Food magazine to be first title for Geoghegan's Seven

by Jennifer Whitehead,, Brand Republic 15-Jul-03, 11:00

LONDON - Seamus Geoghegan, the man who launched BBC's Eve magazine, is behind a publishing venture bringing out a new food magazine, Delicious, in the UK.

Delicious will the first title from Seven Publishing, the new company headed by Geoghegan, who left his role as director of the lifestyle group at BBC Worldwide in March 2002. The magazine will be a UK version of an existing Australian title and is set to launch here in spring 2004.

Delicious will have a rival, coincidentally, in the form of a new magazine from BBC Worldwide, codenamed Project Olive. No launch details are currently available about the BBC magazine.

At the BBC, Geoghegan launched Gardeners' World, Homes & Antiques and the women's title Eve, as well as overseeing the BBC Good Food magazine. He takes the role of managing director of Seven and is joined by editorial director Jo Sandilands, who was once editor of IPC magazines Woman and Honey, but has more recently worked in broadcasting.

Michael Potter, founder of Redwood Publishing, takes the role of chairman of Seven. He said: "There's no doubt Seven Publishing can bring a fresh approach to consumer publishing. Lifestyles have changed and yet some mainstream consumer titles haven't moved with the times at all."

Delicious magazine, which is published by FPC Magazines and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, has been a huge success since it launched down under in October 2001. It has overtaken established monthly food magazines Vogue Entertaining & Travel and Australian Gourmet Traveller to be the biggest-selling glossy food magazine in the country, with an audited circulation of nearly 100,000.

Geoghegan said: "Delicious is a fantastic title and we are delighted to be bringing this quality magazine to the UK. It approaches food and food-related content in a different kind of way."

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