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‘Wherefore art thou, Romeo?’ Shakespeare’s missing men of 1916

Midsummer's Night Dream illustration

Countless celebrations are taking place across the country to commemorate the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death. Wherever you live, you’ll find parades, talks, and performances of all kinds paying homage to the Bard’s work, but it was a very different story 100 years ago. Search the newspapers On the tercentenary of Shakespeare’s death in 1916, Britain had found itself in the middle of one of the most horrific battles in history. While the odd commemorative event took place in larger

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It’s a Woman’s Life! A celebration of the ATS, inspired by Dad’s Army

As the film adaptation of the beloved BBC television series Dad’s Army is released today, many critics have applauded the film’s new take on women’s involvement in the war. Far from being the running gag of the little woman heard but never seen, Mrs Mainwaring has stepped up to take centre stage, leading a group of women in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. Search the newspapers The role that these women played, whether acting as telephonists in France to or cooks

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Local newspapers, football match reports and the 1908 FA Charity Shield

Last year, we donated 100 subscriptions to Wikipedia’s volunteer editors to help expand public information about historical topics. Brian Chapman has worked with Wikipedia for over five years and made around 42,000 edits to the online encyclopedia. He got in touch to tell us about one of the pages he’s improved with the help of our newspapers.   **************   When I heard about the collaboration between The British Newspaper Archive and Wikipedia, I jumped at the chance to take

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11 unusual tales of terror from historical newspapers

What the giant monster might have looked like in 1877

The British Newspaper Archive is full of grisly stories about the unusual and the unexplained. We’ve selected some of the oddest tales, including a description of a monster with the head of a sea lion and a rumour that Germany was turning dead soldiers into explosives during the First World War. Let us know if you’ve found a story to rival these. You can comment below or post on our Facebook page. 1) 1877: A bizarre 70-foot beast A very strange creature

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Sheridan Smith on WDYTYA: Newspapers reveal a shocking arson story in her family tree

You can find fascinating information about your ancestors at The British Newspaper Archive. Sheridan Smith did just that during her Who Do You Think You Are? episode, uncovering a story about her great-great-grandfather Benjamin Doubleday.   Benjamin Doubleday and the fire at the Woodman Inn On Friday 5 July 1895, the Sheffield Daily Telegraph reported that a fire had taken place at the Woodman Inn. The newspaper stated that Sheridan Smith’s great-great-grandfather was seen at the scene and ‘appeared in

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An escaped bear causes chaos in 1890

You’ll find lots of amusing stories in The British Newspaper Archive about the strange events that happened both in the United Kingdom and around the world. A number of local newspapers, including the Grantham Journal, Portsmouth Evening News and Sheffield Evening Telegraph, reported on one such event in 1890.   Women shrieked and children cried According to newspapers that are now available to search online, a huge brown bear interrupted a church service on Sunday 20 April 1890 after it

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