Articles by The BNA

We’ve been working with some modern newspapers on a story about the loan sharks who, 100 years ago, offered massive cash loans to the poor.The ‘Mail Online’ has published our story, and we thought visitors to the BNA blog might be interested in reading this ‘plus ca change’ story and viewing the gallery of loan shark adverts from 1912.

The British Newspaper Archive will be attending ‘Who Do You Think You Are? Live’ at Olympia, London, from Friday 22 to Sunday 24 February 2013.As happened last year, we’ll be dressing up in our Victorian newsboy/girl outfits and will have our trusty (and updated!) newspaper hand-out with us.We’ll be posting more info about the show nearer the time.To find out more about the show, visit the WDYTYA Live website.

Newspaper stories from December 1861, reporting  the death of Prince AlbertPrince Albert, the husband, consort and soulmate of Queen Victoria, died of typhoid on 14 December 1861, aged only 42.The Archive contains 100s of reports about Albert’s death and, from reading the reports, one can easily sense the level of shock felt across the UK by the untimely death of The Prince Consort.So we’ve posted three stories below which report on this sad and historic moment.Leicester Chronicle – Saturday 21 December 1861Image ©

We found dozens of stories (and adverts) in the Archive about Charles Bishop, the gg-grandfather of Liverpool comedian, John Bishop.From reading these old newspaper stories, it’s clear that the Bishop family possesses a special DNA gene for entertaining the masses with their music and stories.Concert at the Assembly Rooms in ChichesterHampshire Telegraph – Saturday 29 October 1853Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000069/18531029/007/0004The Rifle Volunteers’ ConcertHampshire Telegraph – Saturday 08 December 1860Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL

We were delighted (and just a little star-struck!) to see John Bishop using the BNA website in last night’s ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ programme.John was looking for information on his gg-grandfather, Charles Bishop, who left the army in the 1850s to pursue a musical career, and he found several stories in the Archive about his musical ancestor.We’re going to post a couple of these stories on the blog shortly. But, in the meantime, if you live

Upon recently visiting the Roman amphitheatre at Arles, I marvelled at the scale of the building, and Roman engineering skills.Picture taken of Arles amphitheatre – Image © Edmund MB KingDuring the visit, we came across a notice board: ‘Principaux amphitheatres du monde romain’, which shows a list of dimensions for each one. Arles is number twelve on the list, out of twenty-one. I was intrigued that Pouzzoles ( Pozzuoli/ Puteoli)  was even larger than the colosseum in Rome.As the wiki

The Italian composer, Giacomo Puccini, died in Brussels on 29 November 1924.When news of Puccini’s death reached Rome, a performance of ‘La boheme’ was stopped, as the orchestra abruptly shifted key to play Chopin’s ‘Funeral March’ to a shocked audience.So to commemorate his sublime music and his life, we’ve posted two stories that report on the life and music of Puccini.Hull Daily Mail – Monday 01 December 1924Image © Northcliffe Media Limited. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000324/19241201/009/0003Hull

‘A Wonderful Telephonic Invention – Preserving Speeches’On 29 November 1877, Thomas Edison gave the world a demo of his phonograph invention – thereby paving the way for generations of teenagers to lock themselves away in their bedrooms and madden their parents by playing their records way too loud.To celebrate this wonderful achievement by ‘the Wizard of Menlo Park’, we’ve posted a newspaper story that reports on Edison’s wonderful new invention – and how it will magically preserve the speeches by politicians like Mr

On 23 November 1910, the physician and salesman Dr Crippen was hanged at Pentonville Prison in London.The first criminal to be arrested via wireless communication (Crippen was apprehended on the SS Montrose as it arrived in the St Lawrence River), Crippen was found guilty of murdering his wife, Cora – although doubts as to his guilt have recently been aired.Back in October, we posted two stories on the blog about the trial of Crippen and his alleged accomplice, Ethel ‘Le Neve’

‘There are millions of people on the earth and many suffer. Why, then, are you all around me?’ – Leo Tolstoy to his doctorsOn 20 November 1910, Leo Tolstoy died of pneumonia at Astapovo Railway Station.We thought we’d mark the day by posting two articles from the Archive about Tolstoy. The first story is a report on Tolstoy’s death, while the second article is a summary of his life which suddenly segues into an advert for ‘Willow Blend, the Master Tea’.