The Skeptic (UK magazine)


The Skeptic is a British magazine and is billed as "the UK’s longest running and foremost sceptical magazine, which examines science, skepticism, secularism, critical thinking and claims of the paranormal."

History, format and structure

It was founded in 1987 by Wendy M. Grossman, and subsequently edited from 1988 to 1998 by and Professor Steve Donnelly, then by Professor Chris French until 2011.
The magazine is now edited by Deborah Hyde, Tannice Pendegrass and Rob Brotherton. It is a quarterly publication which aims to serve "journalists, teachers, psychologists, and inquisitive people of all ages". Regular columnists and authors contributing articles to the publication include Mark Duwe, Chris French, Wendy M Grossman, Mike Heap, Paul Taylor and Mark Williams. Neil Davies routinely provides artwork for the cover, whilst centrefold pieces were contributed by Crispian Jago. Other artwork is routinely contributed by Donald Rooum, Tim Pearce, Andrew Endersby and Barbara Griffiths.
The magazine is also supported by an Editorial Advisory Board which includes the following notable individuals: James Alcock, Susan Blackmore, Derren Brown, David Colquhoun, Brian Cox, Richard Dawkins, Edzard Ernst, Stephen Fry, Simon Hoggart, Bruce Hood, Ray Hyman, Robin Ince, Paul Kurtz, Stephen Law, Elizabeth Loftus, Richard McNally, Tim Minchin, PZ Myers, Phil Plait, Massimo Polidoro, Benjamin Radford, James Randi, Ian Rowland, Karl Sabbagh, Simon Singh, Karen Stollznow and Richard Wiseman.

Official podcast

In 2008, an independent, rationalist talk show airing on London's Resonance FM called Little Atoms became The Official Podcast of The Skeptic Magazine. New episodes of the show are released on an almost weekly basis. The show has been produced by Neil Denny, Padraig Reidy, Anthony Burn and Richard Sanderson since September 2005.

Lecture series

It is also linked to the long running London based monthly lecture series, Skeptics in the Pub along with Prof Chris French's Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit lectures at Goldsmiths.