蜜芽传媒

James Naughtie finds the heartbeat of history in the front page small ads of old UK newspapers.

The classified ads of the Manchester Mercury on 17 August 1819, the day after the Peterloo Massacre, give their own insight into the post Napoleonic war social stress.

Rewards are offered for information on "those who have absconded from their families" with their names and descriptions. Special constables have been recruited in Bowden "to enforce obedience of the laws" and auctions are announced for everything from a house to a horse, and from a clementi piano to the "Scotch edition of Shakespeare".

Front page news is a relatively late addition to the newspaper business. For most of their first couple of centuries, British newspapers carried classified ads rather than news on their front page. They transformed the hustle and bustle of the marketplace into newsprint, so you could take it home or to the inn to pore over at your leisure.

James Naughtie travels the country discovering how these front page ads give us a snapshot of time and place, exploring how they weave national and local life together - the heartbeat of history rolling daily or weekly off the presses.

Producer: John Forsyth

A Loftus Media production for 蜜芽传媒 Radio 4, first broadcast in 2018.