Lara Croft And Jason Statham Were Both Models In A 1997 Men's Mag

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Here is something wonderful. The November 1997 issue of FHM (British edition), which I just found lurking (and well-preserved) in a box in my garage. I guess I kept it thanks to a teenage obsession with Tomb Raider model Rhona Mitra (who appears on the cover), but I’m glad I kept it thanks to a load of other reasons.

It’s easy to look in any old magazine and find something to laugh at, in that hollow “oh, haven’t we progressed” kind of way, but given the tone and the timing of this magazine I found a few things that were especially of note.

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Firstly, the games coverage. Given the magazine’s market the “reviews” section should be terrible, and in most ways is, but I adore that headline. I would also like to see more game writers try and get away with using the verb “twatted”.

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Next, this advertisement for PlayStation Plus magazine. Remember, not everything about the good old days is worth remembering fondly.

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Now, note the incredibly out-of-place (and two-page!) advertisement for Magic cards. I imagine the readership of FHM in 1997 and the market for Magic Cards in 1997 did not make for a cozy venn diagram.

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I dunno. Maybe?

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Or maybe this one is? After all, this one’s main selling point is that it can store a bunch of sexy phone numbers in it…

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I will never complain about the keyboard on my laptop ever again.

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Ah, and now we come to the real reason I’m glad I kept this. You may know Jason Statham was a male model before he was an action movie star. You may not know that, before he was a classy male model, he was a “lad” model. One so laddish he could appear in the same magazine not once, but twice.

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Yup.

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For reference, here’s the full cover. Like the mag itself, it’s an intoxicating mix of utterly inappropriate garbage and wonderful wordplay.

Originally written and published by Luke Plunkett at Kotaku. Click here to read the original story.