Read and Destroy

The story of RAD – Britain’s seminal skateboarding publication of the 1980s and ‘90s – told through the archives of the skate photographers who formed the core of the original editorial team.

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For British skateboarders in the mid-’80s, RAD (aka Read and Destroy) was more than just a magazine. Before the X Games, before the internet, a whole generation of this once underground subculture relied on RAD to provide a beacon, bringing them together in spirit and in person.


Under the guidance of editor and chief photographer, Tim Leighton-Boyce, RAD took on an experimental, irreverent approach with a vibrant, chaotic energy. The legacy of the magazine is an action-packed photo archive documenting a unique time, place and attitude, capturing the death and rebirth of skateboarding as it evolved into a mainstay of extreme sports and street culture the world over.


This book reveals that archive in all its glory, offering an inside view of skateboarding and youth culture from the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s, told primarily through the experiences of the British skate photographers at the core of the magazine’s original editorial team.