Edinburgh Evening Courant 14 April 1827

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

The classified ads of the Edinburgh Evening Courant of April the 14th 1827 reveal the importance of the port of Leith - with direct passenger routes to Elsinore and St Petersburg, a public lecture intended to debunk Phrenology - the idea that an individual’s character can be determined from the shape of their skull, and Walter Scott, Europe's most prolific author, hoping to stay out of the new Bridewell debtor's prison.

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 BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in August 2019.