The Society was originally founded by Steptoe fan Lisa Sargent. In February 1999 the Official Steptoe and Son Appreciation Society was re-born after months of hard work and organisation by Mark Pearson and Mike Hill. The main aim of the Society was to give it's members a chance to re-live the magic of a wonderful situation comedy, to remember the talents of Harry H Corbett and Wilfrid Brambell and to show appreciation of the marvellous script writing talents of Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.
The first issue of the new-look Totting Times - the Society's quarterly magazine - was published in June 1999. In March 2000 the magazine was renamed The Rag'n'Bone. Around the same time the official website was launched featuring articles and photographs from the magazine, and also attracting new members for the Society from around the world. There was a small annual membership fee to cover the cost of printing and sending out the magazine, but the official website was of course free, and open to all interested visitors as well as members.
For nearly four years the Society continued attracting new members through the website and producing the Rag'n'Bone magazine. The last issue in the Summer of 2002 celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Anglo-EMI film "Steptoe and Son" (featuring Carolyn Seymour along with Harry and Wilfrid) and included articles, film reviews and behind the scenes photographs.
Unfortunately, as time went on, some of the original team members had to withdraw from the day to day running of the Society and so, finally, Mark Pearson decided to call it a day.
It looks like the end for the Steptoe & Son Appreciation Society and especially the excellent "Rag'n'Bone" magazine, but I'll gladly put a notice right here on this website if the Society returns in its original format and resumes publishing the magazine.
Even though the future of the Society and the magazine still need to be sorted out, "The Original Steptoe & Son Website" will still be here to provide you with information about the funniest comedy show to appear on BBC-TV. As the creator of the original Society web pages, I have moved many of the magazine highlights over to this website so they will not be lost, for example you'll find many of the "Totting Times" and "Rag'n'Bone" magazine articles and "Collected Off the Round" items under "The Junk Pile" on the website menu as well as many of the puzzles and other stuff.
Thankyou for your support, Howard Mansfield.
The Official Steptoe & Son Appreciation Society Website.
The Original Steptoe & Son Website - since October 1995.