The Copybook

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

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KJV Bible

1393

© Chris Downer, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

The Lessons of History by St Bede of Jarrow

England’s first and greatest historian explains why history is so important.

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1394

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

Penicillin by Clay Lane

An improbable chain of coincidences led to one of the great medical revolutions just when it was most needed.

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1395

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

First Impressions, Second Thoughts by Jane Austen

Elizabeth Bennet began to wonder if being Mr Darcy’s wife might have had its compensations.

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1396

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

The Ashes of English Cricket by Clay Lane

How the cricketing rivalry between England and Australia got its name.

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1397

© Zarateman, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 1.0 Universal public domain dedication.

The Peninsular War by Clay Lane

Napoleon’s six-year-long campaign (1808-1814) to bring Spain and Portugal into his united Europe was frustrated by Arthur Wellesley.

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1398

From Wikimedia Commons. Licence: public domain.

The Bald Lover by Clay Lane

A man’s mid-life crisis leaves him a little ... exposed.

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

© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

May 21 NS

May 8 OS

The Spy : In 1910, Constantine Zervakos, a young monk from the Greek island of Paros, found himself charged with espionage.
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.
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.
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.
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