We’ve been working with some modern newspapers on a story about the loan sharks who, 100 years ago, offered massive cash loans to the poor. The ‘Mail Online’ has published our story, and we thought visitors to the BNA blog might be interested in reading this ‘plus ca change’ story and viewing the gallery of loan shark adverts from 1912.

For anyone out there with Scottish ancestry, you might be interested to know about the Scottish Diaspora Tapestry project. Comprising 250 embroidered panels from 25 communities around the world, the planned tapestry will tell the story of Scots emigration/immigration across the world. The project runs from 2012 to 2014, and the organisers are looking for people to contribute, either by contributing stories or working on one of the embroidered panels, to the tapestry.

The British Newspaper Archive will be attending ‘Who Do You Think You Are? Live’ at Olympia, London, from Friday 22 to Sunday 24 February 2013. As happened last year, we’ll be dressing up in our Victorian newsboy/girl outfits and will have our trusty (and updated!) newspaper hand-out with us. We’ll be posting more info about the show nearer the time. To find out more about the show, visit the WDYTYA Live website.  

Jane Austen imitated by PD James Recently reading PD James Death comes to Pemberley, I wondered how reviews of this novel compared to those of Pride and Prejudice. Jane Austen had sold the copyright of the novel to Thomas Egerton, and he published the first edition in January 1813 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride_and_Prejudice ). Perhaps it was Egerton who placed the advertisement in the Morning Post  on 9 February 1813 (p.2 col.2): ‘This day published, in 3 vols. price 18s. in boards, Pride …

Newspaper stories from December 1861, reporting  the death of Prince Albert Prince Albert, the husband, consort and soulmate of Queen Victoria, died of typhoid on 14 December 1861, aged only 42. The Archive contains 100s of reports about Albert’s death and, from reading the reports, one can easily sense the level of shock felt across the UK by the untimely death of The Prince Consort. So we’ve posted three stories below which report on this sad and historic moment. Leicester …

Newspaper report and photos about the underwater car invented by Mr Michel Andre in 1937 We love all the wonderful and inspiring stories in the Archive about inventors, pioneers and adventurers. So we were delighted to stumble upon this terrific story (published almost 75 years ago to the day!) about the underwater car invented by Frenchman, Michel Andre. The only thing that stops it from being the perfect vehicle for James Bond is the periscope-like exhaust pipe. Still, it was …

We found dozens of stories (and adverts) in the Archive about Charles Bishop, the gg-grandfather of Liverpool comedian, John Bishop. From reading these old newspaper stories, it’s clear that the Bishop family possesses a special DNA gene for entertaining the masses with their music and stories. Concert at the Assembly Rooms in Chichester Hampshire Telegraph – Saturday 29 October 1853 Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000069/18531029/007/0004 The Rifle Volunteers’ Concert Hampshire Telegraph – Saturday 08 December …

If you’re starting to think about Christmas shopping and are waiting to be inspired by the Muse of Present Giving (or, alternatively, if you’re diplomatically dropping subtle hints to relatives and friends about the Muse of Present Receiving), then you might be interested in buying a gift voucher for the BNA website? There are four great value gift vouchers to choose from: 12-month, 30-day, 7-day or 2-day. We will email you with the gift voucher which you can then print …