Baseball is one of the quintessentially American summer sports, but did you know that the sport of baseball has a fascinating history in Britain? From the 1870s onwards, American players visited Britain to try and raise interest in the game. It was a slow start, but by 1938 the game of baseball had taken such a hold in Britain that a British team beat an American one at the inaugural Amateur World Series tournament. So read on to discover more …
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Mercedes Gleitze (1900-1981) was the first British woman to swim the English Channel, and the first person to swim the Straits of Gibraltar. In an amazing career that spanned the 1920s and 1930s, Mercedes captured the imagination of the British public and became a household name. Born to German parents in Brighton, Mercedes was one of three sisters. Skilled in languages, she moved to London where she worked as a secretary and stenographer. Whilst living in London she began swimming …
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This week marks 130 years since the first British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship was held at the Royal Lytham and St Annes Golf Club, whilst also marking The Archive’s incredible achievement of reaching over 68 million pages now available to search, as we have added 164,005 brand new pages. Meanwhile, over the last seven days, we have added 9 brand new titles to our collection, with the addition of new pages to our existing titles from across the United Kingdom …
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After taking a well earned break last week, our presses have been working overtime to bring you 114,554 brand new newspaper pages from across Britain and Ireland, as we tell the story of the opening of Manchester United’s ground Old Trafford in February 1910. So read on to discover more about all of our new and updated titles of the week, and to learn about an important moment in football history. Register now and explore the Archive Our one and only, and therefore …
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As part of Black History Month this October, we have taken a look at the extraordinary life of Learie Constantine (1901-1971), a cricketer from Trinidad who would go on to become the United Kingdom’s first ever Black peer. The first player to take a Test match wicket for the West Indies, and described as one of the best all-round cricketers the world has ever seen, Learie Constantine’s career extended beyond sport, as he fought tirelessly against racial discrimination, as he became a writer, broadcaster, and even …
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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 …
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This week at The Archive we have added 73,896 brand new pages, as we count down to a very special milestone. Right now, we have just over 49,800,000 pages in our collection, and we are very excited to be counting down to the landmark figure of 50 million pages. So watch this space for more updates, that will bring us to a wonderful achievement in the very near future. Meanwhile this week we have updated five of our existing titles, with extensive updates to one …
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150 years ago this March, on 16 March 1872, the first ever FA Cup final was played between the Wanderers and the Royal Engineers. Register now and explore the Archive In this special blog, we will take a look at this historic match, which was played at Kennington Oval in South London, using newspapers taken from the time, as well as a very special account that was written some 66 years later. The Association Challenge Cup Final Tie On 13 …
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To celebrate International Women’s Day this year, and as part of our look at the history of football this March, in this very special blog we will be taking a look at pioneering early women footballers. Register now and explore the Archive From those who took to the pitch in the eighteenth century Bath, to those who played in the first international match in 1881, we will look at the women who disrupted the status quo in order to play …
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Bedford, November 1726 – On Wednesday the 23d Instant, a most obstinate and hard Match at Foot-ball was play’d near Great Harwood in this County, between 7 Men of the Village of Ranse, and the like Number of Great Harwood; which last had challenged the whole Kingdom to match them. The Contest was so great between them, that one of the Harwood’s Champions dropp’d down dead on the Spot, whose Brother being engaged on the same Side, would not leave …