Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
© Chinpat, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.
The great-grandson of William the Conqueror, whose knights assassinated Thomas Becket and whose family harried him to an early grave.
Read
© Tony Atkin, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.
Brutus tells Cassius to act while everything is going his way, or be left with nothing but regrets.
© Zeynel Cebeci, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 4.0.
Persian star-gazers hasten to Israel for the birth of a royal heir, but find that King Herod has had his fill of them.
© Stephen Richards, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
Young Montague Bertie, Lord Willougby, tended his dying father behind enemy lines.
© Klearchos Kapoutsis, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.
Stephen was the first person to lose his life because he was a follower of Jesus Christ.
© Dave and Margie Hill, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0
The Greek hero thinks he has paid off more of his debt to the gods, but an unpleasant surprise awaits him.