September, 2012 | The British Newspaper Archive Blog - Part 2

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‘The Equinoctial Disturbances of Autumn: What Is the Mystery Force Behind Them?’

With the autumn equinox almost upon us, we thought we’d post this fascinating newspaper story from 1933 about the powerful and mysterious forces behind this tempestuous time of the year. It’s a very interesting article that helpfully explains just why the period around 20/21 September and 20/21 March are always such stormy times in the year. There are 100s more stories about the autumn equinox in the archive – just enter the word ‘equinox’ into the search box. Nottingham Evening

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‘Dr Williams’ Pink Pills for Pale People’ – the Miraculous Cure-All Medicine for the Damp, Chilly Days of Autumn

There’s been a big change in the weather, and it looks like Autumn might be here. So to lift the spirits, we thought we’d post this wonderful advert for ‘Dr William’ Pink Pills for Pale People’. Western Times – Friday 24 September 1909 Image © Northcliffe Media Limited. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0000265/19090924/039/0007

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Your BNA Stories – ‘Murder by Poisoning’ and a Missing Sea Captain

We do love the stories you tell us about the discoveries you’ve been making in the Archive. Pollie Scott, a family history researcher, has been finding dozens of fascinating (and very strange!) stories in the Archive about her ancestors. The most shocking discovery made by Pollie concerns the poisoning of a sister of one of her ancestors. Until visiting the Archive, Pollie had no idea of anything untoward regarding this death, so it came as a complete shock when she

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Fred Perry – US Open Tennis Champion in 1936 (and the second last man from the UK to win a tennis ‘major’!)

Just to celebrate Andy Murray’s wonderful achievement in winning the 2012 US Open, we’ve posted a story about the last time that a man from the UK won one of the tennis ‘majors’. The newspaper article reports on the triumph of Fred Perry in the US Open in September 1936. As with the match between Murray and Djokovic, the 1936 final between Perry and Don Budge was also an epic 5-setter. There are scores of stories about Fred Perry in

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Your BNA Stories – Using Old Newspapers to Flesh out the Bare Bones of Your Ancestors

We love it when you get in touch to tell us about your discoveries in the Archive. Jessica Gilbank has recently started using the Archive to learn more about her ancestors. Although Jessica had already gathered some info about her ancestors using BMD records, she wanted to see if it might be possible to ‘flesh out the bare bones’ of their histories – hence her visit to the BNA site. In short, Jessica learned all manner of things about her

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‘The People of Medieval Scotland’ Project – Digitised Documents from 1093 to 1314

We’re always keen to see other digitisation projects, and thought readers might be interested in ‘The People of Medieval Scotland’ project. Built by the University of Glasgow, at the moment, 8,600 documents from 1093 to 1314 have been digitised and added to the website, with 21,000 people mentioned in these documents. So if you suspect you might have some Medieval ancestors from Scotland, then this website might be able help you to trace them. – www.poms.ac.uk

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‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ Aberdonian and Eurhythmic: Annie Lennox

We’re very much looking forward to watching Annie Lennox in tonight’s episode of ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ From what we’ve heard about tonight’s show, we believe it’s going to be a very moving programme. It seems that, in particular, a kirk session record from the mid-18th Century will arouse Annie’s righteous anger. It’ll be interesting to see if Annie’s research involves using any old newspapers – if so, we’ll see if we can find these stories in the Archive.

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