Our witnesses: A shared newspaper heritage

The work of understanding history — or the work of trying to understand history — has never been easier. 

Online access, often free, to archives, museums, military records, and even census results means that anyone with an interest in how today grew from yesterday can easily, very easily compared to the challenges facing historians of earlier times, get to grips with their subject.

Newspapers are often described as the first draft of history and those first impressions are part of the heritage of this country.