The Friday Digest 15/08/14

This week's update features a Victorian balloon riot, abandoned villages and an ancient tomb. 

• * The great balloon riot of 1864. 

• * Why the Dickens is Charles a detective?

 

• * Registrar General figures reveal the impact of the First World War in Scotland.  

 

• * The shame of white feathers.  

• * A secret encounter that shaped world history. 

 

• * Ten things you didn't know about Joseph Stalin.  

 

• * This week was the fiftieth anniversary of the last people to be executed in the UK. 

• * The medieval period saw the abandonment of around 3,000 villages and towns. What caused such an exodus and what remains to show that they were ever there at all?

• * A Chianti wine ancestor has been found in a well in Tuscany. 

 

• * A vast tomb has been unearthed in northern Greece. 

 

• * The Indian Animal Farm where Orwell was born. 

 

• * People have been reusing old books to make amazing and unique art. 

 

• * Penguin have defended their controversial new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory cover which has upset many fans.  

 

• * 'Comics Unmasked' exhibition at the British Library: the history of a derided art form.

• * 'No idea what the hell I was doing': Headline's Ben Willis talks about developing Bookbridgr. 

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