In a time before mascara and lipstick, what did women of the past use for makeup? Continuing our look at the history of makeup, in this special blog we take a look at a selection of historic cosmetic tips and tricks, all sourced from the pages of the British Newspaper Archive.Finding a mirror in the kitchen | The Sketch | 5 June 1907Register now and explore The ArchiveRouge & Rouge AlternativesRouge was, historically, certainly a more risque element of a woman’s…

Every woman wants to be beautiful. Most women could be if they tried. Comparatively few know how to be.In 1910 the Daily Mirror published its very own Beauty Book, which promised to be ‘Every Woman’s Guide to Beauty.’ This was something revolutionary, as it opened beauty remedies and early makeup trends to its middle-class mainstream readership. Its publication came at a time where makeup was barely accepted, and indeed, many of its mainstays (mascara and nail polish, for example) had…

This week our presses have been on overdrive as we have now passed a landmark of 38 million pages now available to search on the British Newspaper Archive. We have added 177,190 pages in total, with the bulk of these new additions stemming from Britain’s longest-running tabloid, the Daily Mirror, to which we have added over 110,000 new pages.We are delighted to present six brand new titles this week as well, representing historic headlines from England, Ireland, Wales and India.Register now…

On the night of the 19th January 1915, two German Zeppelins appeared out of the dark on the Norfolk coast and conducted the first airship attack on British soil. They had set out for Humberside, but strong winds had seen them divert to the areas around Great Yarmouth, Sheringham and King’s Lynn.It would be the first of over 50 Zeppelin attacks on the UK. Strategically, they proved largely ineffective, with night raids and bad weather conditions making it difficult to target…

On the 8th of January 1940 rationing was introduced in Britain. With over 70% of the food supply imported before WWII, the government decided to safeguard against any plots to starve Britain into submission by introducing the rationing scheme.The Ministry of Food’s explanation for the scheme was published in a number of newspapers:The new scheme was well documented across the newspapers…But there was reassurance that even the royal family was doing their bit for the war effort:…

Just a month after hitting the 9.5 million page milestone, we’re very pleased to announce that there are now 10 million historic newspaper pages available at The British Newspaper Archive.The website launched with 4 million pages in November 2011, which means there’s now 150% more to explore. If you’ve not searched the collection for a while, it’s definitely time to try again.Search the newspapers –>More to search and a great-value subscriptionIt’s not just our coverage that has improved over the last few…

After watching Sainsbury’s Christmas advert, Kate Cole was inspired to research the real story behind WW1’s Christmas Truce. She used The British Newspaper Archive to unearth the experiences of soldiers on the Western Front in 1914.**************In December 1914, during first year of World War One, a remarkable event known as the Christmas Day Truce occurred in small pockets along the Western Front. 100 years later, one of Britain’s largest grocery shops has released a Christmas advert re-enacting the famous truce.With the…

Today’s most-popular Christmas toys include Frozen dolls and tech gadgets, but it was a very different story 100 years ago. Newspapers from the time reveal there was a clear trend for ‘British-made’ military toys in the year that Britain joined World War One. Daily Mirror – Friday 04 December 1914Image © Trinity Mirror. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.View the whole newspaper pageThe ‘Great Miniature Battle’ of 1914, with trenches and barbed wireAn advert for Gamage’s department store appeared in…