17 July

Punch Magazine's birthday

Fish House Punch

So we are drinking a...

Fish House Punch

Although it now only survives as a cartoon library and website, Punch was once one of the best-known magazines of all time - and one of the only successful magazines to take its name from a cocktail.

Founders Ebenezer Landells and Henry Mayhew published the first edition of Punch on this day in 1841. Inspired by a French magazine, their aim was for the magazine to be of a higher literary standard and less bitter than other British comic publications.

The name Punch was settled on when someone remarked that the magazine should be like a good Punch mixture - nothing without Lemon (referring to Mark Lemon, the magazine's first editor) - whereupon founder Henry Mayhew shouted, "A capital idea! Let us call the paper Punch!".

Our choice of Punch for today dates back even further than Punch magazine. It's the timeless Fish House Punch, most likely created in Philadelphia in 1732.

It's the anniversary of same-sex marriage in the UK

Call it same-sex marriage, gay marriage, marriage equality or, simply, marriage, this day in 2013 it became British law - the first weddings were held in March.

The Netherlands, naturally, was the first nation to legalize same-sex marriage, back at the beginning of the century. Canada became the first country outside Europe, and the fourth country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage on 20th July 2005. It took a decade more for same-sex marriage to become legal in neighbouring USA, which occurred on 26th June 2015 when the United States Supreme Court ruled the bans on same-sex marriage then operational in some states were unconstitutional.

As fans of equality in every arena, we're celebrating today's anniversary with one of our own creations, an Appily Married. Cheers!

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