Sir Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington by Thomas Lawrence By Jonathan Summers, Curator of Classical Music Two hundred and fifty years ago today, Arthur Wellesley, Field Marshall His Grace the Duke of Wellington, was born in Dublin. Most famous for his victory at the Battle of Waterloo where he…

This week’s selection comes from Charlie Morgan, Oral History Archivist. The Barley Mow is a classic end of the night folk song; funny enough to leave you in a good mood, adaptable enough to please the crowd, and it’s about drinking so normally has the pub on your side. It’s…

Illustration from HMV set of Merrie England (Courtesy of Damien’s 78s) By Jonathan Summers, Curator of Classical Music To celebrate St George’s Day this year I have selected a work whose popularity lasted well into the twentieth century. When Arthur Sullivan died in 1900 he had written fourteen operas with…

This week’s selection comes from Greg Green, Audio Project Cataloguer for Unlocking our Sound Heritage. With hundreds of recordings of birds from around East Africa, Myles E. W. North is a name that constantly crops up within the enormous collection of wildlife species reels here at the library. During his…

This week’s selection comes from Steve Cleary, Lead Curator of Literary and Creative Recordings. This week’s Recording of the week – composed of two recordings in fact, an A-side and a B-side – is drawn from the disc issued by the Columbia Gramophone Company to commemorate the opening of the…