Anna May Wong, born Wong Liu Tsong in Los Angeles in 1905 to second generation Chinese-American parents, is widely considered to be the first Chinese-American Hollywood star, and certainly the first Chinese-American actor to win international fame and attention. The Bystander | 27 May 1931 After gaining success in such films as The Toll of the Sea and The Thief of Baghdad in the 1920s, and fed up with the stereotyped roles she was given (the Coventry Evening Telegraph in 1961 remembers her as the ‘slinky …
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To mark the the release of Season Four of Netflix’s ‘The Crown’ we thought we’d take a look at how some of the key moments from the season were reported on in the newspapers from the time. So read on to discover how the press reported Margaret Thatcher’s landmark 1979 election victory, how the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer was depicted, and also how the infamous Buckingham Palace break-in was covered in the press of the day. …
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This week on The Archive we have added 63,650 brand new pages, giving us a total today of 39,709,184 pages, as we move ever closer to that spectacular landmark of 40 million pages available to view. With one brand new title added this week, covering the county of Somerset, we have updates to regional titles from across England, from Yorkshire in the north to Plymouth in the south, by way of Birmingham and Shropshire. So read on to find out which new title we have added this …
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In 1948 cinema attendance peaked with a staggering 1,650 million visits recorded in Great Britain throughout that year. This was the height of the golden age of cinema going, something that had begun in the 1920s and burgeoned throughout the 1930s and 1940s. The Regal, Altrincham, known as ‘the cathedral of cinemas’ | The Bioscope | 24 June 1931 In this special blog we will explore this golden age of cinema going and what contributed to its overwhelming success and popularity, using …
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This week has been another busy one here at The Archive as we have added 97,266 brand new pages to our collection – including one brand new title from Scotland. And it’s a lucky thirteen for our updated titles – with updates to newspapers from Rochester to Gloucester, from Ireland and Wales, as well as to some of our special interest publications. So read on to discover more about our brand new title – the Greenock Herald – and the other updates we have …
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This week at The Archive we are delighted to once more welcome an array of very special brand new titles, as we have added 150,218 brand new pages over the past seven days. From a new film title, to a new international one, via some extensive additions to both our regional and national titles, we are bringing you a variety of eclectic and exciting new pages this week. So read on to discover more about the Kinematograph Weekly and the British Australasian – as well …
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This week at The Archive we’re excited to welcome a very special new sporting title to our collection, as well as a long run of a new regional title. We’ve added 120,212 brand new pages in all over the past seven days – as the presses don’t stop whirring here at the BNA! Read on to discover more about this week’s brand new titles, as well as the additions we have made to our existing titles (including updates to one of our international titles). …
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To celebrate the release of Netflix’s new film Rebecca, starring Armie Hammer, Lily James and Kristin Scott Thomas, in this special blog we will be looking at the publishing phenomenon that was, and still is, Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca. Published in August 1938, Rebecca was Daphne du Maurier’s fifth novel, the author having already had success with her 1936 work Jamaica Inn. The daughter of Sir Gerald du Maurier, a famous actor, and the granddaughter of George du Maurier, a cartoonist and novelist, Daphne du Maurier had …
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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 …
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At the British Newspaper Archive, we have started to digitize international newspapers from the British Library. These rich titles explore the story of the British Commonwealth, from the time when the sun didn’t set on the British Empire through to states gaining their independence. At times, the subject of the newspapers brings us face to face with the stark and sometimes inhuman reality of colonialism and the legacy of the British Empire across the world. Below we will explore some …