The Copybook

Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.

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1651

© François Bernardin, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.

The Selfless Courage of Leo the Cook by Clay Lane

In 6th century France, a faithful kitchen servant sold himself into slavery to rescue a kidnapped boy.

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1652

© Tom Pennington, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

The Star that Winked by Clay Lane

John Goodricke’s observations of Algol won him the Copley Medal while still in his teens, despite his disability.

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1653

© Erin Clark, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

The Emperor’s New Clothes by Clay Lane

A telling satire on fashionable thinking among the elite.

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1654

© David Corby, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.5.

The Cat’s Wedding by Clay Lane

It’s easier to change how you look than to hide who you are.

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1655

© Andy Dolman, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

The Ape and the Fox by Clay Lane

A valuable lesson when dealing with practised liars.

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1656

© Simon, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

The Goose with the Golden Egg by Clay Lane

Don’t get greedy when things are going well.

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Clay Lane The Copybook
About Clay Lane nicholas@claylane.uk

© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

May 19 NS

May 6 OS

The Road to Ruin : George Berkeley warned that industry, not financial speculation, was the guarantee of a nation’s wealth.
Signs of Command : Suggest publicly-displayed commands, and say how many of them are sentences.
My Native Notes : Scotsman James Boswell always spoke good English when in England, but he was careful to leave a little Scots in.
Hidden Message : Reveal the hidden message in a letter, and write a coded letter of your own.
The Great and the Good : Daniel Defoe wondered whether goodness was not preferable to greatness.
Statements, Questions and Commands : Choose a word from our list, and then use it in any one of the three basic types of sentence — if possible.
Sentegrams : These sentences, taken from English literature, have been jumbled up like an anagram; see if you can piece them back together.
Good Sense : Rewrite these sentences so that the word ‘unless’ is not used.
The Coronation of Anne Boleyn : The weight of the crown that Anne Boleyn wore proved too heavy to bear.
Abstract : Use these words in sentences as a Noun, Verb or Adjective.
Better By Example : Gregory urged the persecuted Christians of Nazianzus to be the better men.
Speed Clues : Help a friend to guess five words in under a minute.
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