With the Guardian looking at the parlous state of Britain’s local papers, how have they fared over the past half century?

Andrew Grant-Adamson found out whilst doing a little research for his local newsagent.

The East Anglian Daily Times reached edition 42,330 today. Last week I delved back in the county records for 50 years to look for the day our village newsagents started their business (November 17, 1958). They wanted to see it again.

In that half-a-century Grace and Bob Webster have sold well over six million copies of the regional morning. They wanted to see what it said on day they started their still thriving business where Grace, at the age of 80, continues to get up at 4.30 in the morning to sort large piles of papers for delivery. The provide their service to many of the villages around.

What struck me as the old microfilm image came up on the records office screen was that the Anglian is now providing more local news than it was. First there was the size: eight pages broadsheet then and 48 tabloid now (Mondays).

That is a tripling of the area of newsprint to be filled. Granted pictures and much much bigger headlines fill much of that extra space. Yet the paper clearly provides a larger volume of local news now than it did in 1958.

Then it was very much an agency filled national and international plus local newspaper. The Cyprus problems, a car strike in the midlands, Russia, Ghana and free trade talks were all on the front page. Twenty three stories and a briefs column on the front page.

But even the weather story was hardly given a local spin and and the egg marketing scheme none at all.