From MyFundi

Bailey, Jim

1919 - 2000 Publisher

Major achievements

Eccentric, flamboyant, controversial and fearless, Jim Bailey was the owner of Drum, the first magazine in South Africa to reflect black South Africans' opinions, aspirations and lifestyle. During the fifties and sixties Drum provided a platform for the literary and photographic talents of well-known South Africans such as Alex la Guma, Es'kia Mpahlele, Richard Rive, Nat Nakasa, Can Themba, Blake Modisane, Todd Matshikiza, Peter Magubane, Alf Khumalo and Jürgen Schadeberg.

Although not a political mouthpiece per se, Drum did capture apartheid brutalities and exposed abuses at a time when such defiance elicited immediate retaliation from authorities. Bailey's expansion into Africa made the magazine one of the most influential African Magazines of the time - at the height of its success Drum was published in the whole of anglo-phone Africa.

Although those who worked with him have accused Jim Bailey of paternalism and exploitation, his financial and personal investment in black journalism gave black journalists a vehicle of expression they might not otherwise have had during the oppressive fifties and sixties.

Jim Bailey was the author of various books. He wrote about his wartime experiences, Africa and ancient history. His last book, Sailing to Paradise (1995), is a boldly original work of reconstructed history about seafaring civilisations, which asserts that America was discovered and developed into a world power 7 000 years before being destroyed by wars.

Jim Bailey received the CBE (Commander of the British Empire) award at Buckingham Palace on 31 May 1996 for his contribution to publishing journalism in Africa and for the part he played in the Second World War as a Royal Air Force pilot.

A brief life history

James Richard Abe Bailey was born in London on 23 October 1919, the son of Randlord, Sir Abe Bailey, and Lady Mary Bailey, daughter of Lord Rossmore. He was raised on a country estate outside Oxford where he enjoyed the privileges of the British upper class but rebelled against what he perceived to be the pretentious snobbery of that environment.

His defiance of convention would later define his character. He was educated at Winchester and Christ Church, Oxford, where he read Philosophy, Politics and Economics, but later advised his children not to go to university because "it dims the diamonds and shines the pebbles".

During the Second World War, the reckless, adventurous young man followed in the aviation footsteps of his mother who had been the first woman to fly single-handedly from England to Africa. In February 1939, he joined the Oxford Air Squadron, and was called up the day before war was declared in September 1939, to the Royal Air Force. He flew Spitfires against the Luftwaffe and received the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1944. In 1947, after the war, Bailey moved to South Africa to take charge of the business interests left by his deceased father. He decided to settle on his father's sheep farm in the Colesberg district.

In 1951 Bailey was approached by journalist Robert Crisp to help fund a new magazine called The African Drum. When the magazine ran into financial troubles and circulation dropped, Bailey moved the office to Johannesburg and took over the helm. He hired Anthony Sampson whose editorial brief was to focus on non-political issues reflecting black urban life - reporting for Africa as lived by Africa. Drum covered sport, crime, sex and the social history of Africa.

Political issues were handled carefully to avoid clampdown by authorities but frequent exposes captured political and social abuses, for example the exploitation of sugar farm labourers. Drum chronicled many historic African events, including the Defiance Campaign and treason trials in South Africa, the rise of Kenneth Kaunda in Zambia and political upheaval in Nigeria.

Drum also took black African women out of the kitchen and into mainstream urban culture. Covers featuring sexy black women created what Can Themba called the "Modern African myth".

The popularity of Drum grew - the magazine sold over 450,000 copies a month and had an immense pass-on readership. As proprietor of Drum for more than forty years and as a director of African Associated Newspapers from 1952 to 1984 Bailey played a pivotal role in South African Press history. In 1984 he unexpectedly sold Drum to Nasionale Pers and devoted the rest of his life to writing books and farming unsuccessfully.

Jim Bailey died on 29 February 2000 of colon cancer. He left his second wife, Barbara, and four surviving children.