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

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619

From the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

The Changing Face of Japan by Joseph Longford

Joseph Longford described how Japan had changed from the day he first joined the Japan Consular Service to the day he retired as Consul in Nagasaki.

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620

© Anil Kausalyayan, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.

A Page Out of Pageantry by Ronald Wild

In 1932, on the twenty-fifth anniversary of his accession, the Jam Sahib brought vanished days back to Nawanagar with a lavish hand.

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621

© james Petts, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

Mrs Sancho’s Barometer by Ignatius Sancho

Ann Sancho would be in better health, said her husband, if she did not worry quite so much about him.

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622

From Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

The Millionaire by A. G. Gardiner

In the year that Ranjitsinhji put aside his bat to concentrate on being the Jam Sahib of Nawanagar, journalist A. G. Gardiner looked back on his dazzling career.

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623

Photo by John Boyd (1865-1941), from the City of Toronto Archives via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Heartbeat by Metropolitan Police Commissioners

At the very centre of Sir Robert Peel’s idea of policing was the constable’s beat: a few streets, shops and families that he must know and care about.

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624

© West Midlands Police. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

A Policeman’s Lot by Metropolitan Police Commissioners

The Commissioners of the Metropolitan Police reiterated that what they liked best was a policeman who never arrested anyone.

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© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

May 29 NS

May 16 OS

The Last Commandment : Anglo-Saxon poet Cynewulf imagines the farewell between Jesus and his Apostles, forty days after his resurrection.
Filioque : It started as an honest mistake, became a diplomatic standoff, and brought down an Empire.
The Return of King Charles II : Almost nine years after Oliver Cromwell’s army drove him from England, King Charles II returned at their invitation, and John Evelyn was there to see it.
Lost and Found : What would you in these difficult situations?
They Might Not Need Me : Read these lines of verse out aloud.
The Turn : Ben Jonson tells us how we should measure a life well lived.
Music Video : Julius Benedict, Piano Concerto in E flat: II. Andante,
The Character of George Washington : Thomas Jefferson recalls the virtues (and a few faults) of the first US President.
Amen to That : John Bright declared it was time stop fighting wars around the world for ‘British interests’.
Arena : Use these nouns in sentences of at least ten words in length.
Q & A :
Deep Harmony : In the midst of the US Civil War, a simple melody briefly brought the warring factions together.
Thirty Minutes : Describe half an hour in one of these places.
And is there Care in Heaven? : Sir Guyon lies in an enchanted swoon, but he is not without help.
Pirate : For each of these words, suggest others that seem to go with it, and use them to bring a scene to life.
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