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Passages for reading. Read them out aloud. Paraphrase or précis them. Discuss them with friends. Does anything surprise or impress you? How does the author work your feelings? Would you use his words? How would you direct the scene in a movie — and who would your stars be?

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On This Day

Saturday September 7 ns August 25 os

For Church feasts falling on September 7 in the New Style calendar, see The Feast of St Cassiani.

September 7, 1838

The wreck of the ‘Forfarshire’ (1)

Grace Darling

Mild-mannered Grace Darling persuaded her father to let her help him rescue the survivors of a shipwreck.

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International Relations

A Credit to His Country

The diplomat’s task is to see the best in other peoples, not to scold them for their failings.

by François de Callières 1645-1717

Lives of the Saints

The Synod of Whitby

In 664, a council at Whitby decided to align the traditions of the Northumbrian Church with those of Rome and Constantinople.

by John Richard Green 1837-1883

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Greek and Roman Myths

The Tragedy of King Oedipus

Oedipus flees home in an attempt to escape a dreadful prophecy, unware that it is following at his heels.

Modern History

The War of the Austrian Succession

Prussia’s invasion of Silesia in 1740 plunged Europe into turmoil, and a French invasion of England became a very real threat.

Music and Musicians

Daw Chorus

Composer Ethel Smyth starts telling the Archbishop of Canterbury a joke, and then wishes she hadn’t...

by Ethel Smyth 1858-1944

Poets and Poetry

The Pitman Poet

Joseph Skipsey taught himself to read and write by candlelight, hundreds of feet below ground in a Northumberland pit.

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Selected Authors

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William Cowper

The Jackdaw

William Cullen Bryant

Statesman vs Politician

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

King Arthur’s Last Request

John Trenchard & Thomas Gibson

Liberty and Prosperity

William Shakespeare

Eternal Lines

Samuel Smiles

The Character of George Stephenson

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Extracts from Fiction

Romance, adventure and comedy from the very best fiction writers, including Jane Austen, the Brontë sisters, Charles Dickens, John Buchan, and many more.

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Railways

Stories about the British transport revolution that changed the world, from the first locomotive and the first whistle to Flying Scotsman.

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Classical History

Tales of tragedy, ambition and heroism from the Battle of Marathon and Hannibal’s passage of the Alps to Caesar’s fateful crossing of the Rubicon.

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International Relations

Britain has always demanded respect, open seas, and to be left in peace to ‘work out our own salvation’ — a courtesy we should extend to others.

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The USA

Tales from our cousins to the West, telling of their independence from Britain, their bloody civil war, and their runaway prosperity — and the slender thread by which it hangs.

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Bible and Saints

Tales from the Bible, including the parables of Jesus and the story of Esther, and miracles from the lives of saints, such as our own Cuthbert the Wonderworker.

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The Copy Book

Readings in history, society and literature

The Copy Book

Readings in history, society and literature