The Copybook

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

1657

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

St Nicholas of the Cats Clay Lane

A very unusual monastery with some very unusual protectors.

Read

1658

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

A Battle of Wills Clay Lane

Following an appalling atrocity in fourth-century Thessalonica, two strong and determined men refused to back down.

Read

1659
The Daring Escape of Richard the Fearless Clay Lane

The ten-year-old got away from a royal castle disguised as a bundle of hay.

Read

1660

From Wikimedia Commons.

Edmond Halley Clay Lane

Edmond Halley will forever be associated with the comet named after him, but his greatest achievement was getting Sir Isaac Newton to publish ‘Principia Mathematica’.

Read

1661

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

The Selfless Courage of Leo the Cook Clay Lane

In 6th century France, a faithful kitchen servant sold himself into slavery to rescue a kidnapped boy.

Read

1662

© Tom Pennington, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

The Star that Winked Clay Lane

John Goodricke’s observations of Algol won him the Copley Medal while still in his teens, despite his disability.

Read