The Friday Digest 20/03/15

This week's update features the Apian Emperor, England's abandoned mansions and the dreams of Charles Rennie Mackintosh. 

* The Jersey connection to Napoleon.

* How Arthur Wellesley became 'Wellington'. 

* Charlotte Bonaparte, Napoleon’s artistic niece. 

* Napoleon, the Apian Emperor. 

* Lesley Simpson, the first female Guizer Jarl –  or chief Viking –  in the 130-year history of Shetland's world-famous fire festivals is preparing to don her armour and make history. 

* Michelle Williams and the preparation for her Suite Francaise role. 

* Archaeology: remembering the ordinary people ... 

* What do you do with an old ocean liner? 

* Stonehenge's origin is the subject of a new theory proposed by former museum director Julian Spalding. 

* Etiquette for the Victorian gentleman. 

* Why did Charles Dickens have a personal postbox?  

* The high-wire act of the Victorian and Edwardian circus. 

* The lovers of Downton Abbey become more passionate with age — but it’s the most aristocratic couple that remains surprisingly steadfast.

* Marilyn Monroe and Max Factor: the business of looking good ... 

* The lost Gillender Building at 14 Wall Street. 

* What happened to England's abandoned mansions?

* The century-long history of RAF Leuchars has been commemorated in an exhibition. 

* The stories of a number of soldiers from the Gloucestershire Regiment are being carried on local buses to commemorate the centenary of the First World War.

* A war photographer’s ninety-nine-year journey.  

* The dreams of Charles Rennie Mackintosh. 

* Celebrating the whirlwind wit of Simone de Beauvoir. 

* Soil from the village where Richard III was born will be placed in his coffin when he is reburied next Thursday. 

* A new genetic study of the UK shows 10,000 years of immigration and invasions. 

* The first spacewalk was fifty years ago and was almost a disaster ... 

* People across the UK and northern Europe have gathered to see the best solar eclipse in years. A path across the Earth's surface was plunged into darkness when the Moon covered up the Sun earlier today. 

* The 'world's oldest railway tunnel' in Derbyshire has been awarded protected status. 

* Conserving Dürer’s Triumphal Arch: a moving experience. 

* The challenges of archiving the arts.  

* The most heated, passionate and intense letters of love, lust and anger ever written. (NSFW) 

* The man who transformed bookshop chain Foyles. 

* Some interesting thoughts on how to rebuild a publishing business.