In October 1947, actress Eileen Isabella Ronnie Gibson, also known as Gay Gibson, disappeared from the ship upon which she was travelling home from South Africa. Her disappearance, which later led to a murder trial, hit headlines across the globe, as the sensational case mirrored plots akin to those to be found in books authored by Agatha Christie. In the first part of this special blog series, which you can read here, we took a look at who Gay Gibson …
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The murder of 21-year-old actress Eileen Isabella Ronnie Gibson, who went by the name stage name of Gay Gibson, whilst she was travelling home from South Africa aboard the Durban Castle, in October 1947, made headlines across Britain and the world. Also known as the ‘Porthole Murder,’ thanks to the method in which Gay’s body was disposed, the case gained notoriety due to its parallels with film noir and popular fiction penned by Agatha Christie. In part one of a …
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This week at The Archive we are delighted to welcome one splendid brand new title to our collection – Toby – the ‘East London Watch-Dog‘ – which provides us with a fascinating insight into attitudes to the police in Whitechapel at the time of Jack the Ripper. That’s not all, over the last seven days we’ve added 89,020 brand new newspaper pages, whilst we’ve made important updates to our newspaper titles from across England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. So read …
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This week at The Archive we are delighted to present a Northern Irish newspapers special, as we have updated a trio of our titles from Northern Ireland. We have also added 106,898 brand new pages over the last week alone, whilst we have added one brand new title from London. So read on to discover more about all of our new and updated titles of the week, and also to learn about the first ever Borstal, which was opened in …
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We’re starting this week off with a bang as we have added 218,828 brand new pages to The Archive, as we investigate the 1964 ‘Battle of Pier Gap,’ in which mods and rockers clashed in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex. Meanwhile, we’ve added one brand new title to The Archive, the East Essex Advertiser and Clacton News, as well as making extensive updates to our existing titles from across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. From Croydon to Clacton, from South Bank to South …
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This week we return from a publishing hiatus having added a mammoth 1,610,356 brand new pages to our Archive, and it’s an especially great week for Grimsby too, as we’ve added one brand new title for the Lincolnshire town, and also extensively updated the Grimsby Daily Telegraph. All of these additions mean we have now surpassed a landmark 65 million pages on The Archive. This week also sees the addition of a further three new titles to our collection, from …
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This week at The Archive we have a South London special for you, with three brand new newspaper titles joining us from the likes of Croydon and Southwark. Meanwhile, we’ve added 360,986 brand new pages in total to our collection over the past seven days, with five brand new titles being welcomed to The Archive in all. We’ve not neglected our existing newspaper titles either. From Gloucester to Grimsby, from Plymouth to Port Talbot, from Stirling to Sevenoaks, we’ve updated …
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A walk along Piccadilly in the black-out is one of the many queer experiences of this war. The once brilliant centre of London’s night life is now as dark as any forest, and indeed, like a forest, the darkness is full of rustlings and whisperings, of half-seen shapes, and of a sinister feeling of eager, but invisible, life. Daily Herald | 26 April 1940 So began a Daily Herald article on blackout crime in London during the Second World War. …
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This week at The Archive we have been beavering away to bring you 199,116 brand new pages, 17 brand new titles and 28 updated titles from across England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. We have added five brand new regional titles from England, Wales and Scotland over the past seven days, and we have added twelve titles as part of the British Library’s ongoing Heritage Made Digital programme. So read on to discover about all of the updates we have made this week, as well as to …
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In December, 1811, all London was convulsed with terror at the tidings of the horrible slaughter wreaked at 29 Ratcliff Highway and 81 New Gravel Lane, and soon, from the Prince Regent’s table at Carlton House to the tap-room of the lowest dram-shop in Wapping, the hideous subject engrossed all. Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday, 27 August 1887 These murders, now generally referred to as the Ratcliff Highway Murders, represent one of the bloodiest chapters in British crime history, and might have …