(2 of 2)
Surrounded. At first, Fleet Street scoffed at the young amateur. Said the Lon don Sunday Times of the rejuvenated Queen: "As a guide to the top for those who are never going to get there, it succeeds tremendously." But Queen prospered, grew so thick with ads that last month Stevens turned the fortnightly into a weekly. Circulation is still modest, however, having gone from 45,000 in 1957 to 60,200 today. Encouraged by Queen's success, Stevens next bought a travel monthly, Go, in 1959, is giving it much the same treatment he gave Queen, and with similar results.
Inevitably, Stevens has caught the eye of Britain's press lords, who gobble publications in job lots. They were particularly impressed when he bid against Roy Thomson last November for Illustrated News papers Ltd., a glossy collection of maga zines. Thomson won (for $3,920,000), but he has not forgotten his audacious young competitor. Jocelyn Stevens is gloomily aware that his little publishing house is surrounded by huge appetites. "In this age of giants," said he last week, "it is hard to survive. We could be squeezed out of business by the big monopolies, or we could be offered so much money that it would be ridiculous to refuse. One often wonders if one will be working for oneself by the end of the year."