changed forever on November 17th 1970 when editor of The Sun, Larry Lamb, published a photo of a nude Stephanie Rahn on page 3 of The Sun.


Appearing beside the caption "In her birthday suit", the image of 20-year-old Stephanie was aired to celebrate the first anniversary of The Sun’s re-launched as a tabloid newspaper, but little did anyone know the 40-year legacy that one shot would leave.


Over the next four years The Sun published intermittent topless Page 3 photos, but the much-loved feature eventually went daily in 1975. Up until then there had been little controversy, but the floodgates opened once Page 3 became a permanent fixture.


There’s no doubt that Page 3 has ruffled a few feathers over the years, but its reputation for supplying a daily dose of light-hearted sexiness remains.


Now, as Page 3 celebrates its 40th anniversary we’d like to hear from you, the fans, about your Page 3 memories, your favourite girls, or simply your thoughts on this momentous occasion.


Happy 40th birthday Page 3.

[Greenman]

Well as most people on this forum know I am a HUGE page 3 fan, have been since I discovered it back in 1979 at 13, when I bought my first paper, and since then I've collected thousands of pictures, scans, covers from all over the Net. I have also a great respect for the page 3 franchise if you want to call it that, but I stopped getting The Sun/Star etc in the 90's because I considered that the Sport hijacked the more wholesome part of Page 3 and made it more connected with porn-not my thing at all.

Like all callow youths I was completely turned on by the girls but to me it was the glamourous aspect of it, the look-don't-touch appeal, the stockings, suspenders, and yes even fur coat look that was a big turn on, but then it changed direction-gone was the glamour look, in came the girl-next-door type and for me it wasn't the same. Also of course we were deprived of seeing the best girls completely naked, thanks to our backward-looking, Draconian laws-breasts fine, bottoms okay, but no bush. The only way to see that was in magazines which cost a lot more than the papers.

Claire Short, the Labour MP really stuck her awl in to the page 3 thing, leading her band of misguided feminists in a campaign to rid the shelves of M*yf*ir, P*House and Pl*yb*y but nothing they did could stop Page 3 disappearing, after all it had established itself as a national institution with many girls becoming household names, like Samantha Fox, Linda Lusardi & Maria Whittaker, to name but three and many went on to big things in the music and television world.

The climate changed towards the Naughties, no longer could a model be sixteen and get her tits out, now it had to be different, women were no longer being treated as sex objects, cries of exploitation rang out and the papers reflected it. The Sun was the first to virtually stop their page 3 pics-the Sport gained strength but dropped the page 3 girls for bigger, and in some cases more foreign models which looked false and over made-up. The term 'Page 3' finally became sleazy-girls would more likely end up doing porn rather than wholesome quiz shows on television.

When the Net came along however it brought thousands of images of page 3 girls of the past, some completely naked for the first time, always suspected, but never seen until now, including Samantha Fox. This medium helped me and others to collect thing, buy magazines from abroad which had page 3 girls in them and then eventually contribute from our collections to forums like this-Page 3 was alive again, the girls admitedly were much bigger, more natural and gorgeous like Lucy Pinder, Michelle Marsh and Sophie Howard. The men's magazine industry flourished, and although not a lot of flesh was seen, it still managed to bring that wholesomeness back to the girls. So yes 40yrs of Page 3 is amazing and a great achievement.

[billybunter]

I've never been a "red top" reader. But When Sam Fox was in her prime I did indulge her boobs were amazing. Correct me if i'm wrong, but after Claire Short's futile protest did the sun not have a page 5 or 7 with a "hunk" for the ladies. And why not!

[Greenman]

I think they had one occasionally, most famous page 7 'fella' was Peter Taylor who went on to become England under-21 manager and Kevin Petts whose one time girlfriend was Maria Whittaker who died of Aids.