Arcade Magazine

Arcade was a magazine concerned with Welsh matters that ran from 1980-2. It covered the arts, history, politics and sport. John Osmond was the editor. The editorial board included the likes of Ned Thomas and Dai Smith. Compared to the often ‘after you sir’ spirit of a lot of today’s cultural commentary Arcade seems refreshingly opinionated. In one edition historian Gwyn Alf Williams, responding to a negative reading of a talk he had given, suggested that the reviewer, “the next time he takes a shave, stand closer to the razor”. Despite having a healthy circulation of over 2000 copies Arts Council funding was withdrawn in March 1982 and, soon afterwards, Arcade folded. There hasn’t really been a Welsh magazine like it since. The above edition from 1981 featured an interview with actress Julie Christie who was at that time orchestrating a bi-lingual anti-nuclear campaign from her farmhouse in Powys.