The Copybook

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

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1477

© Derek Harper, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Clay Lane

Is an old family legend being used as a cover for a very modern murder?

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1478

© Rover Car Club of Australia, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

A Nation’s Wealth by Richard Cobden

It is not politicians and their policies that create wealth, but the hard work and ingenuity of ordinary people.

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1479

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

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Clay Lane

A knight issues a bizarre challenge to King Arthur and his court.

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1480

© Jonathan Billinger, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

The Legend of Beowulf by Clay Lane

The oldest surviving heroic legend in English begins with a wild creature of the fens that hunts men for prey.

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1481

© Jorge Royan, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.

‘God Save the King!’ by Clay Lane

The simple melody of the United Kingdom’s national anthem has stirred the souls of some great composers.

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1482

© Eric Jones, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

St Dwynwen by Clay Lane

St Dwynwen was a 5th century princess regarded by some as Wales’s answer to St Valentine.

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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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