Skip to content

Search the blog

Author: the-bna
Armistice Day free at last image
To mark the hundred years since the signing of the Armistice on Monday 11 November 1918, which ended the First World War, we take a look at the poignant images published that historic day across our various publications.A significant theme running throughout, of course, is that of peace, and freedom, at last, as featured in the Nottingham Evening Post and the Liverpool Echo.Nottingham Evening Post | 11 November 1918Liverpool Echo | 11 November 1918Other newspapers, such as the Evening Despatch and the Sheffield Independent
It happens to the best of us…We do love the gossipy stories in the Archive that report on the passing moments of people’s lives – especially if it involves somebody famous.A wonderful example of such a brief encounter, is this story about Albert Einstein arguing with a Berlin tramcar conductor regarding the change given to him. We think this conductor sounds a rather formidable character. And we also love thinking about how this story managed to find its way
To celebrate the birthday of Abraham ‘Bram’ Stoker, born on 8 November 1847 in Dublin, we’ve posted some newspaper reviews of his classic novel, ‘Dracula’.The novel was published in May 1897, so the reviews below were the first reactions to Stoker’s brilliant gothic horror.The Archive contains 100s of interesting stories about Bram Stoker and the ‘Dracula’ novel – just type the author’s name or the book title into the seaech box to find these stories.The Archive also contains 100s of historical
The ‘Evening Standard’ published a news story from the British Newspaper Archive this week about a tragedy that took place in London in October 1814, when 8 people were drowned by a wave of beer in the Tottenham Court Road.We thought that people might like to read this story, so we’ve posted it below.**************************A huge wave of beer swept through London’s streets almost 200 years ago, killing 8 people including a 3 year old child, records at the British Newspaper Archives have revealed.
As the Battle of Balaclava took place in October 1854, we’ve been reading some newspaper stories about this famous episode in the Crimean War.We were especially struck by some of the eye-witness accounts of the battle. In particular, we were fascinated by this account of the Light Brigade’s charge, as described by an officer.The Archive contains 1000s of stories about the Light Brigade and the Battle of Balaclava – with some amazing reports by people who witnessed the event.  Just
Dr Hawley Harvey Crippen (known simply as Dr Crippen) was found guilty of murder at the Central Criminal Court in the Old Bailey on 22 October 1910. He was later sentenced to death and hanged at Pentonville Prison in London.Famously, Dr Crippen was the first criminal to be arrested thanks to the new invention of wireless telegraphy.As the Crippen case represents a famous episode in criminal history, we’ve posted below two stories that report on the court case and its
We’re looking forward to learning about the ancestors of John Barnes in tonight’s episode of ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’The listing for the show on the BBC website mentions ‘secret telegrams’ and internment, so we think this will be a very interesting programme, which will shed light on Jamaica’s struggle for independence.Oh, and we’ll be looking out for any historical newspapers that are used in the research on his ancestors.– BBC1, Wednesday 17 October, 21:00.– www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01nh6qj
We’re looking forward to learning about Celia Imrie’s family ancestors in Who Do You Think You Are? tonight.Judging by the brief details posted on the BBC website, it sounds like this programme will feature some fascinating tales of political intrigue from the 17th Century.And we’ll be keeping a sharp eye out to see if any historical newspapers are used for the research on Celia’s ancestors.– BBC1, Wednesday 10 October, 21:00.– www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01n7m49
We’re endlessly fascinated by the stories that people are finding in the British Newspaper Archive.While most of the stories (so far!) that people have kindly sent in have been about family history, there are 100s of other history researchers rummaging around in the Archive.Just recently, the History Department at Sevilla Football Club contacted the BNA to tell us about their amazing and historic discovery in the Archive.So, if you much preferred the “working people’s ballet” back in
The ‘Jarrow Crusade’ began on 5 October 1936.The 207 marchers walked from Jarrow to Westminster, to protest about the poverty and unemployment in the North East of England during the Great Depression of the 1930s.We’ve been reading some fascinating stories about the ‘Jarrow March’ in the Archive, and thought we’d post these two stories that offer an excellent insight into this famous episode in the political, social and economic history of the UK during that ‘low, dishonest decade’ of the 30s.