The Friday Digest 14/11/14

This week's update features the controversies of remembrance, the importance of heritage and why the humanities matter.

* A fascinating look at the scale of the British war effort in the First World War.

* The teenage soldiers of the First World War.

* Does the First World War tourist trade exploit the memory of the fallen? 

* How do we remember the First World War?

* 'Remembrance isn’t only about those who fought, but also those who refused' - do you agree? 

* Lest we forget: the 306 'cowards' executed in the First World War.

* Six remarkable First World War memorials.

* Thousands of the Tower of London poppies are to go on tour to enable more people to see parts of the popular artwork.

* The history of the remembrance poppy. 

* Edward and Harry Turner, the Gloucestershire twins who were casualties of the Battle of Coronel in November 1914.  

* We spent a lot of time talking about this in the office this week, but would love to know your thoughts?

* Meet the losers from the fall of the Berlin Wall - it may have been twenty-five years since the Berlin Wall came down but many in Schwedt still mourn the Communist regime, but why?

* How Berlin has changed since the wall fell. 

* Ten bikes that made history – in pictures.

* The 1791 great mail robberies. 

* How the queen's portrait has changed on our coins over the years. 

* Netflix has confirmed 'epic drama' The Crown, about No 10. and Buckingham Palace. 

* Newly released White House tape transcripts reveal how Ronald Reagan sought to mollify an angry Margaret Thatcher after the US invaded Grenada without giving her advance warning.

* Lost love letters belonging to Marilyn Monroe are to be sold at auction next month.

* Jesus 'married Mary Magdalene and had children', according to an ancient manuscript unearthed at the British Library.

 

 

*  Joan Clarke, the woman who cracked Enigma with Alan Turing.

* The spies in a suburban bungalow. 

* The English city that wanted to 'break away' from the UK.

* Home Life - where do you think you live?

* The fight to save one of Italy's oldest cities from crumbling away. 

* Sydney Opera House - one man's love affair with this iconic building.  

* San Francisco then and now.

* Londonist renamed all 270 tube stations and some of the suggestions are brilliant.

* The value and impact of heritage and the historic environment. 

* Why Stephen King's road to hell is paved with adverbs ... 

* The original Harry Potter creature concept art is utterly breathtaking.

* Publishers 'must do better' on diversity as publishing is still largely white and middle-class and no major UK trade publishing house has either a woman or a person from a black, Asian or minority ethnic background in the role of CEO.

* Amazon has knocked Tesco off the entertainment sales top spot with the ecommerce giant selling almost a quarter of all films, games and music in the UK. 

* The Bad Sex In Fiction Award 2014 shortlist has been announced and you can read passages from the offending books here. 

* The Imperial War Museum library is threatened with closure.

* Sarah Churchwell: why the humanities matter. 

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