Classified: The Secret History of the Personal Column by HG Cocks

[...] in 1915, while other men fought the battles of Loos and Ypres, a comic novelist called Alfred Barrett, the former editor of Family Circle, spotted a gap in the market for a new magazine. He called it Link, and advertised it as “the only monthly practically devoted to love interests”.

[...] The police were particularly interested in the number of young men who claimed to be artistic, musical, unconventional, or fans of Oscar Wilde and Walt Whitman. Officers also had their doubts about women who claimed to be “jolly” or “sporty”, thinking this might be a euphemism for what might now be called “up for it”.

Read the full review of the book by the Sunday Times online here