Artists at War: Paul Nash and the First World War
When war was declared on 4 August 1914 many artists - the profession was then still predominantly male - began to enlist. The Royal Army Medical Corp (RAMC), which provided…
Middlesex: the county that vanished?
The Oxford Companion to British History describes Middlesex as "one of the smallest, oldest and strangest of counties". Counties Counties (also called shires, hence Cheshire, Lancashire, Yorkshire) have a long…
Cover Story: our ace teen reading promotion!
Cover Story is our yearly pick of the best teen reads. The booklist (available free in libraries and online) contains 48 of the best books for 11 – 14 year…
U.S. Presidential Inaugurations: from Lincoln to Trump
As president elect, Donald Trump, makes his final preparations to become the 45th president of the United States at midday on Friday 20th January , a day that will surely…
‘Home Sweet Home’, says CEO, Paul Martin
Following his visit to Richmond upon Thames Library Services on Thursday 29 December 2016, Paul Martin, Chief Executive Officer serving Richmond and Wandsworth Councils, shares his views on libraries and…
London: the city as a phoenix [Part 2] – the Blitz and St. Paul’s
The Great Fire of London, which destroyed and devastated four-fifths of the city, began on 5th September 1666. 274 years and 2 days later, on 7th September 1940, the city…
Follow the Drum: Christmas 1916
Christmas 1916. The third Christmas of the War. In this article we consider daily life in the Borough at the time of the third Christmas of the War. It was…
The Origins of Bank Holidays
In the UK we owe our statutory bank holidays to John Lubbock, first Baron of Avebury, scientific writer (who studied ants and tried to teach his poodle to read), banker…
Behind the Scenes: planning an IT event
Wow! More than 2,000 sessions delivered? How did we do that? In the last three years the Information and Reference Library has planned and held 31 IT events alongside our extremely popular…
1966 and all that [Part 2]: Graphic Design
Fifty years ago Britain was in the midst of Psychedelia which manifested itself in vibrant patterned clothes, long hair (for both women and men), experimental music and films, and the blurring of…