22 July 2009

40 years ago - TNA podcast

One of the signs of advancing years is that you get contacted by former work colleagues, younger ones, interested in the history of the organization. That happened to me this week along with other signs, the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing, an event I recall quite distinctly as it also has family history connections for me, I watched it during my only visit with a first cousin two times removed near New York. Then there's the TNA podcast "The Summer of '69". I'm used to thinking of TNA podcasts as dealing with history, not things I remember.

The podcast, presented by Mark Dunton, deals in large part with political events in Britain as well as social events. The website includes most of the images and documents referred to in the podcast, appreciated, as well as a transcript of the presentation.

One thing that surprised me was Dunton's comment: "So what was the weather like, in the summer of '69? Its quite difficult to find a source that will tell you, in meaningful terms, about the quality of summers from historical periods."

Not so! The image is a sample from The Times, for 21 July 1969, a panel of weather information included faithfully each day. A search on the word weather for the date or range of dates of interest on The Times Digital Archive will easily find that information.

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