Trebles all round: Private Eye sales shoot up like John Terry's shorts to 18 year high

Lord Gnome will be ordering trebles all round. Private Eye today announced sales at an 18 year high.

The Eye's ABC-audited sales figures is 210,218 copies for the period June-December 2009.

This is a year-on-year increase of 6,984 copies per issue and average sales exceed 210,000 copies for this first time since 1992.

The sales rise has come despite more gossip and scandal whizzing around the internet than ever before and political bloggers like Guido Fawkes winning large audiences.

Private Eye has little online presence but in my poll at Christmas I was surprised by the number of new media savvy journalists (all part of the Twittering classes) like journalism.co.uk editor Laura Oliver  and media journalist Patrick Smith who named the Eye as their favourite "old media". Patrick said: "It's a little bit sniffy about new media and blogs, but it shines a light on areas of UK life that would go completely unreported otherwise."
It seems the magazine is still essential reading - and not just for old hacks.

Private Eye editor Ian Hislop in a totally uncontrived PR quote said: “It seems the Eye’s circulation figures are a bit like John Terry’s shorts. In the past they may have been down – but now they are firmly up again.”

Private Eye was first published in 1961 with a print run of just 300 copies. It celebrates its 50th Anniversary next year.  (That's enough sucking up to Private Eye - Ed.)