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

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295

By Vasili Pukirev (1832-1890), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

The Friendship of Trade by John Bright

As Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli stoked fears of Russian aggression, John Bright said that Russia was only threatening when she felt threatened.

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296

© Jules Verne Times Two / julesvernex2.com / CC-BY-SA-4.0.

‘Never Let Your Men Look Over the Hedge’ by James Hall Nasmyth

Employees are the key to any entrepreneur’s success, and he must know them intimately, trust them completely and pay them generously.

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297

Pierre Louis (‘Henri’) Grevedon (1776-1860), via the National Portrait Gallery and Wikimedia Commons. Licence: ? Public domain.

‘One of That Sort, Are You?’ by James Hall Nasmyth

Henry Maudslay, the great engineer, had seen enough apprentices to last him a lifetime.

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298

John Neagle (1796–1865), Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Ye’re Nae Smith! by James Hall Nasmyth

A loyal Scotsman on the run from pro-English traitors disguised himself as a blacksmith’s apprentice, but soon gave himself away.

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299

By Georg Balthasar Probst (1732-1801) 1750

Byron Swims the Hellespont by Thomas Medwin

Byron felt compelled to set the record straight after it was alleged that he had swum the Hellespont the easy way.

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300

Wandernder Weltreisender 3.0.

‘I Have No Quarrel With Any Man’ by Elizabeth Wilson Grierson

Magnus, Earl of Orkney, disappointed King Magnus of Norway by refusing to get involved in somebody else’s war.

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© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

May 21 NS

May 8 OS

A Personal Favour : Over a hundred young Greeks were slated to be shot after resistance fighters and British forces sabotaged an airfield.
The Miracle of St John of the Caves : The story of an unexpected escape through the heart of a hill.
The Peninsular War : Napoleon’s six-year-long campaign (1808-1814) to bring Spain and Portugal into his united Europe was frustrated by Arthur Wellesley.
Kim’s Game : Test your memory with this mental agility game from the pages of Rudyard Kipling.
A Mechanical Miracle : The father of computing believed his machine held the key to some of life’s greatest mysteries.
Essential Nouns : Suggest nouns of essence, such as leadership or supremacy.
The Follies of Youth : RL Stevenson was of the opinion that wrongthink was better than groupthink.
Thick and Thin : Express each of these ideas as a single word.
Break : Explain what each of these common expressions means, and give examples.
Blind Guide : William Wirt recalls an overpowering sermon from a blind man in a little wooden chapel.
It’s All in the Delivery : Aeschines paid tribute to the oratory of his greatest rival — whether he meant to or not.
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.
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