At Janus we take customer service very seriously. It’s important to us and we always welcome your feedback. Below is a selection of testimonials from some of our many satisfied customers who have downloaded our spanking magazines and videos:

I have just found your lovely site here! I have such fond memories of your wonderful shop in London back in the late 70’s & 80’s (I spent many many happy – & very excited! – hours there) & still have a collection of about 100 of your amazing magazines! Those really were heavenly spanking days – your magazines absolutely captured all that is lovely about spanking & caning naughty schoolgirls! All the best (& THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING!!!)”

Great site ….. marvellous to get all the classic British mags in one place. I want to download  your whole site as and when I can afford it.”

“I would like to take a moment to thank you for your wonderful website. I have been a spanking / corporal punishment enthusiast for as long as I can recall. I had heard about Janus Magazine along with some of the other classic UK spanking publications for many years. However, it seemed I was born too late to enjoy your products in their entirety. I’m not sure why it took me this long to find you guys online but I’m happy that I did. Thank you.. thank you.. thank you! I am in love with this magazine! I can’t get enough! Now that I’ve found this website, I feel like a kid on Christmas morning! You guys really need to start creating new stuff. The world is a better place with Janus Magazine! Please come back! Thanks again!”

“Great site! I believe that these magazines have the best spanking content available. I have seen little on the net that competes for subtlety and atmosphere. I am trying to build up a digital collection of issues and am waiting with bated breath for the early volumes! Great service only had one problem with a download but was remedied very quickly. Well done!”

“I just want to say how wonderful the past week has been since I found the site and began to download so many of those wonderful magazines. What memories they bring back and how fresh and exciting they remain. Well done to all.”

“This is my first purchase from the rejuvenated Janus shop and I was not disappointed. I’ve been a fan of Janus from the time I turned 18 in the late ’80s, and the legendary Janus 19 was always something that intrigued me but, alas, always eluded me. Having seen it on the site in digital format, I couldn’t resist purchasing it. I can honestly say that, after 25 years or so of waiting, I have not been disappointed, either with the magazines content or the quality and ease of the digital download. My first Janus online purchase but definitely not my last.”

“So good to see Janus alive and well – I’ve been downloading all the early Janus mags which I’d originally bought as black and white reprints. Great to finally see the colour!”

“The content of these magazines is splendid and the print quality cannot be denied. The download was straightforward. Thanks.”

“I’ve been a fan of Janus magazine for almost the entire 40 years of its existence. In a world where graciousness seems to be little valued your email is an unexpectedly chivalrous reply. Thanks – and keep up the good work.”

“I’ve got to be honest your online shop is an Aladdin’s cave for me. I never thought I’d get to see most of these magazines. They are amazing – keep them coming!”

“Really appreciate your email – I can’t think of another adult site that would have taken the trouble to check I’d received my download link. Thank you.”

“You do a great job, and I will always remember my trips to the shop and dear old Mick with great affection. Keep this site going and growing – its classical, its brilliant, timeless and will always be the the best.”

Not a lot of people know that Stephen Sims, a successful published author under another name, wrote photo stories and other fiction for well over 100 issues of Janus! He also starred as Roger Storing (below) and Royston Arnold in numerous photo shoots and went on to edit Privilege Plus and Privilege Club. With his new novel about to be published, Janus archivist Jon Rayworth caught up with him just before Christmas last year… 

Jon Rayworth: Stephen, welcome! Thank you for agreeing to do this interview. Perhaps we can start by talking about how you came to be involved with Janus…

Stephen Sims: In between writing jobs I used to do walk-on and support acting work in film and television. At one of the gigs I did a chap was talking about this photographic stint he’d done for a magazine. I hadn’t heard of it at the time, but what he said made my eyes light up. He said it involved working with delightfully pretty girls who aren’t always fully dressed, you get paid in cash on the day and it’s not terribly hard work. The next day I phoned the number he gave and spoke to the editor’s secretary, a girl called Raine, who said I had to write in and apply formally, so that’s what I did. I was invited along to a little office they had in Golden Square in London at the very top of the building, really the attic area, for this interview. They obviously needed to see the candidates first, and I met this towering man who introduced himself as the photo editor, this was Vic Barnes, and Peter French who was the editor. We got along okay and that’s how it all started.

JR: What were your first impressions of Peter?

SS: At first I thought he was rather a cold person, he’d gaze rather bleakly at you, a bit like a headmaster I suppose, but it was all a front. Peter was a Fleet Street man, he’d worked in newspapers and was very interested in the fact that I was actually a writer and had books published. After I’d done the first shoot he asked me if I’d like to have a go at writing a photo story. He added, “we’ll pay you,” which sounded like a good idea, so I was delighted to see if I could do it. My first appearance as a model though was as Roger Storing in Janus 47 (below).

JR: Here it is! What was it like to do that shoot?

SS: Goodness, I haven’t seen this magazine for a long time! Shooting this was a very strange experience. It was my first time, as they say, and I didn’t know what to expect, there were several other people there. Rather to my relief I found I wouldn’t have to actually do anything except sit down and watch. The idea behind the shoot was that this young woman had misbehaved in some sort of way and her stepfather had called the neighbours round to witness her punishment.

JR: As you do!

SS: Well exactly – it was a great set-up! I was very nervous actually, it was quite extraordinary to see this girl come in, not in the least bit nervous herself, chattering away in a cockney accent, giggling and laughing. I assumed she’d be terrified as she was about to be “dealt with most severely”, as Peter would say; she didn’t bat an eyelid, but I was absolutely mesmerised! Of course once you’ve done a few shoots you become a bit blasé about it, but this was my first experience. I do remember Vic saying to me at one point, “Stephen, pull your socks up” – my socks were round my ankles, which would show in the shot. I remember too that there was a strangely negative rapport going on between Peter and Vic, in a nice sort of way, they were always arguing and it was quite funny to watch. Vic would get so exasperated sometimes he’d hand the camera to Peter and tell him to get on with it. They were both perfectionists, but the relationship worked. As it went on I gradually relaxed and at the end of it I remember Vic saying it was a good shoot and Peter said he’d like to use me again. I don’t think there was any thought that they’d use those particular characters again, but once Peter knew I was a writer he was happy to talk about story ideas with me, and he discussed whether there was anything more we could do with my character. Peter was wonderful – he became a great friend really, I could always turn to him for advice, he was really into the subject; Vic and I weren’t so much, but we were fascinated by it and we learnt a lot from him.

JR: You returned very quickly as Roger Storing in Janus 50 (below). Do you remember much about Jackie? She only appeared once but she was a very believable model.

SS: She was a sweet girl, very mild. She was probably about 19 or 20 years old. I don’t know if she’d done anything like this before, she seemed quite shy. It was Vic’s job to have a chat with the model beforehand, talk about what he was looking for and put her at her ease. When you start a Janus shoot you don’t really want to have a ‘warm-up’ chat with the model, some tension between the man and woman is a good thing for a photo shoot like this as the tension is conveyed in the pictures. The photo on the front cover of Janus 50 is brilliant. The shoot was important for me because it was the first one Peter let me write the photo story for. It was my big test, but he liked it and they ran the story alongside the photos. After that first one I wrote every photo story until well into the hundreds, maybe as high as Janus 161.

JR: I didn’t know that – you appeared in Janus 161 as well. This time you were playing Hillary Hanbury-Boyce’s cousin Royston Arnold (below).

SS: Yes, St John (who was editor of Janus at the time) and I did this one at the Greenwich house. Vic had left by then and we were using a digital camera. When we got there we didn’t quite know what we were going to do for the shoot, but in the end I reckon it was one of the best we ever did. When this model walked in she was so beautiful, so exquisite, she was almost not quite human and one of us came up with the idea that she might be a machine who would do absolutely anything for a man. Imagine! The girl was great. I remember saying for the very last shot let’s put in a little twist and have her smile to herself as she walks out, as if to say, “Fooled them,” just so people might think that maybe she wasn’t a doll.

JR: Let’s talk a bit about another photo shoot at the Greenwich house. This one was shot in the bathroom for Janus 66 and featured Sheena McBride (below). Sheena had appeared in the magazine before, but it was the first time she’d met ‘Roger Storing’.

SS: It was the first time I’d met Sheena. Again, she was a very quiet girl. I remember she was a make-up artist by profession; she wanted to work in films I think. That house in Greenwich was amazing, it was next door to the house where Daniel Day-Lewis grew up; his father was Cecil Day-Lewis, the poet, so who knows if Daniel saw any of our photo shoots taking place! It was an extraordinary house, decorated in a style similar to the early- to mid-1800s and full of memorabilia and vintage furniture. The woman who owned it was completely laid back about it all – she even made tea for us! There were so many rooms we could use and Vic was great at working in tight spaces. We even used the garden there. I was in quite a few photo stories, though; another one that stands out is ‘A Stern Line’ (Janus 72 below left), although I was almost unrecognisable in dark glasses, a hat and a beard. I was also ‘Mister X’ for the lovely ‘Usha’ (Janus 77 below right). I learnt so much from Vic, which was especially helpful when I took over as editor of Privilege.

JR: I understand you were based in Golden Square while you were writing for the magazine. You were really the fourth member of the Janus dream team, along with Peter, Vic and Paula Meadows weren’t you?

SS: I suppose I was. I think Peter rather took me under his wing; with his background in journalism he liked the stuff I was producing and kept using me. He would have me in the office two or three times a week to help out with the preparation of the text, so I learnt to proofread, which is a lot more difficult and exacting than it might seem, but he taught me not to miss things. I’d sit there for hours just going through the final copy in preparation for the printer, and Peter would be the first to tell me if I missed out an apostrophe or comma or the slightest glitch in spelling. Vic was there as well, working with his lightbox to find the very best images from the transparencies. There was always something to do – you were preparing the copy for one magazine and working out what you were going to do in the photo shoot for the next one. Peter would discuss every tiny detail about the next story at length with Vic, and eventually I did start to join in these discussions. After Golden Square they moved to a nice little office at Camden Lock and I became more involved there in the preparation of the magazine.

JR: I seem to remember you telling me that you were actually working in the office when Sophie Fennington and St John came in for the first time. Is that right?

SS: I was there, yes. I wrote that photo story as well. They were a great couple, married at the time, good-looking and both with appealing personalities. Unlike most models they knew exactly what they wanted, and were well-versed in the subject. Incidentally, the reason Peter was looking for a writer to take over the photo stories was because the chap who’d been writing them before me had been ‘doubling up’ – selling the same stories to another magazine so he was actually getting paid twice for the same work! They do say you never get away with anything, and eventually he got found out, but it worked out well for me because I was on the spot ready to take over.

JR: What was working in the Janus office like?

SS: Well first of all you came up in a creaky old lift to the top floor, and walked in to find a very attractive girl called Raine on reception. On the wall behind her was a big American illustrated poster showing a secretary over her boss’s knee getting a whaling, yet Raine looked as if butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth! I’ve mentioned this in my book because it amused me so. You became a little bit used to absolutely gorgeous young women coming in. I’d be sitting there proofreading or something and Vic would be chatting to these prospective models. Peter would usually just be sitting and watching this conversation, and at some point he would invariably ask if they were into the subject. Eventually Vic would say, “Would you go ahead and remove your garments so I can have a look at your bottom and get some idea?” Then he’d take a few polaroids of this semi-nude girl in all sorts of postures and I’d be thinking, like, ‘Now then, should that be a comma or a semi-colon there…?”

JR: There are still many of these polaroids surviving in the archive today (the three below are from Lucy Bailey’s interview). Presumably from those shots they’d then make decisions about which models to use?

SS: That’s right, Vic would ask the model to assume a couple of positions, but he was very keen to see their expressions, Peter was too. They had to be able to act otherwise the shoot would look flat and unbelievable. Most of the models could do it but one or two couldn’t, some would keep collapsing in giggles.

JR: Peter was always looking for women who hadn’t done much modelling before, wasn’t he?

SS: Yes, he wanted them to be a ‘Janus Girl’ – one who didn’t appear anywhere else. I remember this one girl who was an undergraduate at university and she wanted to model to make a bit of extra money. I think her mother even came along with her to the interview! She was very well-spoken, and after the shoot she said “Thank you for smacking me so nicely.” All the models were lovely, though I suppose my favourite was Christina Winchester (below) who appeared in Februs and Privilege. I even gave her her ‘nom de spank’ of Winchester.

JR: She also went under the name of Rosaleen Young, I believe.

SS: That’s right. The picture you’re showing is from a shoot Christina did for Privilege Club. She was an extraordinary talent; a great actress and dancer and I know she performed Shakespearian roles on the stage. She’s retired from modelling now but continues to act, I believe. She was a very good writer too, and used to write her own stories for Privilege. A very interesting character altogether – a talented artist as well.

JR: She appeared quite a few times in Privilege, didn’t she?

SS: Yes, she got in touch with me; she wanted exposure, if I can use that word, and showed me some of her work, and I could see she was a good writer. I asked if she wanted to write about her own fantasies and we had an experiment photographing these fantasies. I’m not sure it was always successful because what goes on in one person’s mind doesn’t always translate to good photographs, but it’s good to try new things and I felt very lucky to have her contributing to Privilege.

JR: Tell me how Privilege came about then.

SS: Well, for a very long time there was a small A5 size Privilege which was available to Privilege Club members only. I used to put that together on a regular basis, once every two months. We didn’t pay any money to contributors for that, so there wasn’t always a lot of material, so anything I didn’t have I had to create myself! I was already doing that when Peter stepped down as editor of Janus. I’ll be honest and say I hoped I might be asked to take over or that Vic might take over. Gordon Sergeant rang me and said he wanted to meet me in a pub near the Camden Lock offices. I thought (hoped?) he was going to offer me the job as editor on Janus. He started off by saying “I’m afraid…” I thought that doesn’t sound too good! Then he went on, “I’m afraid I can’t offer you the editorship of Janus as someone else is doing it.” I thought Vic must have got it and I would have been delighted for him. Later I learned it was St John who’d actually got the job. However, Gordon did offer me my own magazine, a full-size version of Privilege to be called Privilege Plus, and that’s how it began. He let me hire my own writers and artists and arrange my own shoots.

JR: Did you continue to use Vic at all for Privilege Plus?

SS: Absolutely, Vic’s the best there is. Apart from his more obvious photographic skills in arranging and lighting his subject he created those amazing impact shots and was certainly the first photographer to achieve that. But I knew I couldn’t make the new Privilege Plus a clone of Janus, or another Februs, and I think Gordon was expecting me to create something a bit different, though he didn’t give me any particular brief, just let me do my own thing. As part of this ‘difference’ I thought why not have a series of historical scenarios and even write in the style of the period? We found a lovely costumier down in Hastings who was amazingly inexpensive to hire all kinds of costumes from. I had a very large friend called Max and remember thinking he’d make a wonderful Henry VIII, so we did a great shoot with him and some 16^th Century wench at Hampton Court. We did all periods, from a flapper girl in the 1920s getting seen to, to Victorian and Edwardian spanking extravaganzas, including what I thought was an interesting take on a scenario from Thomas Hardy in which a widow and her daughter got physically disciplined at the same time by the miller. We even experimented with two girls together getting spanked by a ghost! Not all these ideas worked, but the challenge was always there to come up with something a bit unusual or unexpected. We even did a P.G. Wodehouse take-off in which, in the accompanying text, I tried to write in the spirit of the great man. Of course Privilege continued as a ‘Contacts’ magazine as well, it was important to keep that aspect from the old A5 pamphlet, as it was so popular. We used Julie Holmes, who was a great writer with great imagination and also very cheeky; she used to write a column called Advocate, looking at different aspects of corporal punishment from the female perspective. I was lucky through the connections I’d established with Janus to draw on the talent of a number of excellent female contributors, including Christina Winchester, Sarah Veitch and Delaney Silver.

JR: What were your feelings when Privilege came to an end?

SS: I did miss it. I missed the excitement of having a whole new magazine to create from nothing. The format was always set for each issue. Contact adverts were arriving and you had to fill the rest of the magazine up. It was a marvellous challenge to be different to Janus and Februs: deciding who would write the stories and articles and illustrate them (I couldn’t use the same artists as Janus); organising the photo shoots; finding the models and booking them, then dreaming up a suitable story and collecting the costumes for it; it was wonderful. Also, I did all my own layouts in those days, I had a lightbox and used to choose the colour trannies, measure them all up and crop them to size; I did the whole of the layout of the magazine myself. I selected the fonts and lettering for the story titles. I found the whole experience fascinating. The magazines were such a marvellous collection of beautiful writing, incredible photography, evocative artwork and readers’ letters, I can’t help feeling we’ve lost something with their demise. There’s nowhere online where you can get that rich combination of different elements – yet, ironically, it was the availability of instant downloading of images from the internet that eventually killed off the magazines.

JR: I certainly agree. I guess you must have been thinking about the next issue of Privilege all the time?

SS: Well, I tried to make each one the best it could be. I was always trying to come up with fresh, new, original ideas and to use as many female contributors as possible. Obviously Paula had Februs, and that magazine was entirely from the feminine perspective, but as a male orientated magazine I felt it was important for Privilege to have a female voice as well.

JR: What do you remember about Paula?

SS: I must get back in touch with Paula. I used to pop round and see her every now and again and we’d have a drink and some lunch, she was delightful. We were mates in those days – she had a magazine, I had a magazine. Both our magazines closed at the same time, people just weren’t buying printed magazines anymore.

JR: As you look back what memories stand out from your time working for Janus?

SS: It was the camaraderie, you know. There was always a nice atmosphere in that office, they were the golden days in Golden Square really, it was a golden era. You’d get girls coming in and out most days – after a while you didn’t bat an eyelid. You’re doing a bit of copy editing and you turn round to discover a model with her knickers off bending over; imagine that happening in an ordinary office! But the girls were sweet too, had a laugh and a chat over coffee with us afterwards, none of them ever got hurt (unless they wanted to be, and one or two did), seemed to enjoy what we were doing and were of course an essential part of the scene. We didn’t think anything of it at all back then. I guess I must have been there about fifteen years in total – they were good years.

JR: You’re a published author under your own name but after quite a break you’ve come back to writing about the subject of corporal punishment in your new novel ‘The Bottom Man’. Tell me a little bit about the new novel and how you came to write it.

SS: For a long time I’ve wanted to write a story about a decent and caring man who finds himself inexplicably drawn to the idea of erotic spanking, and of a young married woman with a responsible job who finds herself fascinated by the idea of being spanked. And neither knows why. How they eventually get together in the book is really an adult comedy of errors, and when they do the result isn’t at all what might be expected. But don’t expect an extended piece of highly-charged Janus-style fiction, this is an I hope insightful and realistic story of two people, puzzled by their rather ‘strange’ and socially unacceptable desires, who find each other through these desires, with many a slip-up and misunderstanding along the way. I’ve used my experiences of working in the business to give an authentic background, even to the reality of how those magazine photo shoots would sometimes go! Even the content of certain erotic correspondence in the novel is taken from life and not invented. Then there are the all-too-often misguided prejudices indignantly aired by those who don’t or won’t or are afraid to understand the adult need (because it is a need) by others to spank or be spanked in a mutually consensual way. As will by now be obvious, this scene has long fascinated me, which is why I couldn’t resist writing about it. And at last it’s ready! I hope readers will emote with, empathise and enjoy it.

JR: I certainly very much enjoyed reading it. I think people will be interested to know that you have indeed drawn on some of your own experiences working for Janus and editing Privilege, specifically in the way that your two central characters, Jed and Tamar, meet.

SS: Yes, no one who hasn’t worked for a magazine like Janus could possibly know what it was like. I wanted to reflect that experience in some way for the reader. All of the personal ads came in the form of letters back then and it was rare for a woman to advertise; an advert sent in by a woman would stand out, so in the novel, Jed, whose growing interest in the subject has caused him to subscribe to a magazine similar to Janus, responds to Tamar’s classified advert before it’s published, with all sorts of interesting consequences. As I say, the set-up of the photo shoot I describe really were often like that! Vic Barnes is very thinly disguised in the novel as Allan Jardine, while Peter French might well see something of himself in the editor, Gus Britten!

JR: The novel also includes quite a few unpublished photos from the Privilege shoots and in particular some lovely previously unseen images of Lucy Bailey and Christina Winchester. What made you decide to include those?

SS: Well, they’re not intended to illustrate the ongoing action, but rather to reflect the atmosphere stimulated by the respective male and female heroes’ subconscious fantasies at certain points in the narrative. I think they add something and I hope readers will enjoy seeing them. Although one or two of the pics might appear familiar to aficionados, these particular versions of the shots have never been published before.

JR: Any more thoughts now you’re back in touch?

SS: I’ve got quite a lot of material left over from those days, and it did occur to me to put together a small anthology every couple of months or so to go on the Janus website, a miscellany of pics, articles, stories, illies, readers’ letters – that sort of thing – from past editions, including stuff that never got published and illustrations that were never displayed. These anthologies could carry new contact ads too, free – I’d love to think we could help get people like Jed and Tamar together in this way.

JR: Stephen, there will be many people reading this who won’t have previously been aware of the enormous contribution you made to Janus over the years. Thank you so much for giving up your time to talk about your experiences. It’s been great to meet you.

SS: My pleasure, Jon. And, if I may say so, a privilege.

You can read a free chapter of Stephen’s new novel ‘The Bottom Man’ here.

 

 

We hope you enjoy this selction of free spanking stories from the pages of Janus and Februs. Click on any of the the highlighted links to read the full story. You’ll also find new and original content by Fiona Lewison and Pat Greenham uploaded on this page.

Each issue of Janus and Februs contains between three and four original pieces of spanking fiction and all of these magazines are available to download from our Online Shop.

• The Bottom Man (Free Chapter) – Stephen Sims – added 27th January 2013
• My Janus Weekend (Part Three) – Fiona Lewison – added 25th January 2013
• My Janus Weekend (Part Two) – Fiona Lewison – added 17th January 2014
• My Janus Weekend (Part 1) – Fiona Lewison – added 10th January 2014
• A Woman’s Re-Awakening – Fiona Lewison
• Get With The Programme 2 – Pat Greenham – added October 26th 2013
• Sisters Under Their Skins – added October 26th 2013
• Nostalgia – added October 26th 2013
• Female Roles in Spanking Magazines (Part 3) – Fiona Lewison
• Female Roles in Spanking Magazines (Part 2) – Fiona Lewison
• Female Roles in Spanking Magazines (Part 1) – Fiona Lewison
• Six of the Best Spanking Images (Part 1) – Fiona Lewison
• Six of the Best Spanking Images (Part 2) – Fiona Lewison
• Six of the Best Spanking Images (Part 3) – Fiona Lewison
• Spanking: A Woman’s Awakening (Part Three) – the final part of Fiona Lewison’s true story
• A.W.O.L – added June 24, 2013
• Spanking: A Woman’s Awakening (Part Two) – the second part of Fiona Lewison’s true story
• Spanking: A Woman’s Awakening (Part One) – the first part of Fiona Lewison’s true story
• Michela’s Awakening added 27th May, 2013
• Vienna Style added 5th May, 2013
• Stephanie Gets the Brush Off added April 25, 2013
• Dancing on the Table added April 17, 2013
• The Faraway Tree added April 11, 2013
• Radical Rehab
• Under a Mediterranean Sun
• The Perfectionists Part 1
• The Perfectionists Part 2
• The Provider Part 1
• The Provider Part 2
• Laura…Janina…Tania
• The American Spread-Eagle
• Questions and More Questions
• Noreen
• New Term at St. Elias
• Angela
• The Voice at the End of the Line
• Typecast
• Cold Showers and Canings
• The Winning Stroke
• Guns and Beaters
• Justice Seen to be Done
• A Room with a View
• Girl in the Frame
• In a Distant Country
• Aftermath
• The Rumour
• Return to Balcombe Manor
• Behind High Walls Part 1
• Behind High Walls Part 2
• Love’s Rough Justice
• A German Holiday
• Home from Home
• The New Riding Whip
• Nightmare
• Best Friends
• The Fresh Lieutenant
• Executive Encounter
• Sweet Sabbath
• The Devils Due
• The Second Chance 
• Twice Blessed
• Naked Opportunism
• Wanton Spirits
• Lambert’s Way
• Breath of the Dragon
• Box of Delights

Janus’ legendary illustrator and model Paula Meadows reflects on her time with the long running spanking magazine and beyond to a life after CP.

Interview by Jon Rayworth

Jon Rayworth: It’s great to meet you Paula. Thank you so much for agreeing to do this interview.

Paula Meadows: My pleasure.

JR: We know quite a lot about how you discovered CP (see Janus 29) but we don’t know how you came to be involved with Janus. Can you tell us how that came about?

PM: I had done some modeling for soft-core magazines in the early 80s… to explain why I did that would take far too long – it was one of those peculiar shots in the dark that propelled me into a different mode. Anyway, through this I met photographers, and one of them was Vic Barnes. He told me he was also doing photo-shoots for Janus and was always on the lookout for new locations. I said he could use my flat in Ladbroke Grove, which had quite a large living room/kitchen area. Vic was someone I immediately trusted. He was friendly and very careful to ensure that his female models felt comfortable. (In the context of a Janus shoot this has to be interpreted slightly differently!)

I knew very little about Janus at this point but had a sudden inkling that I might enjoy that sort of modeling. When I told Vic that I would be quite happy to take a spanking myself on camera he arranged to include me in the next shoot at my own home.

JR: Was this the one where you modeled as Lesley?

PM: Yes, that’s right. The very first shoot was the one that appeared in Janus 13 with that lovely dark haired dominant lady, who later became a close friend.

JR: So, when did you start as Janus illustrator?

PM: After we had finished that shoot and Vic was packing up his equipment he mentioned that Janus had recently taken on a new editor and they were now looking for an illustrator. He knew I was an artist so suggested I went along to meet Peter.

JR: What was your interview with Peter like?

PM: Here I must mention that back in 1981 a woman going alone into a sex shop in Old Compton Street was almost unheard of! I had never been in one and I thought the men inside would have been extremely embarrassed if I had – such was the general shame that surrounded us then, and the uncomfortable separation between men and women where any sort of erotica was concerned. That discomfort was even more pronounced in the world of CP. It was generally believed that this was a male driven activity and women only consented to be on the receiving end if they were coerced, intimidated or paid large sums of money. Now, here I was proving that this was not the case.

It felt very exciting, and a little strange, to be going to the Janus shop – well, not actually going in but better still, going back stage, so to speak. Penetrating into the workings of the minds that created it and seeing how it functioned. I entered the side door, next to the shop, climbed the stairs gingerly and found Peter in his office.

The thing I remember about him was his exacting attention to detail. Only the very best would be tolerated for Janus! Do you know, he had such a bearing about him that you automatically pictured him with a cane in his hand. The cane was a sort of extension of his arm, and personality. The moment I went into his office, I had a strong intuition that he would cane me sometime.

JR: And did he?

PM: As a matter of fact, yes. It was something that happened because I had a naughty twinkle in my eye in those days and wanted to push things as far as they would go. I am not sure how I would describe those canings now. It was all very controlled and proper. He was a great expert. Most people might assume that he was taking advantage of his position as editor, but nothing could be further from the truth. I really think that I expected it of him. I would deliver the drawings and receive a short sharp six of the best. I daresay he thought he was keeping his staff in order – but I used to joke about it being my reward!

JR: What were your first impressions once you started illustrating for Janus?

PM: Well, to begin with, the Janus themes of naughty schoolgirls and discipline didn’t gel with me at all. It simply wasn’t my world. Up until then I had experienced spanking as a means of stimulation and helping me override inhibitions. My fascination was the idea of submitting to a man by choice to see what would happen. The one thing I never thought about was punishment and discipline. I hate to disappoint fans of Janus but since I am now retired from it all I would like to speak out and say that I never felt turned on by the idea of a fault-finding headmaster giving me a ticking off! Neither did I relish the humiliation of being spread-eagled across someone’s knee.

JR: But you managed to draw all those things with relish.

PM: Oh yes, I did. The scenes of punishment offered me great opportunities to create exciting dramatic situations with intense emotions, and facial expressions to go with it. I used to be an actress, remember! I really got involved with illustrating those scenes and began to understand how being punished in school (particularly during an era when sex was kept well hidden) could become a really erotic experience because you were so exposed. I used to identify with the dominant and the submissive while I was drawing.

JR: You mentioned in an earlier interview that you got to know Richard Manton who created the character of Lesley and wrote many classic stories for the magazine over the years. What can you tell us about him and what do you remember about your first appearance as Lesley?

PM: I believe two Lesley stories appeared in the magazine and it was the photoshoot for the second one that stands out most vividly in my memory. I particularly remember that Lesley had to be attired exactly as described in the text– flesh-coloured tights and a little white singlet. This made me feel strangely vulnerable. Come to think of it, Peter was rather partial to girls being chastised in innocent white vests – he had me wearing one again for a much later shoot in a flat with some very busy red flock wallpaper… honestly, it really was overpowering. Ha… it’s coming to something when you have to compete with the wallpaper for attention! At one point Peter made me run on the spot and I remember thinking, ‘Oh dear, I’m getting too old for wearing little girl undies and being put through these sorts of indignities!’  But of course, that was the whole point of the exercise.

Oh sorry, I’m digressing. You were asking about RM – I first met him during that second Lesley shoot. He looked in to give some guidance, if I remember correctly. We tried hard to reconstruct his story to perfection, but no one was willing to show their face for the camera on that occasion, so we just had a mysterious hand appearing out of the corner of the shot, holding a cane. This made me realize that the male dominants were in an invidious position… I was willing to reveal myself because being the passive submissive was not as difficult to admit to – unless, of course, you happened to be talking to militant feminists! Strangely enough, that question never bothered me. I was just following my own instincts and this was what I needed to do at the time.

JR: What was RM like?

PM: He was a very shy and restrained man, extremely charming and respectful. We got on very well and I still value his friendship and appreciate his wit and humour. You have to admit… even in an extreme punishment scenario there is still a funny side. He was very fond of researching the Victorians and digging up stories of stern disciplinarians who took their duties terribly seriously. Nowadays we might think of them as hypocritical old windbags – or worse still –insane! But those stories were all based on fact. Ha ha… to our sensibilities today all those houses of discipline were a lot more bizarre than any fiction we might dream up… and yet these were run by very respectable people who were pillars of Victorian society.

JR: We can see some of your artwork on the wall in the photos from Janus 13. Was it shot at your house?

PM: Yes that was shot in the flat we lived in at the time. That painting on the wall was part of a series called ‘Bodyscapes’.

JR: So, how did your career as an artist begin?

PM: Well, I went to art school in Canterbury during the late 60s, which gives my age away! I studied graphics, but when the time came to leave and go out to work I chose to go into the theatre and become an actress instead. I had a great love for the theatre and for five or six years I managed to get work in rep and TV, but my beginners luck did not last and I began to be aware of my limitations as an actress. When my partner and I got together he was writing a book for children, which I illustrated. That was my first professional illustration job.

As theatre work on-stage tailed off, I began to work back-stage in London theatres instead. From that vantage point I managed to get commissions for painting portraits of the performers in the shows. It was only when I started to explore my sexuality that a more erotic sort of art began to emerge. That was like a big breakthrough. It felt as if I had found my subject… the thing I really wanted to devote myself to!

JR: You were the only member of the Janus team to have a public face. Whose idea was it to unmask Lesley as Paula Meadows the Janus artist?

PM: I deliberately chose to ‘come out’ and reveal myself because it seemed right. I was in a position to do that because I had no children to worry about and in a way, since I had elected to be honest and straightforward, it was no good me veiling myself and remaining anonymous. Someone has to speak out and say, ‘I do this and I like it!’ Sometimes we have to go beyond what the world thinks of as ‘perverted’ and admit to it so we can understand it as a need. I don’t really care what the world in general thinks any more.

The year before I started at Janus my family found out that I had appeared in an X rated video so the worst had already happened! Once I had weathered that, there were no more reasons for covering up.

JR: You eventually left Janus to work on a new spanking magazine – Fessée. I was wondering how that came about and what you enjoyed most about your time working on those eleven excellent issues?

PM: Oh, was it only 11? It certainly seemed like a lot more at the time.

Yes, Janus came to an end because I spent rather a long time in the USA and another illustrator had to be found. I think Peter probably felt I let him down.

I can remember clearly meeting St. John and Michael for the first time – I was very surprised by them… their attitude towards me seemed almost reverential! Because of this I realized that my work was starting to acquire something of a reputation. They were quite young men, late twenties early thirties, while I was in my late thirties by that time. They were relatively inexperienced at publishing, but their enthusiasm was enormous.

PCs were not in use then so magazines had to be typeset and pasted up… a process that now seems impossibly laborious. I had several years experience doing paste-up so we agreed that The Boys – I always called them that – would take care of photo-shoots and financial matters and I would do all the rest. We were a good team. When Fessée number 1 finally came out there was a real sense of achievement! It had been such hard work.

JR: Eventually the call came to return to the Janus fold and the opportunity for creative control of your own magazine – Februs. Can you tell us how that happened?

PM: This was a great opportunity! The invitation to create a new magazine came completely out of the blue, from the publisher. This time St.John and I would be putting it together. We did have computers now and we found a designer who would take care of the technical stuff. This lady became a friend and although she wasn’t a devotee of CP at all, she began to learn about it and became quite intrigued. We used to discuss the stories over the phone sometimes and I used to hear her chortling.

It dawned on me that Februs could be a wonderful means of making contact with all those aficionados – the lonely, frustrated ones as well as the fulfilled ones… and both male and female this time. No longer was this the preserve of men only! This new magazine would hopefully appeal to women too. I longed to talk for real about my own experiences and hear what readers had to say… and I could choose stories and do most of the drawings myself – how many other artist have this privilege?

JR: What did you enjoy most about your time editing Februs?

PM: Hm… let me see… I think, looking back, that one of the most enjoyable parts of it was being able to write up my own thoughts on the subject. I know the readers wanted genuine comments from real women. When you look back to sex magazines of the 70s there were often female editors (like Fiona Richmond) who supposedly wrote columns but it was obvious that a man had written it… so readers were naturally suspicious. Now here I was being given the freedom to express my own point of view and I had to make sure it was genuine. In the background I was having a lot of erotic adventures at the time, most of which featured a bit of s/m role-play, and experimenting with different implements and situations. It was very satisfying to be able to describe them and mull over in my mind what was happening. To write something is to make it more understandable and lots of things occurred to me while I was doing it. At one time I thought I could cure all the world’s psychological ills with a dose of CP, if administered in the right way. I’m not kidding… such was my idealistic zeal! I thought I had stumbled on a great secret.

Obviously I enjoyed doing the drawings more than anything else, for the same reason. Although they illustrated a specific story, they were also a personal expression of what was happening for real in my life. I always imagined myself and my friends in the pictures… each one came alive while I was doing it… well, usually it did. If it didn’t then it wasn’t much good!

JR: I wonder if we could talk a little about how the magazine was put together. How long did it take to prepare each issue and how ‘hands-on’ were you with regard to the photography, fiction etc?

PM: Oh, I was very ‘hands-on!’ St.John organized the shoot but I frequently came along to help him direct the storyline. The photos would then be sent to me and I would choose the ones I wanted to use. A pile of manuscripts had to be read and I would select the ones that appealed and forward them to our designer to type up. I wasn’t very computer literate in those days… just about managed to type my column but couldn’t do the clever stuff with design programmes. I would get copies of the text and lay it out with the photos and drawings… did a quick paste-up job and then sent it all back to the designer to finalize and send to the printer. An important part was editing and doing last minute corrections. The printer was a very nice, friendly fellow. He often used to drop the latest issue in to me, hot off the press, so we could look through it together.

JR: I counted 13 original pieces of artwork in just one issue of Februs – how long would it take you to produce this content?

PM: The magazine came out every two months and I remember feeling very pressurized to get it done. We were only a small team, you see. It was great to see it in print – when it all looked good, that is. When something was wrong – like a drawing not printed properly, or an error of some sort… I was usually infuriated and a bit obsessed about it for a while. Yes, I did work hard on the drawings for each issue. I wanted it to be the best we could make it and stand out from the rest.

Will Scarlet’s interview was usually genuine, believe it or not, although there were times when girls decided to disguise themselves. He used to be in touch with me all the time discussing his ideas, but I must admit that I worried about the whole concept of him spanking each girl he interviewed. One of those days I feared he would get into trouble. I’m glad to say he didn’t. Well, he was such a fun person to be with and had a lovely sense of humour. I’m sure no one ever felt threatened by him.

I remember in the early days we tried various photographers and St.John managed to find some wonderfully photogenic models… some of them were good actresses too. Later on we decided to ask Vic to help us with his expertise, which he did. His photos were excellent. He had the ability to find just the right angle for a bottom, to light it and show off its plumpness to perfection! But in later editions of Februs it became more and more difficult to find models who resembled normal girls with some individuality… and normal bushy pubic hair. All the models seemed to have become homogenized with the same glamorous blond hair and Brazilian wax.

JR: What was the funniest thing that occurred during your time on the magazines?

PM: Hm… it all seems amusing to me now… particularly the way I strove to get myself into the most extreme and uncomfortable positions for my readers.  What a driven person I was in those days.

JR: What do you miss most about your time working on Janus and Februs?

PM: Miss? I don’t miss any of it now. When the time came to call it a day it was just the right thing to happen. I had been thinking, breathing, experiencing, writing and drawing CP for many years and it was time to say goodbye to it.

JR: It’s 11 years since Februs ceased publication. The era of spanking magazines has given way to online content and forums. What do you think have been the most significant changes the Internet has brought about for the spanking community?

PM: The reason for Februs’ demise was exactly as you have just suggested. In a word – Internet! People could find whatever they wanted, for nothing and they didn’t even have to go into a shop to ask for it. One person could buy a copy of a magazine and then post it up for all his friends! Why should they pay for it? Everyone wants things for nothing nowadays, whether it is music or images – they think they have a right to it, but this attitude is very short sighted. If the Janus publisher had not paid us in the first place to do that work, it would not have been done. Who is going to pay for the creations of the future?

That is just a general observation from my own point of view. As regards the spanking community, I cannot really comment because I have not been part of it for some time. I think any sort of interactive site carries its own risks, but may also open up avenues and prevent people feeling cut off and isolated. We can all make contact so quickly nowadays and build up huge networks in a jiffy. That’s rather daunting.

JR: Do you think Februs was ahead of its time? How do you think it would be received today?

PM: I would guess that Februs was in the forefront of something that was coming. I was just one of many women who were beginning to explore and talk about sexuality, CP and otherwise. Men could not properly be themselves until we did. I think, on the whole, women are more honest then men, now that they are out of the closet at last. It was time for this new freedom to happen.

Interest in erotic CP has been with us a long time but it changes its emphasis. In earlier times when women had an obligation to obey their husbands I can’t imagine them getting much pleasure from fantasizing about being dominated. In the 70s and 80s, many men were getting uneasy with the way females were beginning to gain confidence and this led to interesting power struggles that come out in sex play.

Nowadays young couples enter relationships with the expectation of being equals, and if they desire to explore CP together it is for the sake of extending the parameters of their relationship and getting to know each other more thoroughly. This is a healthy thing. Februs was all for this, but I am not sure that all its readers approved. I remember a few letters from members of the old school who expressed the view that some of our female authors were getting a bit too uppity for their liking! When it comes to the submissive dictating her own punishment, then that is going too far!

JR: Quite right too! Now Paula, you appeared in many issues of Janus and Februs but you only starred in a couple of spanking films. Do you have any classics hidden away in your loft that you might be tempted to release one day?! Was there any reason why you didn’t appear in more spanking films?

PM: Yes, there was! The two I did were quite enough to convince me that this was not the direction for me. In both cases I was hit much too hard and quite indiscriminately by actors who hadn’t a clue what they were doing. I know they didn’t mean to hurt me – they just lacked the skill and understanding… but why on earth would anyone in their right mind volunteer for more of that?

JR: Yes, I see. I’m guessing you never enjoyed watching those films?

PM: No, I didn’t want to watch them… but I think a lot of girls would say the same – if they’ve had experiences with people they didn’t trust.

JR: Let’s leave that behind now. Tell us about your career since Februs came to an end.

PM: I did a lot of work in France, when Februs was still going, and some of my strip cartoons are still being reissued today, by a publisher in Paris called La Musardine. For the last few years I have mainly been doing commissions for private collectors, so none of that will show up in books or magazines, unfortunately.

Have to admit, after my husband died I have been taking things at a more leisurely pace… still inspired by sensual erotic subjects, of course, and the female bottom still features in a lot of my work – but not bottoms bent over covered in stripes! Visitors to my website will see that I have also been exploring the spiritual meanings of Tarot and designing a new deck, which of course is highly erotic. How could it not be?

A few years ago an American man emailed me to find out how I was doing. He knew of me only as someone who had worked in ‘porn’ (a word I detest). After receiving my positive reply, he said, ‘Paula, I am so pleased to know that there is life after porn!’ This shocked me – he had been assuming that because I had entered this dangerous and corrupt way of life, I must necessarily be suffering from drug overdoses, attempted suicide and goodness knows what else. The fact that I was drifting happily towards my sixties, still living with the same man after 30 years, never having taken a drug in my life, seemed quite astonishing to him!

It’s true, though, that there are many casualties of the porn industry, many women – and some men! – who feel undervalued and desired only for their bodies. This is why so many of them go off to look after animals, or work for charities protecting animals. I suppose I too have felt the need to go off in a different direction since Februs came to an end. I decided that, from now on, I wanted to protect my body from any more painful whippings and canings, because it really had had enough over the years. It was time to find out why I had so passionately looked for those experiences. It’s been an interesting journey and these days my interests take me more towards the healing arts.

JR: It sounds like you’ve been doing quite a bit of reflecting?

PM: Yes, I have. I’ve been doing some writing too, trying to make sense of all my adventures… but I doubt that any of it is suitable for publication – far too personal and analytical, not written for titillation at all.

JR: Paula I think it would be fair to describe your contribution to the CP scene as a model, illustrator and editor as immense. I know this part of your life has come to a close but on behalf of the many people who continue to appreciate and enjoy your work, thank you for all you have done and for giving up your time to do this interview.

PM: Oh, that’s very kind of you, Jon. Actually…I have to admit that when you suggested interviewing me I imagined it would be difficult going back over all this, but in fact it wasn’t. I’ve really enjoyed talking to you. It’s made me realize how fortunate I have been. That whole period working for Janus allowed me the rare chance to safely experience what I wanted to experience. The work gave me the opportunity to extend myself and really delve in deep to find out about the CP world – a world that had been completely hidden before… and it allowed me to be an editor and develop my writing and my art in complete freedom. I can’t imagine having the chance to do that anywhere else.

And that seems like a good note to end on. These are probably my last words as Paula Meadows – she is now consigned to history! Come to think of it, she was first ‘invented’ in 1980, for that infamous video I made. I used the name Paula because that is my second name… and I still answer to that today, but I don’t think of myself as Paula Meadows any more.

JR: For the last time then, Paula Meadows, thank you very much. We wish you well.

                                     The Artist Formerly Known As Paula Meadows

You can visit Paula’s website here and check out Talisman who have a large collection of her originals for sale.

Paula illustrated every issue of Fessée and Februs and appeared as a model in Janus 13, Janus 21, Janus 29 and Janus 38. She also modelled in Februs 18, Februs 22 and Februs 25. A Janus Collection celebrating her favourite illustrations for the magazine is also available along with Encore Janus 9 which brings together all the surviving images from Paula’s appearances in Janus. All these magazines can be downloaded by clicking on the highlighted links.

We know there’s a lot of love out there for Janus! Many of the popular online spanking forums feature posts from those who have shared their own memories of the shop and the magazine over the years- we hope the original posters will approve of us preserving their stories on the Janus site. Some of you have also sent us your personal recollections and we’ve included them all below:

“Back in about 86 I had discovered that my uni friend Beverly was somewhat desperate to experience a school caning. So it didn’t take any more encouragement other than telling her where in London she could go and purchase a school cane from. A week later we met at her flat and there and behold she had bought a crook handled cane. I asked her how she got it. She told me the story of her going in disguise, blonde wig, thick make up and choosing the cane. She still remembers it to this day and better still the fact that when she walked behind the black doors she was astounded to discover there were more women in the shop than there were men ! Some 25 years later we had a party in London with some current well known spanking models and I introduced Beverly to them as the girl who, together with Janus, had brought us all together.”

“Years ago while based in East Asia I was sent to work in Sydney for a month, and came across Janus issue 132 in a used bookstore. I enjoyed the story of the village disciplinarian and was captivated by the models, Natalie and Tara, both so utterly adorable. While in Sydney I befriended a pretty young woman and she agreed to a fantasy spanking, her first ever, and was curious about it, plying me with questions. What better way to explain than to show her this story in Janus. At my request she read it aloud, with occasional gasps of amazement and delighted giggles. A happy memory indeed. Thanks so much for that photo story, and for the wonderful additional pictures. Sorry to read that Hilary has passed away. If you are still in touch with Tara and Natalie please pass on my thanks for the sprinkle of magic they gave that fantasy and others they appeared in. Would they be willing to be interviewed, I wonder?”

“My first memory of the Janus Shop is while staying with my aunt who lived in London. I was 17, had just left school and was waiting on my results to see if I could make College. One day while just sight seeing I came across the Janus Shop – as a Dubliner these sort of shops were banned. So I entered to see just what I was missing, within seconds I was drawn by the sight of a magazine picture showing a girl getting spanked by a lady. Something clicked in me and my penis grew almost immediately. It was years since I last found myself being spanked but I bought the magazine went back to my Aunts and quickly started taking pleasure in the pictures. I was in such a trance that I never heard her come home and there I was masturbating over a spanking picture while smacking my bottom. She took over saying if I wanted it that much I might as well have the real thing. That was the first of many spankings she was to give over the next 10 years usually after a trip to the Janus shop. She was to emigrate to Australia in the early 80s and die in the late 90s. Oh memories of Janus and Auntie Eileen.”

“So sorry to see the closure of the Janus shop but delighted to see the brand kept alive on this site. In the late 70’s and early 80’s I was a frequent visitor to London and my visits to Old Compton Street were always the highlight. In those pre-internet days visiting the shop and stocking up on those wonderful magazines was the only way for someone like me to indulge in my fantasies of schoolgirl spankings and the wonderful pictures of those beautiful girls whether in their schoolgirl uniforms, knickers on display or in pyjamas or even nude gave me so many hours of pleasure. As for the booths with those early films what memories. Looking at the magazine covers on your site brings back those times as I recognise so many of them. If only I had been able to hold on to them. Finding out I was not alone in my love of spanking meant so much to me back then. Thanks for that and keep up the great work on the site.”

“Back in the early 1980’s the Janus shop really helped me. I was a twenty something lad with what I thought at the time was a dark secret; I fantasised about caning female bottoms. I had been sexually active for a number of years and even lived with a partner during that time, but I was convinced that my obsession with the cane meant that I was weird, perverted or something, and it really had an effect on my life and relationships. I lived in East London and although I frequently visited the centre of the city I was unaware of the Janus shop and what it sold. One day though I walked down Old Compton Street and by chance discovered number 40, it was to change my life forever. The shelves were adorned with countless magazines containing pictures and stories of girls getting caned. Videos of canings were for sale and at the back of the shop were private booths that for 50p showed you film clips of spankings and canings. Crook handled canes hung from the ceiling of the shop and as with all goods sold could be discreetly wrapped if you chose to purchase one. The shop had a steady flow of customers in all age groups, not all male either and for me it was the place where I realized that I wasn’t the only person in the world who found the cane arousing. I soon became a regular subscriber to the Janus magazine; I also purchased a cane from the shop and a video called The Disciplinarian starring the lovely Antonia du Bois.”

“Back in the pre-internet era, the Janus shop in Old Compton Street was perhaps the first (and often only) place that those of us into spanking visited to buy magazines, books and videos. Certainly for me, finding an establishment that specialised in exactly the stuff that fascinated me was a godsend – one of the earliest things that made me realise that I wasn’t alone in my interests. For a long time in the 90s, it was something of a habit for me to drop into it for a browse whenever I was in London. I have fond memories, too, of visiting the shop more recently with kinky female friends and watching the confused, nay even panicked, looks on some of the customers’ faces (“There’s a woman in here! She’s young! And attractive!” … and, in some cases… “And she’s on the cover of that magazine I was just looking at!”). And then there was the American friend – a student, staying with us – who asked a chap behind the counter, “What does a girl need to do to get spanked round here?” and was told, “Come back at 6pm and come into the back room with me.” A caning duly ensued! The shop’s closure marks something of the end of an era – I do feel rather sad to see it go.”

“I first came across Janus on a newspaper stand at the bottom of Regent Street back in 1979 when I was in London for the first time. I spent what to me was a fortune buying all 6 titles he had on the stand and then read them all back to back, in the back seat on the coach up to Glasgow! It was the first time I’d ever come across any spanking porn rather than just the occasional spanking reference in vanilla publications! Then when I was back in London – oh the agony of deciding whether to venture into Soho at all – let alone into the Janus shop! One guy in the shop tried to speak to me, to ask me if I was interested, and I ran away!”

“Oh I am sad to read the Janus shop is gone. It played a formative role in my first steps from guilty secret fantasising to embracing the scene as part of my life, with all the fulfilment, friends and fellow kinksters that has brought. A copy of one of their Privilege Club spanking mags purchased on that first visit set me on the (albeit frustratingly long!) road to my first actual spanking. At that time it felt amazing to me that there was a real shop that catered for these interests, which until shortly before I had always believed were a unique and unfortunate aberration of mine, and mine alone! I know that my current partner also found it a key to his kinky journey (tales of bunking off A level classes to make furtive trips into London to visit Janus being amongst our shared anecdotes of how we got to where we are now!). How sad that others treading this path will no longer be able to do the same.”

“I have amazing memories of Janus. I used to wander down the street during my lunch hour desperately wanting to step inside but was far too inhibited. However 35 years later I had the experience! All due to ‘coming out’ and finding the most wonderful man to accompany me on the journey of a lifetime. To be inside that haven and wonder about the other people flicking through the magazines was utter bliss. Then a coffee éclair in Patisserie Valerie before home for a sound spanking …”

“I still remember seeing Janus 16 (The Bride issue) when I was 16! I had it on order at the newsagants after that, no idea what the woman behind the counter thought. Lot of water under the bridge since then – I’m grateful to Janus for confirming that I wasn’t alone!”

“I remember the joy of discovering Janus, which specialised in our little quirk. No more having to be satisfied with reading the occasional letter in Penthouse, or the occasional mention in a novel, eg Auberon Waugh -“A spy in the family.” But a whole mag solely devoted to CP and spanking. The best girls were so beautiful, softer and curvier than today, some photoshoots were absolute classics -The Chair for example. It is my great regret that I have lost my very early editions over the years. Also £1 in the early seventies was equivalent in earning power to about 30 today, and they were an infrequent treat to a young man buying his first home.”

“I discovered Janus when I was 17 year old, I drove into Soho for the first time and found the Janus shop (Old Compton St) I subscribed for years and joined the Privillege Club, made my first spanking contact through that! Sadly off loaded the lot when first married, bad mistake, should have off loaded the missus and kept the mags!!!”

“I had my first ever spanking in the Janus shop. I had been married for ten years, was about 30 and desperate to experience being spanked. My then husband was not at all into it, and of course I kept it internalised for years. I wasn’t really prepared to be unfaithful but after a huge glass of wine on a shopping trip to London I went into the shop, cracked a paddle down on the counter and asked Mick, who worked there VERY politely if he would mind test driving it for me. I lifted my skirt, bent over the counter and took a few dozen whacks and a big round of applause. I bought the paddle (which I had to throw away before returning home) and ran out the shop grinning! I still have no idea where I got the courage for that, but I have never looked back since. So thank you Mick and Janus.”

“A few years ago I was in the Janus shop mid-afternoon. A couple walked in who had clearly come from having lunch at one of the local Soho restaurants. They were rather mis-matched. He was a little below average height but powerfully-built. His suit was expensive but he looked as though he might burst out of it – not because he was fat, more that it did not seem to be his natural attire. She was tall and willowy, a “Sloane Ranger” type and obviously younger than him. They wandered around the shop, he smoking a large cigar as he flicked through magazines, she pointing out underwear she liked in the photographs. Eventually he selected a couple of magazines and they made their way to the till. And then he asked for one of the canes hanging there. He gave it a couple of experimental swishes and then handed it to the woman to carry as he paid for the items. A couple of minutes later I left the shop and I saw the couple outside as they hailed a taxi. I crossed the road and looked back to find myself looking straight into the woman’s face as she sat in the taxi. In her eyes I could see that she knew I had seen them in the shop and that I would know that wherever the taxi took them she would shortly be caned… Years later I can still see that look in her face.”

“Janus was for many years the must buy mag for CP afficionados, the benchmark by which others were judged. Paula Russell (profesionally Meadows) was editing its excellent stablemate Februs. As a CP devotee herself Paula brought an enthusiasm and understanding to the magazine which made it much more woman friendly and pleasent to read. Sadly over the passage of years I have lost my copies of the earliest issues that I had …when the numbering was in Volume,Number format. How I wish there was some spanking library where one could go to remind oneself of those pleasures of youth! Those which I have retained seem of an extraordinarily high quality.”

“Like everyone else, I have extremely fond memories of Janus. And I would certainly concur that the standard of photography, writing and Paula’s artwork made it the undisputed leader of the pack. The layout was often better than many mainstream girlie mags which was no mean feat considering they must have had far bigger budgets than Janus and some advertising revenue to play with as well.”

“Like many others I can truthfully say that buying my first copy of Janus (issue 23) was a defining moment. I was about eighteen, furtively trawling the cluster of sex-shops in Walkers Court, Soho, in 1983. Since it was wrapped in cellophane, I didn’t even know for sure that it was a spanking magazine, though the young ladies in school uniform on the cover looked very promising. When I got home and feasted my eyes on Nicola and Priscilla being spanked over their teacher’s knee, I was utterly fascinated. Henceforth there could be no doubt about it: I was a spanker. Thereafter, reading Janus regularly gave me a great deal of pleasure. I have purchased plenty of other spanking titles too, most of which contained some good material at times, but Janus has always been distinguished by its attention to detail and its intelligence.”

“Great to see so many others with happy memories of Janus. I first came across a copy in a newsagent in Islington in the early 70’s. I still remember the front cover with a “schoolgirl” bent over with skirt turned up clearly ready for punishment. I became a regular visitor to both Green’s Court and Old Compton Street, the shop usually was fairly busy with fellow devotees browsing and deciding which issues to buy. I still have many of the early “Volume” and “numbered” series and the quality is excellent. Like several contributors I also found the readers’ letters very enjoyable. While one can now relax at home browsing through spanking material on the internet and even chatting to fellow enthusiasts, it doesn’t have the same buzz as a visit to the shop. Happy days.”

“Hubby and I use to regularly visit the Janus shop in Old Compton St. after work. I was about 20, Hubby 22 or thereabouts. We both worked in the city at the time. I used to love some of the looks other customers would give me as I browsed the mags. It was in this shop that we first picked up a contact mag, Rendevous, (they use to sit on the counter) and found a guy who was willing to meet up and spank me whilst Hubby watched. That was the start of many encounters. We look back on those days with a lot of fondness. The last time we visited the shop, Hubby went in to buy a dvd and I waited outside. Not quite as confident as when I was younger perhaps.”

“I remember buying my first copy of Janus in 1975 in Northern Ireland – then still a very unenlightened place. I had heard of it through the letters pages in Penthouse and was staggered to find a specialist spanking magazine. I took it home and was literally buzzing for days afterwards. I remember visiting London about a year later and visiting the shop – then in Greens Court I think – to buy up back copies. For me the highlight was often the readers letters sections with accounts of true life punishment and humiliation. The golden age of spanking – at least for me – was in the late 70’s and its the magazines and video’s of that period that I keep returning to. I have very fond memories of Janus which was so central to that period.”