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For Today
Introduction — After Alaric the Goth’s assault on Rome was successfully turned back, victory games were held in the Roman Colosseum on January 1st, 404. As usual, they quickly descended into savagery.
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For Today
The Gift of Life
by A. G. Gardiner
Introduction — Asked which event of the Great War had made the deepest impression on him, columnist ‘Alpha of the Plough’ recalled the fate of HMS Formidable, twice torpedoed by a German U-Boat during night-time exercises off the Devon coast on January 1st, 1915. The Captain, 34 officers and 512 crew died; 157 men were picked up from the water or made it ashore in two boats.
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For Today
The First Fleet
by John Patience Chard
Introduction — The first British settlement in Australia was established at Sydney Cove on January 26th, 1788, and named after the Home Secretary. The policy of penal transportation was barbarity, but out of it Captain Phillips and his successors conjured civilisation — and began by disobeying orders.
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For Today
Today
January 1
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New Year’s Day
Introduction — The death of Tennyson’s close friend Arthur Henry Hallam left familiar Christmas Eve customs such as the holly and the music and the dancing full of sad memories for him. He responded positively, however, embracing the deeper message of Christmas Day: a new beginning, a New Year.
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For Today
Today
December 19
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Christmastide
12 Posts
Angels and Men Agree
by Elfric of Eynsham
Introduction — Elfric of Eynsham reminds us that when God’s Son took flesh and was born from the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem, he conferred an honour on all human bodies and indeed all creation. After the Nativity, even the angels changed their dealings with us, out of respect for what happened on that night in the inn.
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4 Jun 2025
The Two Shakespeares
by Arthur Clutton-Brock
Introduction — Arthur Clutton-Brock was, for many years, art critic for the Times, and knew something of the artistic temperament. On the tercentenary of the death of William Shakespeare (1564-1616), he deplored the way that Shakespeare had been turned into a National Institution.
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2 Jun 2025
Use each noun below in two sentences, first as the subject, and then as the object of a verb. For example, rain → ‘The rain hasn’t stopped all day’ [subject]; ‘I shook the rain from my umbrella’ [object].
IBattle. IIEar. IIIFairway. IVJudge. VLevel. VIVideo.
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2 Jun 2025
Introduction — On October 21st, 1805, the Royal Navy crushed a French and Spanish fleet at Cape Trafalgar, Spain. This permanently deprived Napoleon Bonaparte, the French Emperor, of sea-power, and ended his hopes of conquering Britain. Though Admiral Nelson died that day, his call to arms remains one of the best-known sentences in the English language. Here, Lieutenant John Pasco recalls how it was made.
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2 Jun 2025
Use the following as adverbial clauses in your own sentences. For example: Before he leaves → ‘I must speak to him [before he leaves]’.
An adverbial clause does the work of an adverb such as ‘immediately’ or ‘urgently’. Unlike these words, however, a clause has a subject and a verb in it, as a sentence does. So ‘immediately’ is an adverb, ‘as soon as possible’ is an adverbial phrase (no verb), but ‘as soon as I can’ is an adverbial clause.
IBefore he leaves. IIWhenever you like. IIIBetter than I do. IVBecause I’m late for a meeting. VSince you’re here. VIIf you see her. VIIUnless it’s raining.
Suggestions
The following sentences could be used with one or more of the adverbial clauses above.
Make sure he’s got his passport. Tell her where I am. Come and visit us. You can help with the washing-up. You know her. I can’t talk for long. We’ll have lunch in the garden.