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By November 1920, some ‘three millions of money‘ had been spent on ‘memorials of various kinds and designs…in the United Kingdom,’ as reported the Milngavie and Bearsden Herald. In today’s money, that’s roughly £87,000,000 – the equivalent of £2 donated by every person in Britain.The strength of the nation’s desire to remember their war dead is manifested in these memorials, as the population struggled to come to terms with the great losses suffered during the First World War, in which 744,000 men lost their…

This week at The Archive we have added 99,778 brand new pages, with seven brand new special interest titles joining our collection over the past seven days, which provide an incredible snapshot of early twentieth century culture. From cars to yachts, from movies to the modern man, our new titles this week furnish an exciting panorama of what life was like over one hundred years ago.Meanwhile, we have extensive updates to some of our existing titles, with over 50,000 pages being…

…the credence in the phenomena of Spiritualism is very general. In fact, it is popular. Belief is common. It is widespread. It exists amongst all sorts of people, from the highest to the lowest. You find it in Mayfair and you find it in the remotest village.from ‘The Popularity of Spiritualism,’ The Globe, 29 December 1919By the end of 1919, belief in Spiritualism was ‘spreading like wildfire.’ Spiritualism is defined as a relatively modern religion that is based on the beliefs…

Nearly one hundred years ago athletes Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell took the Olympic Games and the world by storm, their heroics on the track immortalised in the 1981 film Chariots of Fire.But how were Abrahams’s and Liddell’s record-breaking feats reported on in the newspapers of the time? Were they celebrated in, say, the same way we celebrate our sporting heroes of today? In this special blog, we will explore the headlines behind the real Chariots of Fire, and in…

This week at The Archive we have added a century’s worth of news, spanning the headlines from 1864 to 1964. We have added 90,176 new newspaper pages in all, with six brand new titles joining us from England and Wales over the past seven days.So read on to discover more about our new titles, from Hastings to Harborne, from Neath to Stockton, as well as to find out which of our existing titles we have updated during the past week. Using our…

We’re welcoming the New Year at the British Newspaper Archive with a swathe of brand new titles, eight in all, as the presses have continued to whirr over the Christmas period. Over the past fortnight we have added 180,462 brand new pages, with new titles spanning England, Scotland, Wales and beyond.So read on to find out about the 115 years’ worth of headlines we have added, as well as to discover which new titles have joined our Archive, and how the…

It may be Christmas week but our presses have not stopped, bringing you a special Christmas cornucopia of new and updated titles, the perfect festive present from the Archive.With 126,524 brand new pages added, including four brand new titles and updates to twenty five of our existing titles, get ready to discover this week’s fare on the Archive, which spans three centuries’ worth of headlines. Read on to also discover more about how an Edwardian Christmas was celebrated at Sandringham…

Our familiar Christmas customs – decorating our houses with holly and ivy, enjoying chocolate yule logs and giving presents – have, for the most part, their origins in ancient pagan practices. In this special blog, using articles taken from the rich pages of the British Newspaper Archive, we take a look at how our Christmas traditions have evolved through time, with Druid, Roman and Norse influences.Want to learn more? Register now and explore The ArchiveFrom Saturnalia to The Lord of…

This week at The Archive we have added 84,920 brand new pages from both North and South, spanning over one hundred years of headlines. Not only this, we are delighted to welcome five brand new titles to our collection, from Warwickshire to Yorkshire, from Durham to Kent.So read on to discover more about these new titles, to learn which of our seven existing titles we have also updated this week, and to find out more about the Christmas presents of…

In 1948 cinema attendance peaked with a staggering 1,650 million visits recorded in Great Britain throughout that year. This was the height of the golden age of cinema going, something that had begun in the 1920s and burgeoned throughout the 1930s and 1940s.The Regal, Altrincham, known as ‘the cathedral of cinemas’ | The Bioscope | 24 June 1931In this special blog we will explore this golden age of cinema going and what contributed to its overwhelming success and popularity, using pages taken from the…