Variations on a theme: Felix Dennis didn’t like it #2378

I used to work at Dennis Publishing and I’ve signed up to receive the excellent nostalgia fest that is NTK. Those two seemingly unrelated bits of information were forced together this week when I, somewhat belatedly caught up with a few issues of NTK. I refer you honourable ladies and gentlemen to the section below especially the highlighted section in bold. It made me laugh.

When DENNIS announced the “suspension” of Net ‘n’ Chicks
‘n’ Games ‘n’ Lager magazine ESCAPE this week, the board
said they felt that “the market was not yet ready”. What
they didn’t reveal was that the market in question was
eponymous company owner Felix Dennis. Best known for his
involvement in the Oz magazine trial, when he was charged
with corrupting youth, and the BLENDER CD-ROM magazine
trial, when he was charged with corrupting AUTOEXEC.BATs,

Felix was holidaying in Mustique when he received the
latest issue of the mag. Unfortunately for everyone, it was
raining, and Felix actually read it. One phone-call
later, and it was all over for the plucky – if occasionally
absentee – team. Concerned Dennis employees are now
wondering where the Felix finger of death will touch next.

<
Hint: he was last seen flicking through a mag whose design,
it is said, he feels to be "art wank shit".

http://www.escapemag.co.uk:80/cypherpunk/themag.html

- "look who's stalking" indeed

Why did it make me laugh I hear you not asking? Well, for all the time I worked at Dennis and sometime after that has been the rumour about every magazine at Dennis that launched and failed. In fact, I think the “felix saw it and did X” meme is true even of magazines that do well.

It was said that Felix saw Padder and liked it – have an email that hints at it too, but then Padder died at issue 5 so he can’t have been all that excited – Laughably, it’s also rumoured that he saw it and didn’t like it.

I’d love to know which magazines he really did have an opinion on.