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

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1561

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

‘Please Sir, I Want Some More!’ by Charles Dickens

Oliver was elected as the unwilling spokesman for all the hungry children.

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1562

© William Cho, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

The Insect on the Leaf by Charles Dickens

Scrooge begs the Spirit of Christmas to tell him what will happen to Tiny Tim.

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1563

© Ricardo Liberato, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

A King-Sized Conspiracy by Anthony Hope

Rudolf Rassendyll is on holiday in Ruritania when he stumbles across a plot by the King’s brother to steal the crown.

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1564

© Derek Harper, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

The Footprints at the Gate by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

What Dr Mortimer saw beside the body of Sir Charles Baskerville sent him hastily to London, to consult Sherlock Holmes.

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1565

© Peter Smith, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

Timothy Hackworth by Clay Lane

Timothy Hackworth (1786-1850) turned steam locomotives into a reliable commercial success.

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1566

© Derek Harper, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 4.0.

The Tea-Cup Revolutionary by Clay Lane

Josiah Wedgwood, a village potter whose disability meant he could not use a potter’s wheel, brought about a quiet revolution in English society.

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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.
The Fall of Constantinople : Hospitality and sympathy, but no help - the Byzantine Emperor learns a bitter lesson about western diplomacy.
The Royal Oak : In 1680, Samuel Pepys sat down with Charles II to record how, many years before, a bold double-bluff saved the King from Cromwell’s men.
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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