
A picture taken on November 25, 2011 shows the cover of South African magazine Drum celebrating its 60 years in Johannesburg.
Journalism of Drum’s heyday remains cause for celebration – 70 years later
The African Drum was launched in 1951. After a lacklustre three months, the owner, Jim Bailey, brought a friend out from England, Anthony Sampson, to edit the magazine. They did some informal research and were told that black readers wanted sport, jazz, celebrities and “hot dames”.