In the UK on 24 April 1949, the post-war rationing of sweets finally came to an end. Understandably, this led to mega-long queues outside sweet shops, as years of repressed taste buds led to a gigantic sugar rush to the UK’s confectionery outlets. The rationing was reintroduced four months later, due to the sudden and unsustainable demand for soor plooms, never-ending gobstoppers, aniseed balls, etc… We are very struck by that word, ‘de-rationing’. Aberdeen Journal – Friday 22 April 1949 Image …

Historical newspaper stories of St George and the Dragon To celebrate St George’s Day, here are two newspaper articles about the famous story – we especially like the Russian version of the tale. Evening Telegraph – Wednesday 23 April 1930 Image © D.C.Thomson & Co. Ltd. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000563/19300423/125/0008 The Evening Post. – Friday 05 October 1900 Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000582/19001005/092/0006

Newspaper report on the attempt to assassination Lenin by Socialist Revolutionary, Fanni Kaplan – 30 August 1918 The lawyer and revolutionary, Lenin, was born in Simbirsk on 22 April 1870. The Archive contains 100s of stories about Lenin, including reports on the two assassination attempt that were made on him. The newspaper clipping below is a report on the attempt by Fanni Kaplan to shoot Lenin on 30 August 1918, while he was on a visit to the ‘Hammer and …

Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen, ‘The Red Baron’, was shot down near the Somme River on the Western Front, on 21 April 1918. The newspapers of the time published numerous reports on the ‘dog fight’ which claimed the life of von Richthofen, highlighting the propaganda coup that the death of ‘The Red Baron’ represented. To mark the day, here is a newspaper report published the day after the Baron’s death, which reports on the action which saw the Baron show …

In 1933 and 1934, the Loch Ness ‘monster’ chose to resurface – following a hiatus of hundreds of years – to take its rightful place once again in mainstream Scottish society. We’re not sure about that ‘monster’ description, though. We mean, it’s just a matter of identification and classification, we feel (is just a case of ‘category confusion’, as the philosophers call it). Hmm, we would prefer ‘creature’. Also, we’re not sure about that description of ‘footprint’ – should that not …

On 19 April 1882, Charles Robert Darwin died at Down House in Downe, Kent – he was aged 73. As Darwin’s theory of evolution was, to put it mildly, something iof a controversial topic in Victorian society, we thought it would be interesting to see how his death was reported in the newspapers. We especially enjoyed reading the second newspaper report, which was written by Professsor Thomas Henry Huxley. A great friend and supporter of Darwin, Huxley was nicknamed “Darwin’s …

At 5.12am on 18 April 1906, San Francisco and the northern coast of California was hit by a massive earthquake. It’s estimated that over 3,000 people died in the disaster, and that over 80% of the city’s buildings were destroyed by the earthquake itself or by the terrible fire that followed. We thought we’d commemorate the day by posting some stories that were published when news of the tragedy first reached the UK. Derby Daily Telegraph – Wednesday 18 April 1906 …

‘Anecdotes of Dr Franklin’ Benjamin Franklin, one of the ‘Founding Fathers’ of the United States of America died in Philadelphia on 17 April 1790. Franklin was no mere politician, however, and also worked as a writer, printer, scientist, inventor and musician. In short, he was a ‘Renaissance Man’ and a true son of ‘the Enlightenment’. We found this terrific newspaper tribute to Franklin in ‘The Caledonian Mercury’ (published on 5 July 1790 – which just goes to show how fast …

‘Oh, the sun shines bright on Charlie Chaplin’ Charles Spencer ‘Charlie’ Chaplin, ‘the Little Fella’, was reportedly born in East Street, Walworth, South London, on 16 April 1889 – interestingly, there is no official document recording his birth. We’re MASSIVE Chaplin fans at the BNA, and love reading stories about him in the Archive. So to celebrate the date of his birth, here are three online newspaper clippings. We think that the first clipping is a music hall advert for Charlie’s …

At around 2.20am on 15 April 1912, RMS Titanic sank with the loss of over 1,500 lives, after hitting an iceberg during her maiden voyage. If you visit the 1900s section of the timeline on the BNA homepage, you can read a FREE newspaper report about the tragedy. If you haven’t registered on the BNA site, you just need to register – registration only takes a few seconds and is free. http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/