What began as rumours from Spain was soon to become a nightmarish reality, as the Spanish flu pandemic began to take hold in the United Kingdom, where it would go on to kill approximately 250,000 people, and 50,000,000 globally. Staff from the Michie Hospital | Graphic | 26 July 1919 In this special blog, as part of medicine month on The Archive, we will take a look at how newspapers from the time reported on the deadly disease, from those first rumours, …
First World War
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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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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In this our latest animal-themed blog, we take a look at the extraordinary story of Tirpitz the pig. A shipwreck survivor, and charity fundraiser, we look through our newspapers to tell her remarkable and unlikely story. Register now and explore The Archive Tirpitz and friend | Daily Record | 24 March 1916 The tale of Tirpitz begins on board the SMS Dresden, a light cruiser of the German Imperial Fleet. Pigs were often kept on board battleships to supply fresh meat, but …
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We have been extremely busy over the past seven days here at The Archive adding an exciting array of brand new titles and pages to our collection. We have a bumper crop of new titles (twelve in all!), as well as updates to fourteen of our existing titles, covering England, Wales, Ireland and Northern Ireland. We are delighted to have added 141,258 new pages in all. Read on to find out more about our fabulous array of new regional, national and specialist titles. Register now …
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Every Army, Air Force, Navy and Secret Service in the world has its feathered battalions, and when the story of the war is written finally it will be found that many a battle has been won, many a ship preserved and many a life saved through the help of the feathered soldiers. These were the words of Victor Newton as he wrote for the Aberdeen Press and Journal in 1943, describing ‘how pigeons play their part in war.’ And so, in this …
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This month at the British Newspaper Archive we are celebrating all things pet related – and what better way to start than by taking a special look at some of the bravest cats and dogs that we have found in the pages of our newspapers? Irma the Alastian receives the Dickin Medal for rescue work during the Blitz | Illustrated London News | 20 January 1945 From the role that dogs played on the European front during the First World War, and …
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This week we have added 70,450 new pages to The Archive, with two new and very important titles joining us from home and abroad. We have added an extensive run of pages to the Westminster Gazette, which was seen by some as ‘the most powerful paper in Britain.’ Established in 1893 by E.T. Cook, the Westminster Gazette was a liberal newspaper, which found its audience in London’s gentlemen’s clubs and was consequently known as a ‘clubland paper.’ Despite this audience being small, and …
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‘It is not proposed to make total war total misery,’ said the Home Secretary Herbert Morrison in 1942, as he announced in the House of Commons that dancing was not to be included in the ‘recreations that are to be restricted to prevent interference with the war effort.’ Indeed, for many, dance was synonymous with their experiences of life in the Second World War. American GIs brought over with them new and exciting dance styles, and dancing itself was a …
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This week we are delighted to welcome 137,896 new pages to The Archive, with new pages spanning 128 years from 1871 to 1999. We have additions to eighteen of our existing titles, including extensive updates to the Walsall Observer, and South Staffordshire Chronicle, which cover the years 1873 to 1969 and number nearly 35,000 pages. This week also sees updates to six of our London titles, including the Acton Gazette, as well as three of our Scottish titles, with pages added to the Hamilton …