A weekly anthology title from Amalgamated Press, and later Fleetway, Playhour ran from October 16th 1954 to August 15th 1987. At one point in the 1970s, it sold 330,000 copies a week. It began life as Playhour Pictures, with a lead strip Prince, Wonder Dog of the Golden West, and was intended for primary school-age children, in contrast to its pre-school sister title, Jack and Jill, but after 31 issues the latter part of the title was dropped, and the target audience was revised to pre-schoolers, with new strips based on Winnie-the-Pooh and Wind in the Willows (the novel versions of these characters, rather than the Disney interpretations, which, in Winnie-the-Pooh's case, had yet to be made). The title would continue to include a mixture of original strips and adaptations of children's stories from other media, such as novels and later television, during the rest of its run.
Playhour absorbed several other pre-school titles during its long run of approximately 1700 issues, including Chick's Own in 1957, Tiny Tots in 1959, Harold Hare's Own Paper in 1964, TV Toyland in 1968 (bringing that title's Pinky and Perky strip into Playhour), Robin in 1969, Hey Diddle Diddle in 1973, and eventually even Jack and Jill in 1985.
Other notable strips included Sonny and Sally from Happy Valley (two children who also served as faux editors for the young readership, replying to readers' letters), Tiger Tim and the Bruin Boys, Leo the Friendly Lion, Gulliver Guinea Pig, Tommy Trouble, The Magic Roundabout, and The Mr. Men.
NB. Later issues were not numbered, and for recording purposes here are listed using the YY/MM/DD (Year, Month, Day).
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