Since its first publication in 1961, Private Eye has been a prominent critic and lampooner of public figures and entities that it deems guilty of any of the sins of incompetence, inefficiency, corruption, pomposity or self-importance and it has established itself as a thorn in the side of the British establishment.
It is Britain's best-selling current affairs magazine,[2] and such is its long-term popularity and impact that many recurring in-jokes from Private Eye have entered popular culture.
