January, 2013 | The British Newspaper Archive Blog - Part 2

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A Life on the Stage: Discovering My Performing Ancestors at the British Newspaper Archive

We love hearing stories about what you’re up to in the Archive. Truly, we feel extremely privileged to hear your tales.  So when professional genealogist, Matt Ball, tweeted us about his research on his music hall ancestors we were keen to hear his story. Through his research in The Era and other papers in the Archive, Matt has discovered some terrific stories about his theatrical ancestors. Matt very kindly agreed to be a guest blogger for us, and we’ve published

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Carole Lombard – Killed in an Air Crash on 16 January 1942

CaroleLombard

Tragically, the beautiful and talented Hollywood actress Carole Lombard died in an airplane crash in Nevada on 16 January 1942. In addition to starring in some terrific screwball comedies, she was also the great love of Clark Gable, who was utterly devastated by her tragic death. Quem di diligunt, adolescens moritur.     Subscribe today and discover history as it happened

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The Freezing of the River Thames – January 1814

waterman on thames

Historical newspaper reports describing the big freeze in London in the winter of 1814 With the predicted snow and ice all set to turn much of the UK into a ‘retreat from Moscow’ landscape, we thought we’d post some old newspaper stories about the freezing of the River Thames, back in January 1814. There are certainly some striking and surreal images described in these stories – not least of which is the poor pig, stuck on an ice floe and

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Greyfriars Bobby – a Dog Good and True…

Newspaper stories from January 1872 reporting the death of Greyfriars Bobby Today, we salute a dog good and true: Greyfriars Bobby, who passed away on 14 January 1872, after a 14-year vigil at the grave of his master, Auld Jock (aka John Gray). If you’ve ever visited Edinburgh, you’ll likely have seen the statue of Bobby (paid for by Baroness Burdett-Coutts), at the corner of Candlemaker Row and George IV Bridge. Bobby now bides in the great kennel in the

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Strange Superstitions From Around the World

One of our favourite newspaper columns (and subjects) in the Archive is the one called ‘Strange Superstitions’. We could spend ages reading these regular features – especially the columns that highlight the more exotic superstitions. In the first article below, the emphasis is on superstitions associated with animals. In particular, we love the belief that a cat washing itself is a sure sign that visitors are coming. From the second article, all manner of strange beliefs (from all over the world)

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Stella Gibbons, Author of ‘Cold Comfort Farm’, Born in London on 5 January 1902

“There’s always been Starkadders at Cold Comfort Farm!” / “There’s something nasty in the woodshed!” Stella Gibbons, author of the brilliant comic novel, ‘Cold Comfort Farm’, was born in London on 5 January 1902. So to celebrate Gibbons’ birthday, we’ve posted two newspaper stories from the early 1930s about her wonderful novel. The first story is a glowing review of her most famous book, written shortly after the novel was published in 1932. The second story is a report on

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Cheeky New Year Resolutions for Late 19th Century Politicians, Written by Mischievous Newspaper Scribblers

As is tradition, with a new year comes new resolutions and the subsequent struggle to keep them! To add some levity to the task of creating your own resolutions, we’re sharing this cheeky newspaper article from January 1889, which comprises a list of resolutions for the leading politicians of the day.   And in acknowledgment of the struggle to keep one’s resolutions, we’ve included this short piece from 1913.     Subscribe today to discover history as it happened  

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Origins and traditions of the New Year

Happy New Year! To celebrate the arrival of the new year, we have pulled together some newspaper stories about the origins and traditions of the New Year from the Romans to William the Conqueror. New Year’s Date The date that the New Year is celebrated on has changed over the centuries.   New Year Traditions Gift giving was a tradition of the Roman New Year.   Cornishman brings us some popular customs from West Cornwall.   A curious New Year’s tradition

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