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The Boat Race takes place in London today and, once again, Oxford University and Cambridge University have both battled their way through the qualifying rounds to make it to the cup final.But, well, unless you’re a keen follower of it, it’s really the quirky stories about the race that capture the interest of the mildly interested fan (a ‘mildly interested fan’ being defined as: well, I’ve seen both versions of ‘Ben Hur’ a few times, so I know a…

Blog 10 William Randolph HearstIn four previous visits to the USA, we had never travelled down the coast of southern California, south of San Francisco. We were determined to remedy the matter on this trip. So, we hired the car and set off from San Francisco accompanied by February winter sunlight with cold mornings and chilly, watery sunsets. We stopped overnight at Monterey, Pismo Beach, Santa Barbara, finally ending at Venice Beach, before motoring inland to Desert Hot Springs.  We…

To celebrate Good Friday, or God’s Friday, here are three newspaper stories – and an advert – that report on the history, culture and traditions of the day…remember to get those seed potatoes planted today!Exeter and Plymouth Gazette – Friday 19 April 1895Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000510/18950419/039/0010Tamworth Herald – Saturday 24 March 1934Image © Northcliffe Media Limited. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000484/19340324/123/0008Edinburgh Evening News – Friday 19 April 1878Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000452/18780419/066/0004Gloucestershire…

‘The Eighth Wonder of the World!’ and ‘Paradise Lost’During the Easter period in 1933, ‘King King’ received its premiere in London, before being released to the other cinemas outside London. Judging by the reviews, it received a ‘wow!’ reaction from the audiences in the UK.It’s also interesting to note the reaction to the way the film was marketed. We can well imagine that the massive film poster of ‘Kong’ that adorned cinemas would have looked very dramatic in the…

Oi! No spitting, no smoking, no swearing, no sitting next to sensitive souls on the last bus home and embarrassing them with coarse, stentorian conversation and awkward, impertinent questions – oh, these famous ‘strong advice’ signs on buses are sweet music to our ears.We’re BIG fans of etiquette at The British Newspaper Archive. Indeed, we’ve posted several stories about etiquette on the blog over the past few months – just enter ‘etiquette’ into the search engine for the blog to find…

Newspaper reports on the radio broadcasts made by P.G. Wodehouse during World War TwoPoor P.G. Wodehouse – he really was an innocent abroad (in time and place, one feels) during World War Two.We watched BBC4’s excellent drama – ‘Wodehouse In Exile’ – last night, which was a dramatisation about the internment of P.G. Wodehouse and the writer’s controversial radio broadcasts during the Second World War.We were very moved by the drama and the shabby treatment of the brilliant writer, so…

On 25 March 1894, the army of 100 unemployed workers led by the businessman, Jacob Coxey, set off for Washington D.C. from Massillon, Ohio.The march took place during the worst economic depression that the United States had experienced to that time, and the aim of the march was to persuade the goverment to ease the mass unemployment by creating public work projects.The march started in Ohio with 100 workers, but other branches soon started in other US states. As with the Jarrow…

On 23 March 1829, the Duke of Wellington and Earl of Winchilsea fought a duel at Battersea Fields in South London.At this time, the Duke of Wellington was Prime Minster of Great Britain and Ireland, and his Tory Government had passed the Catholic Relief Bill. This act was represented the legislative move towards Catholic emancipation, and a section of the legislation would allow Catholics to take a seat in parliament.The Duke of Wellington | Illustrated London News | 24 June 1843Wellington (who had…

The bicentenary of David Livingstone’s birthWith the bicentenary of David Livingstone’s birth taking place today, we thought we’d post an Archive story about the mill worker who became one of the world’s most famous missionaries and explorers.So we’ve posted below one of the first newspaper reports of his historic meeting with the journalist, Henry Morton Stanley.The story of their meeting was front page news in 1872 (it took several months for the news to reach the UK), and…

Newspaper reports from March 1834 on the trial of the Tolpuddle MartyrsAt the Dorchester Assizes on 18 March 1834, the following six men:James BrineJames HammettGeorge LovelessJames LovelessThomas StandfieldJohn Standfieldwere sentenced to seven years’ transportation in Australia.The men worked as agricultural labourers, and their crime was to swear a secret oath as members of ‘The Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers’. At this time, these friendly societies were similar to the trade unions of today. At…