The Copybook

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

1465

© 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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1466

© No Swan So Fine, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.

The Martyrdom of St Alban by Clay Lane

Alban voluntarily swapped places with a priest, and was executed for being a member of a banned religious sect.

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1467

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

Earl Stanhope and the Re-Invention of Printing by Clay Lane

Britain never knew she was a nation of voracious readers until printing entered the steam age.

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1468

© Penny Mayes, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

First Contact by Clay Lane

Julius Caesar came over from France expecting to silence the noisy neighbours, but things did not go according to plan.

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1469

© David Dixon, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

Daffodils by William Wordsworth

A poem about the blessing of fond memories.

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1470

© TheTurfBurner, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

Winston Churchill’s Final Journey by Clay Lane

The heroic and charismatic statesman’s last journey was replete with echoes of his extraordinary life.

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

© 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.
The Gallipoli Landings : By 1915, the Allies were struggling to break through Germany’s Western Front, and so began looking for another line of attack.
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.
The Day of Resurrection : An eighth-century hymn of the Greek Church, for Easter Day
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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