The Copybook

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

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By Poly Von Schneidau, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Fan Frenzy Charles Dickens

Ardent opera buffs descend like locusts on Jenny Lind’s hotel, eager for a memento.

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By E.O.S. and Company of employees of the Times of India, Bombay. Via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Press Agents William Thomas Stead

When Lord Salisbury asked the Russian Minister of the Interior how many agents the Tsar had in India, the reply came as a shock.

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By Egbert van der Poel, (16621-1664). Via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Playing with Fire William Thomas Stead

William Stead warned his fellow-journalists to take care that their bellicose rhetoric did not end in a real war with Russia.

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By Gorgo, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain image.

Androcles and the Lion Clay Lane

Gaius Caesar is disappointed with the quality of the entertainment on offer in Rome’s Circus Maximus.

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By A. D. Lewis, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

The Man who Made the Headlines Clay Lane

William Stead conceived modern print journalism in the belief that newspapers could change the world.

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© Wellcome Images, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Criminal Justice William Moy Thomas

A man unjustly condemned to transportation finds that thieves thieve, but sometimes decency shines through too.

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