This week at The Archive we have reached the milestone of 53 million pages all now available to search, after 305,433 brand new pages joined us over the past seven days. Moreover, we are delighted to welcome to our collection this week five new newspaper titles from England, Scotland and Wales, whilst we have made updates to 94 of our existing titles, all the way from Accrington to Wokingham.

So read on to discover more about all of our new and updated titles this week, as well as to find out what was hitting the headlines thirty years ago in May 1992. We’ll give you a clue – it’s something Formula One related!

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But without any further ado let’s dive into exploring our new titles of the week, and we start in Scotland with the East Kilbride World. This title is the freesheet version of the Lanarkshire World, and is delivered every Friday to over 20,000 homes across East Kilbride. South Lanarkshire’s largest town, East Kilbride lies eight miles south east of Glasgow and was designated as Scotland’s first new town in May 1947.

Our next stop this week is in Wales, and we’re delighted to introduce the Rhondda Leader to our collection of Welsh newspapers. Founded in 1899, the Rhondda Leader was historically affiliated with the Labour movement. In 1908 the newspaper became known as the Rhondda Leader, Maesteg, Garw and Ogmore Telegraph, and it continued to circulate across the Rhondda Valleys, an area which was known for its coalmining industry.

By the 1980s the Rhondda Leader continued to be published, and it was printed in Pontypridd. During this decade, the newspaper cost 24p and filled 24 pages, appearing every Thursday.

We cross back over the Welsh border now into England, and travel to the East Riding of Yorkshire to welcome our next new title of the week, which is the Beverley Advertiser. The Beverley Advertiser was founded in 1977, and from 1995 to 2003 it was known as the Beverley and East Yorkshire Advertiser.

With its editorial offices in Hull, the Beverley Advertiser was the sister paper of both the Hull Daily Mail and the East Riding Mail, and it appeared every Friday. A weekly tabloid freesheet, it was distributed to homes across Beverley, the historic market and minster town. The Beverley Advertiser sadly closed in 2017, although the Hull Daily Mail still has offices in the town.

Our penultimate new title of the week is the Solihull Times, which was founded in the 1980s by the Bullman Newspaper group. Covering the news and sports reports from the affluent Warwickshire market town of Solihull, the Solihull Times also contained lifestyle and motoring features.

Meanwhile, the Solihull Times also focussed on the news from the south of Birmingham, appearing every Friday. During its run the title was mainly free, although it cost 20p when sold. The Solihull Times is no longer in print.

Our final new title of the week hails from London, and is the Brent Leader, part of the Leader series of newspapers which covered West London and parts of Surrey. The Brent Leader was first published in 1992 and was ‘carefully delivered in Wembley, Neasden, Willesden, Harlesden, Stonebridge, Park Royal, Cricklewood & Kilburn,’ areas of north west London.

Indeed, the Brent Leader was delivered, for free, to 60,000 homes across the Borough of Brent, throughout the 1990s. The title is no longer in print.

Meanwhile, we have updated 94 of our existing titles, with updates to our newspapers from across England and Scotland. Highlights include the over 12,000 pages we have added to the Paisley Daily Express, whilst we have added over 10,000 pages to the Solihull News. Furthermore, we have added over 9,000 pages to the Wokingham Times, whilst over 6,000 pages join the Middlesex County Times and the Loughborough Mail respectively.

Nigel Mansell – 1992’s Formula One Champion

On 17 May 1992 Nigel Mansell won his 26th Grand Prix in San Marino, making him at the time, England’s most successful Grand Prix driver, and the fourth most successful worldwide. His win on home soil at Silverstone would further cement his success, as he overtook Jackie Stewart as Britain’s most successful Grand Prix driver.

Mansell grew up in the south Birmingham district of Hall Green, and so its local newspaper the Solihull Times was keen to report on his successes. As such, the title offers a wonderful insight into the Formula One driver’s winning year of 1992.

In July of that year, the Solihull Times reports how the winning driver was ‘pipped to the post’ in a special race at the historic Brooklands race track, near Weybridge in Surrey. An event was held to mark the 90th anniversary of Renault selling cars in Britain, and two very different examples of the company’s cars could be found on the Brooklands race track:

On the historic banked track – the cradle of British motorsport – were an early 1900s replica of the famous 30hp Renault in which Marcel Renault won the gruelling 1902 Paris-Vienna road race and 1992’s 750bhp Williams-Renault FW14B Formula 1 car, as piloted by Mansell in his momentous Silverstone victory.

Dressed in ‘period costume,’ Mansell ‘agreed to drive the 65 mph 1902 racer,’ whilst his then test driver Damon Hill ‘took the wheel of the 200mph F1 car.’ The Solihull Times went on to report on the outcome of the race:

Despite the ‘sprint’ distance of just 250 yards it was soon apparent just how much technological progress has been made in the past nine decades. In fact it was the one race for 1992 that Nigel couldn’t rely on his Renault engine to push him first past the post!

Meanwhile, the Solihull Times on the same day, 24 July 1992, reported on Mansell’s escalating levels of fame, detailing how:

Nigel Mansell, the Solihull racer who is turning this year’s world championship into a procession, has made the pages of The International Who’s Who announced this week. He now rubs shoulders with other prominent Midlanders such as actress Julie Walters and politician Sir Norman Fowler.

Then in August 1992, by clinching second at the Hungarian Grand Prix, Nigel Mansell was crowned Formula One Champion, at the age of 39. In response to this incredible achievement, an ‘ex-motor racing councillor’ wrote to Birmingham Council, requesting that Mansell be made ‘freeman of the city.’

The Solihull Times on 21 August 1992 detailed how Bartley Green councillor John Lines ‘made the request following Mansell’s world-championship winning performance on Sunday.’ Furthermore, the newspaper reports how Mansell would be the 48th person to be given the freedom of the city of Birmingham, joining ‘such illustrious names as Joseph Chamberlain, Winston Churchill and Clement Atlee.’

Mansell was not given the honour, however, but he did win the BBC Sports Personality of the Year for the second time in 1992. And 1992 was a fantastic year for the Formula One driver, who announced his retirement on 13 September 1992. Our newspapers give a wonderful insight into Mansell’s successes, which were rounded off in December 1992 with a special BBC 2 programme, which was advertised in the Beverley Advertiser:

Nigel Mansell 1992. How Nigel Mansell came to claim as his prize the racing driver’s greatest dream – the Formula 1 World Championship.

New Titles

Updated Titles

This week we have updated 94 of our existing titles.

You can learn more about each of the titles we add to every week by clicking on their names. On each paper’s title page, you can read a FREE sample issue, learn more about our current holdings, and our plans for digitisation.

You can keep up to date with all the latest additions by visiting the recently added page.  You can even look ahead to see what we’re going to add tomorrow.