The Big Issue seller on the street corner has become a familiar sight in cities such as Brighton and Hove.

Since its launch in 1991, the magazine has helped thousands of vendors scrape a living and, in many cases, given them a hand up out of the homeless trap.

The idea for the magazine was born when Gordon Roddick, who founded The Body Shop with his wife, Anita, met a homeless man selling an obscure magazine called Street News in New York more than ten years ago.

He said: "I saw this great big guy who was being really friendly with everybody.

"I went over to him and asked him why he was so cheerful when he was obviously homeless. He said that he used to be a pan handler and no one would talk to him but now he was selling this newspaper, he had recovered his pride.

"What he was doing seemed to link him back into humanity which is pretty important."

In the early Nineties in Britain, there was a spiralling problem of homelessness with hundreds sleeping rough or begging on the streets.

Mr Roddick realised a newspaper like Street News could help many of those on the streets in a way soup kitchens could not.

He said: "I realised it could be the perfect thing to launch here. But where Street News was really rubbishy, I decided that, for it to work here, it would have to be a real business of high quality."

Mr Roddick put his idea to The Body Shop's public relations department but he was told the venture would only work if his magazine was sold in shops, not on the streets.

He said: "I told them they had missed the whole point, which was for the vendors to make connections with the people they were selling to.

"I decided to do it myself. I took it away from the company, got some cash and called John Bird, who I had known for more than 30 years.

"He had been in jail, had been homeless and came from a fairly deprived background. We had been involved in a number of publishing undertakings together, most of which were completely unsuccessful.

"He was very articulate, he loved writing and I knew he was au fait with the publishing business so I had 100 per cent confidence in him."

John Bird agreed to help set up and run the Big Issue from offices in London and the first issue hit the streets two years later.

Since then the title has gone from strength to strength, changing from a monthly to weekly format and becoming more glossy and upmarket.

It has scored several news and entertainment coups, including an exclusive interview with pop group The Stone Roses, and was the first to publish the results of several studies into homelessness.

In 1996, George Michael chose to give the magazine his first interview for six years.

The Big Issue has been launched in South Africa, Australia and America and copycat titles have sprung up across the world.

The publication in Britain, which was subsidised by The Body Shop for its first three years, now pays for itself and even turns over a profit, which is ploughed back into the magazine and into charities and social projects.

Mr Roddick said: "I reckoned if the paper was visibly attached to The Body Shop, people would view it as being a project for charity whereas both John and I were determined it would be seen purely as a business.

"We saw it as a professional publication, staffed by professional journalists. But if it was joined to The Body Shop, everyone would see it as our own propaganda journal."

On the tenth anniversary of the launch, Mr Roddick and The Body Shop have decided to publicise their connection with the Big Issue for the first time. The two organisations have arranged a joint celebration with John Bird visiting The Body Shop's offices in Littlehampton to speak to staff.

Mr Roddick said: "I am hugely proud of the magazine. It has entered into social culture.

"There is always a Big Issue seller in EastEnders now and Paul Whitehouse includes a regular sketch about Big Issue sellers in his show. Nick Hornby also makes references to it in his novels. I am definitely proud of that.

"Sometimes people might look at The Body Shop and think that is all we have done but now there are an awful lot of other things we have helped with."

The Big Issue has proved its success in a crowded magazine market, regularly outselling favourites such as Timeout.

Mr Roddick said there is still a lot of work to be done to solve the homeless problem in places like London and Brighton and Hove.

He said a lot of progress had been made by the Rough Sleepers Initiative but more needed to be done.

He said: "The problem is not getting any better and it needs addressing. About 13 or 14 per cent of homeless people come out of the armed forces.

"They have come from a life which is almost like an institution where they were supported and sheltered and when they get chucked out or leave for whatever reason and have no where to go except the streets.

"That indicates the preparation given by the armed forces to help people adjust to normal life outside leaves something to be desired.

"There is a great need for education and training."