olympic | The British Newspaper Archive Blog - Part 3

Blog

‘Pluck, Tenacity and Inspired Guidance’ – Exploring the Birth of the Paralympic Games

The first Paralympics took place in Rome in 1960. But this was not the beginning of competitive sport for people with disabilities; indeed, the origins of the Paralympics can partly be traced to the aftermath of the Second World War and the work undertaken at Stoke Mandeville Hospital. Archers at Stoke Mandeville Hospital | The Sphere | 21 August 1948 And nor was it the culmination of such work; the Paralympics in Rome were only open to those with mobility or

Continue Reading

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

Six Pioneering Black British Sporting Heroes and Their Amazing Stories

As we continue to celebrate Black History Month at The Archive, in this special blog we will take a look at six pioneering Black British sporting heroes and their amazing stories. Using pages taken from the British Newspaper Archive, we will take the opportunity to tell the inspiring stories of these Black British sportsmen, whilst attempting to understand the prejudice they faced and overcame in pursuing their different sports. From left to right: J.E. London, Arthur Wharton, Len Johnson and

Continue Reading

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hot Off The Press – New Titles This Week

This week we have a lot to celebrate here at The Archive. Not only is it our 8th birthday (The Archive was launched on 29th November 2011) – we have also reached the remarkable milestone of 35 million pages – all now available to search. We have added 128,362 new pages to our collection this week, with one brand new title – the Sporting Gazette – joining us. We also have updates to six of our existing titles, with extensive updates to Scottish title the Elgin Courant, and

Continue Reading

Tags

, ,

Guest Post: “Palace at the Palace – A History of the Crystal Palace & Its Football Club” by Peter Manning

We are delighted to feature a guest post this week by Peter Manning, who used The Archive to research his new book Palace at the Palace – A History of The Crystal Palace & Its Football Club 1851-1915. My project started out as research into the Crystal Palace football teams that played at the old Crystal Palace at Sydenham, but the history that was revealed by searching the BNA’s archives was so interesting and so compelling that I ended up writing

Continue Reading

Tags

, ,

Hot Off The Press – New Titles This Week

This week we have added 122,484 new pages to The Archive. We have added pages to ten of our existing titles. Titles updated this week include London daily paper the Pall Mall Gazette and one of our military titles, the Volunteer Service Gazette & Military Dispatch. There are also updates to our Irish titles, as well as titles covering the counties of Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Warwickshire. This week sees additions to our wonderful collection of sporting newspapers. We have added new pages

Continue Reading

Tags

175th anniversary of the Illustrated London News

First edition of the Illustrated London News

Illustrated London News   On 14 May 1842, 175 years ago today, the Illustrated London News, the world’s first illustrated newspaper, debuted.  Founded by Herbert Ingram of Lincolnshire, the paper was a pioneer in pictorial journalism.  The British Newspaper Archive is proud to hold more than 7,000 issues of the Illustrated London News across its 161-year run for you to explore.   Register today and explore the Illustrated London News.   From its inaugural edition, the editors were confident in their

Continue Reading

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

Etiquette in Trains – Progress Reports from 1878 and 1929

The etiquette (and lack of it) on trains is one of The British Newspaper Archive team’s all-time favourite subjects. Truly, if discussing the behaviour of people on trains were an Olympic event, we’re confident we would stand a fair chance of winning a medal. Just why do people sit in the aisle seat, and place all their belongings in the seat by the window? Why don’t they use the luggage rack for their bags, etc? And when you politely ask, ‘Excuse

Continue Reading

Tags

, , ,

Gertrude Ederle, the First Woman to Swim the English Channel – 6 August 1926

On 6 August 1926, Gertrude Ederle, at just 20 years of age, became the first woman to swim the English Channel. At the same time, she also set a new record time of 14 hours and 39 minutes for swimming the Channel – her record stood for 24 years. Gertrude was an amazing woman who, despite suffering from deafness from an early age, achieved some wonderful things in life, including the winning of a gold medal at the 1924 Olympics in

Continue Reading

Tags

World Sauntering Day – 19 June

Today is…World…Sauntering Day… … So to celebrate World Sauntering Day and the many joys and the art of sauntering, here is a terrific newspaper article from 1890 that praises sauntering in all its glorious forms. … If you’re a saunterer yourself (or can sometimes saunter and ‘consider the lilies’ when it’s required), we’re sure you’ll enjoy reading this humorous essay. … We hope that sauntering will be announced (at some future date, there’s no hurry…) as an official event at

Continue Reading

Tags

‘The Television Will Be Revolutionised!’

Historical newspaper stories about John Logie Baird – born in Helensburgh on 13 August 1888 To celebrate the birthday of John Logie Baird, ‘the father of television’ who was born in Helensburgh, Scotland, on 13 August 1888, we’ve posted a couple of newspaper clippings from the Archive about the famous inventor and engineer. Without his wonderful invention, we would have missed seeing the ‘newspaper taxis’ and newsprint buildings in last night’s closing ceremony of the Olympics. As mentioned in the

Continue Reading

Tags