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The Guardian - Back to homeThe Guardian

A look back

Historical articles from the Observer, compiled by @guardianlibrary. See also From the archive blog. For full content from 1791 onwards see our page on accessing past articles.

5 August 2017

  • Turkish troops pull ashore a Greek Cypriot torpedo boat damaged during the fighting in Kyrenia on 20 July 1974, the day Turkey invaded and occupied the northern third of Cyprus.

    From the Observer archive: this week in 1974

    Cyprus faces division after Turkish invasion

29 July 2017

  • Winston Churchill with Harry S Truman and Joseph Stalin in Potsdam, Germany, in July 1945, a week before the election result.

    From the Observer archive: this week in 1945

    Winston Churchill is voted out of office

22 July 2017

  • Harold Wilson faced calls for devaluation of the pound.

    From the Observer archive: this week in 1967

    Harold Wilson prepares to give in to his own MPs

15 July 2017

  • Members of the 1st Battalion the Gloucestershire Regiment in South Korea on 9 May, 1951 after Britain joined the war in August 1950.

    From the Observer archive: this week in 1950

    Britain wavers over joining Korean war

8 July 2017

  • Lord Annan: a complacent solution.

    From the Observer archive: this week in 1980

    New ways must be found to fund the BBC

17 June 2017

  • A woman flees after police opened fire on a protest in Soweto in June 1976.

    From the Observer archive: this week in 1976

    From the Observer archive: this week in 1976

10 June 2017

  • ‘A what !’ asked Mr Weller, apparently horror-stricken by the word. ‘ A walentine,’ replied Sam.

    From the Observer archive: this week in 1953

    Modern language down to a T

3 June 2017

  • John Gielgud as King Lear at the Old Vic in 1930.

    From the Observer archive: this week in 1922

    The Old Vic is saved from closure

27 May 2017

  • French president General Charles de Gaulle in 1962.

    From the Observer archive: this week in 1962

    France nurtures nuclear ambitions for Europe

20 May 2017

  • The Imperial War Cabinet of 1917

    From the Observer archive: this week in 1917

    Strikes in our war weary country only further the cause of absolutism

13 May 2017

  • Margaret Thatcher campaigning in the 1983 General Election.

    From the Observer archive: this week in 1983

    The forthcoming election is not cut and dried

6 May 2017

  • A Papas cartoon from the Guardian in 1961 sums up Britain’s ambivalent attitude to Europe.

    From the Observer archive: this week in 1967

    Look while you leap – MPs vote on joining Europe

29 April 2017

  • A portrait of William Shakespeare, circa 1600.

    From the Observer archive | This week in 1920

    America’s ambassador to Britain invokes the Bard

22 April 2017

  • Enoch Powell: firebrand.

    From the Observer archive: this week in 1968

    Angry workers take to the streets to protest at Enoch Powell’s sacking after race speech

15 April 2017

  • Franklin Delano Roosevelt in New York in 1939.1939

    From the Observer archive: this week in 1939

    Roosevelt writes to Hitler and Mussolini

1 April 2017

  • Napoleon Bonaparte returned to Paris after escaping from Elba.

    Napoleon becomes emperor – again

    Triumphant return from exile on Elba

18 March 2017

  • Mahatma Gandhi outside 10 Downing Street in 1931 during talks about constitutional reform in India.

    From the Observer archive: this week in 1933

    India begins its path to independence

11 March 2017

  • Enoch Powell, King’s Hall, Belfast, 1974

    From the Observer archive: this week in 1970

    Immigration becomes an issue in the general election

4 March 2017

  • Wilson Resigns<br>16th March 1976: The British Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, at a press conference in the Ministry of Defence, where he announced his resignation. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

    From the Observer archive: this week in 1967

    British government is becoming increasingly presidential

25 February 2017

  • The coal industry faced pressure over increased competition from oil.

    From the Observer archive: this week in 1929

    Fuel and the future – how coal can compete with oil
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