The Copybook

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

1345

From Wikimedia Commons. Public domain image.

The Pitman Poet Clay Lane

Joseph Skipsey taught himself to read and write by candlelight, hundreds of feet below ground in a Northumberland pit.

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1346

Photo by Jastrow, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Hera and the Boeotian Bride Clay Lane

Zeus employs a little psychology to effect a reunion with his offended wife.

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1347

© James E. Petts, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.

The Stockton and Darlington Railway Clay Lane

The little County Durham line built by George Stephenson and his son Robert was the place where the world’s railway infrastructure really began.

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1348

© Andrew Curtis, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

The Hetton Railway Clay Lane

The railway earned a special place in history as the first to be designed for steam locomotives only.

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1349

© Karl and Ali, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

The Story of Pentecost Clay Lane

Jesus’s apostles receive the gift of God’s Holy Spirit, and the startling effects quickly draw a crowd.

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1350

Photo from NASA, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

The Music of the Spheres Clay Lane

Sir William Herschel not only discovered Uranus and infrared radiation, but composed two dozen symphonies as well.

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