Edinburgh’s One O’Clock Gun Periodical launched its first issue
in February 2004 and traces its origins to a dining and literary society
named the Top Slot Club. The TSC’s avowed aim was to write absurd
missives to the Edinburgh Evening News Letters page in the hope of provoking
ridiculous debates. Whilst this provided much amusement, the members soon
tired of the venture as the game had become far too easy. (If you find this
hard to swallow, write a stupid letter to the News yourself. Ten to one
the mugs publish it.) And so, a handful of club members decided to try their
hand at an altogether different literary enterprise.
It was decided that Edinburgh desperately required a free quarterly periodical
in the tradition of the literature enjoyed in the taverns and salons of
yesteryear. The main influence in the early days was Blackwood’s Edinburgh
Magazine, a scurrilous C19 scandal sheet that helped to establish Edinburgh
as a city of high literary merit. The idea of a black and white double sided
broadsheet was inspirational in that it looked visually striking whilst
being fairly cheap to produce, and it certainly conveyed the spirit of the
publication.
The Gun was well received in the pubs and cafes from the very beginning although internal wranglings in the backroom resulted in a schism by the launch of the third issue and the majority of those involved decamped to do their own thing (a failed attempt to be Scotland’s Private Eye, a venture as doomed as the Darien Scheme, but such is life).
This was in no way a setback to the development of the freesheet – our so-called ‘house-style’ was becoming something of an albatross anyway and the new streamlined backroom immediately set about recruiting fresh faces and modernising the overall look and content of the paper.