Ripley and Heanor News, 2 July 1948

James Naughtie concludes his exploration of history through front page small ads.

The Ripley and Heanor News - serving the towns of the Amber Valley, north of Derby - reveals the austerity of post war recovery in its columns, the home made entertainment in the days before television's domination and a meeting with one of the best known mediums in the Midlands.

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.