Playgirl rumoured to be about to disappear

Until the mid-70s, when gay porn was still hard to come by and outrageously expensive in the UK, gay men who wanted a quick flash of cock were forced to rely on the grainy photos in the naturist magazine Health & Efficiency. And if you wanted everything but the bits, there was always the chance to fantasise about what you might be missing if you took a quick look at your mum's copy of Cosmopolitan.

But then along came Playgirl, imported from the US, and suddenly you could see flaccid dicks in full airbrushed colour.

It never achieved the status of Hugh Hefner's Playboy, despite pulling stunts like offering Prince Charles $45,000 to pose nude for it (happily, he refused). And now blogs are full of rumours that it's soon to disappear from the top shelf of the magazine rack on both sides of the Atlantic.