"I would be the first to admit that there is no fortune in this series for anyone concerned, but if my premises are correct and these Penguins are the means of converting book-borrowers into book-buyers, I shall feel that I have perhaps added some small quota to the sum of those who during the last few years have worked for the popularization of the book-shop and the increased sale of books".

Allen Lane, 'All About the Penguin Books', The Bookseller, 22 May 1935

The first Penguin paperbacks appeared in the summer of 1935 and were a mix of biography, crime writing and novels. Genres were indicated by the colour of the band on the cover, biography being dark blue, crime green and fiction orange. All the titles were by contemporary writers including Ernest Hemingway, Eric Linklater and Agatha Christie. They cost just sixpence, the same price as a packet of cigarettes.

Penguin was the brainchild of Allen Lane who was then a director of The Bodley Head. After a weekend spent with Agatha Christie in Devon, Lane searched Exeter station's bookstall for something to read on his journey back to London, but found only popular magazines and reprints of Victorian novels. Following this, he recognised the need for good quality contemporary fiction at an attractive price. Lane was determined that the new range be available not just in traditional bookshops, but also in railway stations and chain stores such as Woolworths.

Penguin emerged as a separate company from Bodley Head in January 1936 and had an initial share capital of £100. It began distributing its books from the Crypt of the Holy Trinity Church on Marylebone Road where the vaults of long-departed Victorians were piled high with books. Ingeniously, a fairground slide was installed to receive deliveries from the street above.

Within twelve months, Penguin had sold a staggering 3 million paperbacks, but was generally viewed with suspicion and uncertainty by traditional publishers. Hardback fiction sold at seven or eight shillings, and it was feared that the new cheap paperbacks might undermine this market. Some authors were also unsettled by what the advent of Penguin might bring.

"In my capacity as a reader I applaud the Penguin Books; in my capacity as a writer I pronounce them anathema. Hutchinsons are now bringing out a very similar edition, though only of their own books, and if other publishers follow suit, the result may be a flood of cheap reprints which will cripple the lending libraries and check the output of new novels. This would be a fine thing for literature, but it would be a very bad thing for trade, and when you have to choose between art and money - well, finish it for yourself."

George Orwell, New English Weekly, 5 March 1936

It did, however, have its supporters amongst the press and with some celebrated writers.

Dear Lane,

These Penguin Books are amazingly good value for money. If you can make the series pay for itself - with such books at such price - you will have performed a great publishing feat.

Yours sincerely,

J.B. Priestley

In 1937 Penguin moved to new offices and a Warehouse at Harmondsworth, a 3 acre site which now adjoins Heathrow Airport.

As sales continued to flourish Lane, along with his brothers Dick and John, began to expand Penguin's publishing and retail activities. 1937 also saw the launch of the Pelican imprint and the emergence of the curiously titled Penguincubator, a new paperback dispenser which made its first appearance on Charing Cross Road.

Pelican was introduced to cover serious contemporary issues and represented the first new and original books to be published by Penguin; all titles so far had been paperbacks of books previously published by other companies.

The series was weighted towards History, Sociology, Economics and Politics and continued the 'good books cheap' philosophy of Penguin.

"There are many who despair at what they regard as the low level of people's intelligence. We, however, believed in the existence in this country of a vast reading public for intelligent books at a low price."

Allen Lane, Left Review, 1938

As conflict in Europe drew closer, Penguin Specials such as Searchlight on Spain and What Hitler Wants achieved record-breaking sales. One of the best selling titles of war years was Aircraft Recognition, which was used by both civilians and the fighting forces to recognise enemy planes.

First appearing during the unlikely time of the outbreak of war, and therefore prone to failure, the King Penguin series was highly acclaimed.

Elizabeth Senior, brought in from her post at the British Museum, was the first editor of the King Penguins, but after her untimely death in a London air-raid the series was taken over by Nikolaus Pevsner in 1942.

With improvements in printing overseen by R.B. Fishenden, the covers become pictorial and the particular difficulties of printing small-scale reproductions were overcome. The subjects of King Penguins ranged from the familiar - a flora, a book of birds, several other natural history subjects, Ackermann's Oxford - to more historical subjects such as the Bayeux Tapestry and to eccentric titles ideal for illustration such as Ballooning. Allen Lane was immensely proud of the series, introducing them with the following remarks:

'The aim of King Penguins is different [from that of Modern Painters]. These have not been planed to coincide with the public's growing appreciation of art, but rather to appeal to the general liking for illustrated keepsakes. For this reason they are specialised ... One of the most distinctive features of this series is their decorative covers ... These were used very sparingly by the English publishers before the War, but both in our King Penguins and in our Puffin Story Books we have found this not only an attractive manner of decorating the binding of the books but also giving the artist a share in book design.'

As Allen Lane made clear, the intention was to offer popular decorative books, and any criticism of their conservatism should take this into account. An example of a more adventurous experimental book is A Prospect of Wales, in which the painter Kenneth Rowntree used post-Cubist space for his landscape cover. The books' general achievement was that, while covering what might be considered minority interests, they were written by experts in these fields and were presented as a series, encouraging collectors to buy them all. An indication of their design standards is their appearance in many of the National Book League awards exhibitions.

By the end of the war, Penguin was distributing a million books a month in the American market and also had a subsidiary in Australia.

In 1946 Penguin Classics was launched, its first title being E.V. Rieu's translation of Homer's The Odyssey. Dr Rieu began translating foreign titles for his wife's enjoyment and, at her suggestion, committed his version of The Odyssey to paper. After the war Rieu presented his manuscript to Penguin where, after some debate, it was accepted. Rieu was then appointed to commission translations of other classics for the new series. The Classics range has since gone on to become a major force in education.

When, in 1951, Allen Lane lent a young Nikolaus Pevsner a 1933 Wolseley Hornet and a permit for 30 gallons of petrol, the Pevsner Architectural Guides were born. Pevsner, an architectural historian, aimed to provide an up-to-date portable guide to the most significant buildings in every part of the country, suitable for both general and specialist readers. He undertook to research and write the 46 volume series during his university holidays. In 2001 Pevsner were sold to Yale University Press.

The success of the volumes covering The Buildings of England led to the extension of the series to Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

The 1960's brought a revolution in popular culture, and Penguin found itself firmly at the centre of debate on 'the permissive society'. The publication of the first unabridged version of Lady Chatterley's Lover saw Penguin charged under the Obscene Publications Act. Against a backdrop of immense publicity the company was acquitted, marking a turning point in censorship laws in Britain. Penguin sold 2 million copies of the book in the six-week run up to Christmas of 1960, and a further 1.3 million during 1961.

The 60s also saw Penguin expand its range to encompass more practical issues, publishing a series of handbooks with such titles as The Case for Family Allowances, Ley Farming and Venereal Disease in Britain.

In 1970 Penguin was acquired by Pearson, the international media group, and underwent major structural change. Under the leadership of Peter Mayer, appointed Penguin Chief Executive in 1978, a new flexible style in editorial, marketing and production was introduced and the company continued as a major and vital publishing force.

The 1980s saw more change for Penguin. In 1983 it acquired Frederick Warne, best know for its Beatrix Potter titles. The company also bought the Michael Joseph and Hamish Hamilton book-publishing divisions from Thomson International in 1985. Expanding and restructuring, the company moved to Wrights Lane, Kensington while still retaining the site at Harmondsworth.

The 80s, like every other period in Penguin's history, saw the publication of controversial titles. Peter Wright's Spycatcher called into question the issue of free speech while Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses was the first title to generate death threats against the author and everyone else involved in its publication.

Anger at Rushdie's book, said by some Muslim fundamentalists to be blasphemous, provoked the Iranian religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini to call for his execution. The following threat was broadcast by Khomeini on Tehran radio:-

'I inform the proud Muslim people of the world that the author of the Satanic Verses book which is against Islam, the Prophet and the Koran, and all those involved in its publication who were aware of its content, are sentenced to death'.

Throughout the episode Rushdie stood by his book and, with Penguin's support, refused to be silenced.

Penguin Audiobooks were launched in 1993, with an initial range of 12 titles. These titles paved the way for the future audio publishing, bringing a mix of classic and contempory titles to a listening audience. A joint venture was agreed with Faber in 1995, seeing the launch of Faber.Penguin Audiobooks, and Puffin Audiobooks following in 1997.

1996, Anthony Forbes Watson is appointed as UK Managing Director. Also in that year, Penguin took a 51% stake in Rough Guides, the highly acclaimed publishers of travel and music writing. Penguin now sells and distributes Rough Guides worldwide, and on 8 May 2002 Rough Guides became wholly owned by Penguin.

Anthony Forbes Watson commented, 'Rough Guides have a unique and distinctive voice which will stay at the centre of the company's development.'

Mark Ellingham, founder of Rough Guides added, 'We have ten years of experience of working with Penguin and their expertise and support has always been crucial. Although there will be a different ownership, in all other respects it is business as usual, with Rough Guides publishing more and better guides.'

Penguin retained its position as a defender of free speech when it successfully defended against a libel suit from controversial revisionist historian David Irving in April 2000. Irving issued proceedings over the publication of Professor Deborah Lipstadt's Denying the Holocaust. 'Familiar with historical evidence, he bends it until it conforms with his ideological leanings and political agenda' she wrote.

On May 10th 2000 Pearson acquired Dorling Kindersley; DK became part of the Penguin group with Anthony Forbes Watson Chief Executive of both Penguin UK and DK. In June 2001 Penguin Group UK then moved into brand new offices on 80 Strand in central London.

"Penguin has always been an innovator and will continue to lead the industry, seeking out new directions and finding better ways of getting things done at every stage of the publishing process".

Anthony Forbes Watson, Chief Executive, Penguin UK.

Penguin Ireland, a new publishing venture for Penguin Books created in autumn 2002, are to launch a list of fiction and non-fiction titles ready for publication in the autumn of 2003. Penguin Ireland is headed up by Michael McLoughlin, and aims to become the leading publisher of Irish-interest literary, and commercial fiction and general non-fiction, in Ireland.

Michael McLoughlin, MD of Penguin Ireland comments, 'By applying the rigorous standards of a world-class company such as Penguin to books with Irish themes, I believe we can bring Irish titles to the widest possible audience.'