The Copybook

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

655

© Richard Webb, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

Homeward Bound by St Adamnán

The monks of the monastery on Iona are all keeping the same secret from one another.

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656

© Maigheach-gheal, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

St George and the Dragon by Sabine Baring-Gould

In one of the world’s most popular legends, bold hero St George rides to the rescue of a maiden in distress.

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657

© Espresso Addict, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

Bread and Scorpions by Robert Dunlop

In 1846, Daniel O’Connell stood up in the House of Commons to draw attention to the Great Hunger in Ireland, and to plead for a swift response.

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658

© Kgbo, Wikimmedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.

The Battle of Vienna by Colonel John Sobieski

With Christian Europe tearing itself apart over the Protestant Reformation, the Ottoman Turks saw an opportunity for Europe-wide domination.

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659

By Nicholas Chevalier (1828-1902), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Unbroken Amity by John Bright

The Foreign Office had a long tradition of regarding a strong Russian Empire as ‘not in the British interest,’ but John Bright saw only mutual benefit in it.

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660

Via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

A Dream of Independence by John Bright

In 1877, John Bright told a meeting of the Manchester India Association that he had wanted to put India on the path to independence nearly twenty years before.

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© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

April 25 NS

April 12 OS

The Life-Giving Spring : An obscure officer in the Roman Army gains a dizzying promotion after performing a simple act of kindness.
A Great Human Effort : The Gallipoli landings in 1915 did not achieve the Admiralty’s goals, but for John Masefield they remained one of the proudest moments of the Great War.
The Avengers : John Buchan was moved by the way the nations of the British Empire volunteered for service in the Great War.
A Tax on Companionship : William Windham MP was appalled at the idea of levying a tax on man’s best friend.
Christ is Risen! : Felicia Skene recalls the Easter celebrations on one emotionally-charged night in Athens
Saddled : Use these words in sentences, and see if you can use one of them as a verb.
Russia’s Heroic Stand : In 1941, with much of the West subdued, Adolf Hitler bent the full force of his hatred on Moscow.
Approachable : Replace the verb ‘can’ with these alternatives, and explain how the meaning of the sentence has changed.
The First Easter : In a translation from the Authorized Version of the Bible, published in 1611, St Mark recounts the discovery of Christ’s empty tomb.
A Collect for Easter Day : A short prayer from the Book of Common Prayer, for the day of Christ’s resurrection.
The Gambler : Which well-known expression is Dr Johnson talking about here?
If I Had But Two Little Wings : Samuel Taylor Coleridge holds on to those precious moments when loneliness is a problem for tomorrow.
Red Eye : Reconstruct the speaker’s original words from these reports.
Responsible : Combine each group of ideas into a single sentence, in as many ways as you can.
Opposites : Suggest words that seem opposite in meaning to the words in this list.
Three of a Kind : For each of these things, think of three different varieties of it.
The Son of God Goes Forth to War : A hymn in praise of St Stephen, the first Christian martyr.
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