John Bull (magazine)

[2] (In political cartoons and similar graphic works, John Bull is usually depicted as a stout, middle-aged, country-dwelling, jolly and matter-of-fact man.)

[7] Among its regular features, Bottomley revived his "The World, the Flesh and the Devil" column from The Sun, and also adapted that paper's slogan: "If you read it in John Bull, it is so".

This situation was resolved when the entire management of the magazine, including the handling of all receipts and payments, was transferred to Elias,[9][10] leaving Bottomley free to concentrate on editing and journalism.

[11] After the murder of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand on 28 June 1914 in Sarajevo, allegedly with Serbian complicity, John Bull described Serbia as "a hotbed of cold-blooded conspiracy and subterfuge", and called for it to be wiped from the map of Europe.

When Britain declared war on the Central Powers on 4 August, Bottomley quickly reversed his position, and within a fortnight was demanding the elimination of Germany.

John Bull campaigned relentlessly against the "Germhuns", and against British citizens carrying German-sounding surnames—the danger of "the enemy within" was a persistent Bottomley theme.

[12] The periodical continued production during the First World War;[13] Howard Cox estimates its sales by August 1914 at in excess of three quarters of a million copies a week.

[citation needed] Charles Frederick Palmer served as John Bull's deputy editor from at least 1918 until his premature death in October 1920.