Clay Lane › The Copy Book

Passages for reading. Read them out aloud. Paraphrase or précis them. Discuss them with friends. Does anything surprise or impress you? How does the author work your feelings? Would you use his words? How would you direct the scene in a movie — and who would your stars be?

More …

On This Day

Saturday September 7 ns August 25 os

For Church feasts falling on September 7 in the New Style calendar, see The Feast of St Cassiani.

September 7, 1838

The wreck of the ‘Forfarshire’ (1)

Grace Darling

Mild-mannered Grace Darling persuaded her father to let her help him rescue the survivors of a shipwreck.

Recently Added

See all

International Relations

A Credit to His Country

The diplomat’s task is to see the best in other peoples, not to scold them for their failings.

by François de Callières 1645-1717

Lives of the Saints

The Synod of Whitby

In 664, a council at Whitby decided to align the traditions of the Northumbrian Church with those of Rome and Constantinople.

by John Richard Green 1837-1883

From the Archive

See all

Extracts from Literature

Wellington’s Cook

The hero of Waterloo needed all his men to believe in him that day, but none believed in him more than his cook.

by William Howitt 1792-1879

Music and Musicians

‘My English Joy’

In 1837 William Sterndale Bennett, then regarded as England’s most exciting young composer, made history in quite another... field.

by Sir William Sterndale Bennett 1816-1875

Anglo-Saxon Era

Turning the Tide

King Canute enacted a memorable demonstration of the limits of government power.

by Henry of Huntingdon ?1088-?1157

Discovery and Invention

Russia’s First Railway

Sixteen-year-old John Wesley Hackworth brought a locomotive over to St Petersburg, and Russia’s railway revolution was ready for the off.

See All Posts (1522)

Selected Authors

See all

John Bright

Economic Illiteracy

William Wordsworth

The Kitten on the Wall

John Wesley

Wilberforce Contra Mundum

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Fact-Lovers

Richard Cobden

Pot and Kettle

Mandell Creighton

Unsuitable for Export

See all Posts by Author

Selected Topics

See all

Sport and Sportsmen

Stories from the world of cricket, football and other sports, and the men and women who have played them.

See all (27)

International Relations

Britain has always demanded respect, open seas, and to be left in peace to ‘work out our own salvation’ — a courtesy we should extend to others.

See all (41)

Animal Stories

Fables and true tales about animals, including a dog who regularly commuted to Matlock, a horse who didn’t approve of bad language, and a cat who saved her owners from an earthquake.

See all (77)

Bible and Saints

Tales from the Bible, including the parables of Jesus and the story of Esther, and miracles from the lives of saints, such as our own Cuthbert the Wonderworker.

See all (211)

Myths and Legends

Stories of wisdom, wonder and imagination from the Fables of Aesop and the epics of Homer to the folklore of India, Japan, Russia and Britain.

See all (122)

Abolition of Slavery

Heart-breaking tales of slavery, in which Britain played a shameful part; and heart-warming tales of Abolition, in which she played a courageous one.

See all (36)

See All Topics (A-Z)

The Copy Book

Readings in history, society and literature

The Copy Book

Readings in history, society and literature