Country Life was just as eclectic when it started 120 years ago as it is now, thanks to the vision and eye for quality of its founder, Edward Hudson.
He started the magazine in the year of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, the birth of motoring and Oscar Wilde’s exile. It was also when H.G. Wells wrote The Invisible Man, Ronald Ross discovered malarial parasites, Enid Blyton was born, Isaac Pitman died and Aston Villa won the FA Cup.
Is it really all so different now? Take a look at the list below and see what you think
| 1897 | Row 0 - Cell 1 | 2017 |
| Queen Victoria’s 60th year on throne | Row 1 - Cell 1 | Elizabeth ll’s 64th year on throne |
| Glasgow School of Art | Row 2 - Cell 1 | The Shard |
| Horseless cabs | Row 3 - Cell 1 | Driverless cars |
| First wireless transmission | Row 4 - Cell 1 | Super-fast broadband... sometimes |
| Discovery of the electron | Row 5 - Cell 1 | Crash-landing on Mars |
| Tate Gallery | Row 6 - Cell 1 | Tate Modern extension |
| First drink-driving conviction | Row 7 - Cell 1 | First mobile-phone convictions |
| Princess of Wales’s borzoi | Row 8 - Cell 1 | Duchess of Cornwall’s Jack Russells |
| Dracula | Row 9 - Cell 1 | Fifty Shades of Grey |
| Robert Cecil, Marquess of Salisbury | Row 10 - Cell 1 | Theresa May |
| William McKinley | Row 11 - Cell 1 | Donald Trump |
| Swiss Army Knife | Row 12 - Cell 1 | Swiss Army Knife |
| Ludo | Row 13 - Cell 1 | Cards Against Humanity |
| Free postage from Jubilee Concession | Row 14 - Cell 1 | Royal Mail strike |
| Class system | Row 15 - Cell 1 | Reality TV |
| Uncle Vanya | Row 16 - Cell 1 | Harry Potter and the Cursed Child |
| Whitby jet | Row 17 - Cell 1 | Yellow diamonds |
| Donkey as lawn mower | Row 18 - Cell 1 | Wildflower meadow |
| John Deere | Row 19 - Cell 1 | John Deere |
| Blue delphiniums | Row 20 - Cell 1 | Blue roses |
| W. G. Grace | Row 21 - Cell 1 | Alastair Cook |
| Hair in big bun | Row 22 - Cell 1 | Lob cut |
| Tea gown | Row 23 - Cell 1 | Silk jumpsuit |
| Moustache | Row 24 - Cell 1 | Hipster beard |
| Daimler | Row 25 - Cell 1 | Diesel scandal |
| Heinz | Row 26 - Cell 1 | Heinz |
| Tea Importation Act | Row 27 - Cell 1 | Brexit trade negotiations |
| Rachmaninov’s First Symphony | Row 28 - Cell 1 | David Bowie’s last album |
| COUNTRY LIFE | Row 29 - Cell 1 | COUNTRY LIFE |
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ChilstoneChilstone have been makers of fine cast stone garden ornaments and architectural stone since 1953.
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Guild AndersonGuild Anderson’s work in country houses and historic buildings centres around the design and reimagining of domestic working spaces, chiefly kitchens, sculleries, boot rooms and pantries.
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Love letters from our readers: Famous fans of Country LifeWe ask friends of the magazine to tell us what keeps them turning our pages.
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What's changed in 120 years of Country Life? Everything and nothingClive Aslet has been connected with Country Life for all of his working life. Here, he explains how the magazine has managed not only to survive, but to prosper.
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The class of 1897: It isn’t just Country Life celebrating a 120th birthday this yearFrom the wireless to asprin, Kate Green discovers others observing this milestone.
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120 Years of 'Girls in Pearls' at the Beautiful Rooms and Blushing Brides exhibitionTo celebrate Country Life’s 120th anniversary, the magazine is staging an exhibition called 'Beautiful Rooms & Blushing Brides' at the Linley Belgravia showroom.
