From the 8th to the 15th February 1942, the Empire of Japan invaded Singapore, one of Britain’s largest military bases in the South East. The move, that would see 85,000 British, Australian and Indian troops taken prisoner of war, was dubbed the “worst disaster” in British military history by Winston Churchill. Search the newspapers Back in Britain, the newspapers were filled with reports of missing troops and families appealing for information. Many of these men had been taken prisoner, but …
Aberdeen Journal
In case you’re tempted to take out a “Lonely Hearts” ad this Valentine’s Day, be warned: according to the newspaper archive you’d be wise to stay vigilant. Search the newspapers In fact, as the Aberdeen Journal suggested in 1949: Aberdeen Journal – Monday 07 March 1949© THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Unfortunately, the famous Lonely Hearts murders in New York were not an isolated incident. William Sanchez d’Epina Hepper was born in Gibraltar in 1891. He spent …
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As the film adaptation of the beloved BBC television series Dad’s Army is released today, many critics have applauded the film’s new take on women’s involvement in the war. Far from being the running gag of the little woman heard but never seen, Mrs Mainwaring has stepped up to take centre stage, leading a group of women in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. Search the newspapers The role that these women played, whether acting as telephonists in France to or cooks …
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After watching Sainsbury’s Christmas advert, Kate Cole was inspired to research the real story behind WW1’s Christmas Truce. She used The British Newspaper Archive to unearth the experiences of soldiers on the Western Front in 1914. ************** In December 1914, during first year of World War One, a remarkable event known as the Christmas Day Truce occurred in small pockets along the Western Front. 100 years later, one of Britain’s largest grocery shops has released a Christmas advert re-enacting …
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It’s hard to believe, but The British Newspaper Archive has now reached the grand old age of three. We launched on 29 November 2011 with 4 million fully searchable historic newspaper pages and have come a long way since then. Please click the image to enlarge it A treasure trove of information You can now search more than 9 million pages, from over 300 British and Irish newspaper titles, spanning 1710-1954. Reading all of those pages would be …
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England took part in the World Cup for the first time in 1950. Like this year’s tournament, the football matches were held in Brazil. The English national team met the United States in the group stages and suffered a shocking 1-0 defeat. The game has gone down in football history and has a rather interesting urban myth attached to it. Many say that English newspapers reported a 10-1 win, assuming that there had been a typing error in the message they received …
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Thousands of historical newspaper pages were added to The British Newspaper Archive in May, including three great new titles. We hope you enjoy exploring the new additions. Search the newspapers More newspaper titles available to search You’ll now find editions of London’s Penny Illustrated Paper, the Dundee, Perth and Forfar People’s Journal and the Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald online. 56 other titles were also updated, including the Aberdeen Journal, the Kent & Sussex Courier and the …