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Today is a momentous day. Some fifteen years after the launch of the British Newspaper Archive, we have achieved the milestone of 100 million newspaper pages available to search as part of our collection. 100 million pages of stories waiting for you to uncover, from the length and the breadth of the United Kingdom, Ireland and beyond, covering five centuries of news.To celebrate this remarkable achievement, we’ll take a look at how we reached our 100 million newspaper pages landmark, exploring the…

This week we are marking of the ninetieth anniversary of the release of the Alfred Hitchcock film The 39 Steps, which came out on 6 June 1935. Meanwhile, we are celebrating the addition of eight brand new newspaper titles, the updating of twelve of our existing titles, as we have added 150,950 brand new pages to The Archive in all over the last seven days.So read on to discover more about the release of The 39 Steps and to learn more about our new…

Since August 2021, the Archive has been working in partnership with the British Library to build a collection of free to view newspaper pages. This collection enables enhanced access to the diverse newspaper holdings of the British Library, with the titles, which have carefully curated by the British Library, spanning four centuries of news and covering not just Britain and Ireland, but the Caribbean, India, and beyond.You can search our free to view pages by creating a free account with…

Today marks the release of over one million new free to view pages on the British Newspaper Archive. Thanks to our ongoing partnership with the British Library, we have now made over four million newspaper pages freely accessible since 2021.Our collection of over four million free to view newspaper pages represents a significant step in making historical resources available to more and more people, an effort to which the British Newspaper Archive and the British Library are firmly committed.As…

Today we have released one million new free to view pages on The Archive, meaning that we now have a total of nearly 3.5 million free to view pages all now available as part of our collection.These pages have been brought to you thanks to our partnership with the British Library. Both the British Newspaper Archive and the British Library are committed to making historic resources available to more and more people, and these 3.4 million free to view pages represent…

In the late 1930s a newcomer made her way onto British cinema screens: Princess Kouka. From Sudan, Princess Kouka, born Tahia Ibrahim Belal, had been spotted by film producer Walter Futter, who was determined for her to appear in his next film.Using newspapers from the time, we uncover the legacy of this largely forgotten film star, who travelled to Britain and impressed audiences across the country.‘A Notable Newcomer’On 18 December 1936 London’s Daily News reported on the impending arrival…

The aristocratic Mitford sisters – Nancy, Pamela, Diana, Unity, Jessica and Deborah – hit the headlines throughout their lifetimes, with tales of scandal and intrigue filling the pages of the press from the 1920s and beyond.Born to David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale, and his wife Sydney, alongside brother Thomas, the Mitford sisters often shocked society, whether it be through their political views, or their private lives.In this special blog, we shall unravel the remarkable stories of the six Mitford sisters,…

Mercedes Gleitze (1900-1981) was the first British woman to swim the English Channel, and the first person to swim the Straits of Gibraltar. In an amazing career that spanned the 1920s and 1930s, Mercedes captured the imagination of the British public and became a household name.Born to German parents in Brighton, Mercedes was one of three sisters. Skilled in languages, she moved to London where she worked as a secretary and stenographer. Whilst living in London she began swimming in…

This week at The Archive we have added an amazing 322,444 brand new pages, with eight brand new titles joining us in all, from Scotland, England and the Caribbean. Meanwhile, we’ve made one million more newspapers free to view as part of our collection, which you can find out more about here.We’ve also made extensive updates to 23 our existing titles, so read on to find out more about all of our new and updated titles of the week, as well…

As part of our ongoing partnership with the British Library, we are delighted to announce that one million more pages on the British Newspaper Archive have now been made free to view on our site, meaning that we now have two million pages in total that can be accessed freely as part of our collection.And we’re not stopping here. We’re planning to release a total of five million free to view pages on The Archive over five years, meaning…