The Blog
Updates from across the site
25
12 May
From 361 to 363, the Roman Empire was ruled by Julian the Apostate, so named because he had been brought up as a Christian but had chosen Roman paganism instead. In 362, Julian began a systematic persecution of Christians, leading to anger and rebellion. Gregory, a priest in the town of Nazianzus, told his parishioners not to play Julian’s game — even when the tables were turning.
26
12 May
This is really a game for two. Suppose you have been given a secret list containing the five words below. Can you help your friend guess all five words in under a minute?
IVeterinary surgeon. IISieve. IIIScent. IVTwist. VBang.
You can use definitions like those you find in a dictionary, or just anything you know your friend will ‘get’. Don’t use the word itself, or a word that sounds exactly the same.
For example
Detective.
A person, especially a police officer, who attempts to solve crimes by deductive reasoning.
Or more simply, Sherlock Holmes was a private one.
27
12 May
In 1819, Lady’s Magazine began publishing Mary Mitford’s sketches of village life in Berkshire, and was rewarded with a satisfying leap in circulation from 250 to 2,000. This extract comes from the beginning of a reflection on the superiority of village cricket over the professional game; given that Mary was writing to help pay off her father’s huge gambling debts, her point of view is understandable.
28
12 May
Write a paragraph of exactly three sentences about a well-known person. You may begin only one sentence with the person’s name, and only one sentence with he/she. Suggested people:
IMahatma Gandhi. IIJulius Caesar. IIIJane Austen. IVHenry VIII of England. VAlexander the Great. VINapoleon Bonaparte. VIILeonardo da Vinci.
Adapted from an exercise in Think and Speak (1929) by NL Clay.
29
9 May
Assess the punctuation of this sentence, according to the author’s own principles.
“I have some satisfaction in reflecting, that, in the course of editing the Greek text of the New Testament, I believe I have destroyed more than a thousand commas, which prevented the text being properly understood.”
30
9 May
In this sonnet, John Donne, Dean of St Paul’s, compares himself to a town occupied by an enemy and now under siege by its true King. The inhabitants want to let him in to liberate them, but their own leading men are too weak or corrupt; so the people send out a desperate message: use all force necessary.
