The Friday Digest 16/05/14

 
This week's update features pets trained for the trenches, England's fight for democracy and a forty-year-old mystery. 

* The Imperial War Museum's 'Lives of the First World War' digital memorial has gone live. The memorial remembers the millions of people from Britain and the Commonwealth who served in the First World War and 4.5 million British army members are already included in the project.

* Pets trained for the trenches and children raising funds: how the home front helped to win the First World War. 

* On 13 May 1939, more than 900 Jews fled Germany aboard a luxury cruise liner, the SS St Louis. They had hoped to reach Cuba and then travel to the US — but were turned away in Havana and forced to return to Europe.

* Why did ordinary people commit atrocities in the Holocaust? 

* During the Second World War, Prime Minister Winston Churchill feared the opening of a new front in the Falklands and sent about 1,000 soldiers to protect the islands and ensure Britain would not have to retake them.

* Pompeii, Hollywood's newest historical blockbuster, has been mocked for its credibility and accuracy. But despite the liberties it takes with the plot, it turns out that the veggie supper is accurate.

* A US underwater investigator has said he believes he has found the wreck of the Santa Maria, the flagship of Christopher Columbus's first voyage.

* Was the Battle of Lewes England's first fight for democracy?

* Six suspects, two murders and a forty-year-old mystery: the Reykjavik Confessions.

* The Dublin-Monaghan bombings: survivors share their story forty years on. 

* Unique perspectives of European cities and towns.  I could spend all day on something like this, it is fascinating to get a bird's-eye view of places like the Palace of Versailles.

* Caroline Sanderson discuss all things Jane Austen with Wendy Jones on 'Interesting Conversations'. 

*  A fascinating podcast on the historical use of 'tear bottles' in the mourning rituals of Romans, Greeks and Victorians.

* James Dever, Military Technical Advisor for the Godzilla movie, explains how to take down Godzilla in real life.  

 * Virginity, chastity and purity: defining women past and present. 

* Former Royal Navy Captain Eric Brown, the last surviving pilot to have flown the first Allied jet, opened Gloucestershire's Jet Age Museum.

* Proofreaders – the good, the bad and the criminal ... 

* From Goodreads to Jellybooks, what are your favourite book-recommendation platforms?

* Gabrielle Zevin asks why we lie about our favourite books.  

* Linda Stratmann and Janet Laurence share their preparations for Crimefest.

* Publisher Hachette has accused Amazon.com of deliberately delaying sending its books with the news causing quite the outcry.

* Outspoken MP Margaret Hodge has said customers should not use Amazon after it emerged that the company paid £4.2 million in tax last year, even though it sold goods worth more than £4.3 billion.

* Ebooks may be the future but can we ever change the DNA of a reader?

 
  Which history and publishing stories have you enjoyed reading this week?