The Friday Digest brings you the best of the week's history news gathered from the experts:
* This is not strictly history related, but the news that Sir Alex Ferguson is going to retire at the end of the season has shocked many fans. The BBC has gathered up all of Manchester United's wins and losses under Sir Alex Ferguson and 10 things not everyone knows about one of football's most iconic managers.
In 1989, Pete Molyneux unfurled a controversial banner calling for the Manchester United manager to resign but now he is glad the Scot stuck around and the man who said ta-ra to Sir Alex Ferguson now joins the applause.
* The Richard III team made a second Leicester car park find as a 1,700-year-old Roman cemetery has been identified beneath another car park in the city.
Since the discovery of his body in February, there has been a lot of discussion about where to bury Richard III and the debate is still raging as campaigners march through York.
* Whilst Michael Gove has been critical of 'Mr. Men' history teaching, public interest in history and heritage is at an all-time high and schools have been essential in maintaining this momentum. English Heritage's bus scheme to fund shool trips to historical sites, should enable even the poorest of school children to visit historical sites.
Six key heritage projects have been given lottery funding to help preserve sites. The projects include Silverstone motor racing circuit and the former BBC studios at Alexandra Palace in London.
* Reading can be a great way to destress but 'if you are reading novels to make friends, you're doing it wrong' claims author Claire Messud. According to Messud the "relevant question" isn't whether a character is "a potential friend", but "Is this character alive?" Do you prefer a likeable protagonist or do you love to hate the narrator?
Author Jacqueline Wilson has spoken out about the 'sugary pink' of her book covers, as she wonders whether a more neutral book jacket would attract more male readers. Despite the well-worn wisdom of never judging a book by its cover, cover design plays a huge part in the book selection process.
Book Riot asks why we choose the books that we do and I agree that staying power is a key factor, there is a reason that books like Pride and Prejudice are still popular today...
* Many an Austen fan would like to party like it was 1813, especially if they got to meet their own Mr. Darcy! The BBC has some tips for throwing the perfect Regency ball so Austenites dreams are one step closer to coming true....
* Some traditional publishers are struggling to face up to the rocky relationship between print and digital and are finding it difficult to adapt to the fast paced change within the industry.Creativity has to be balanced with profitability and as a result, relationships with authors too can become quite fraught. Perhaps they need some inspiration on balancing their books from the 'first great writer entrepreneur', Shakespeare?
* Herculaneum always gets forgotten in favour of its neighbouring town of Pompeii but this British Museum blog explores the fascinating history of 'the unknown city'
* It is amazing how quickly technology changes and a look at the 1953 technology used to climb Everest demonstrates how much things have moved on in only 60 years. This article explaining how chainmail works is fascinating. It is easy to get into the trap of thinking that innovation is a modern invention but this blows that theory out of the water!
* These stunning Google Earth photographs show our planet changing over a quarter century and it is so interesting to see how much has changed in 25 years.
* 'Titanic: By the men who built it' is a stunning and poignant collection of images that emphasises the heroism of the Belfast men responsible for the building of history's most infamous ship. Titanic's final destination of New York was purchased by Peter Minuit, director of the fledgling Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam on the island of Manhattes, for trinkets worth an estimated $24 on the morning of May 6th, 1626.
It would cost a lot more to buy the sland of Manhattan now!
* Campaigners have called for a public statue of Mary, Queen of Scots to be erected in Scotland after the realisation that there are no official statues of this 'toweringfigure' of Scottish history in the public domain. A portrait of her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I was found in house clearance sale. Unfortunately for most people, it is more likely that they will find spiders rather than treasures in their attics!
* Can you work out the code on this Edwardian postcard?
* Thirteen years before the start of the First World War, Britain’s military establishment was warned explicitly that offensive operations in a major conflict in Europe would be unsuccessful and that such a war would end only when one side was exhausted but the man who predicted the Great War was ignored.
* With the release of Dan Brown's new book, Inferno on Tuesday, Nicholas Lezard presents ten things you need to know about Dante, 'the greatest poet who ever lived'.
* Could this be the greatest gig line up of all time? History Today asked people to come up with a list of bands named for historical people, places or things and a surprising number of bands were put forward.
Which history and publishing stories have you enjoyed reading this week?