Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
Via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
Stamford Raffles, Lieutenant-Governor of Java, urged London to bypass our European partners and trade directly with Japan.
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© Bollywood Hungama, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.
A. A. Milne warns that marketing cricket to people who don’t like the game must not spoil it for those who do.
By Loliloli, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
From the grateful solitude of his library in the Dordogne, Michel de Montaigne reflects on the companionship of his cat.
Australian War Memorial Collection, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
The Gallipoli landings in 1915 did not achieve the Admiralty’s goals, but for John Masefield they remained one of the proudest moments of the Great War.
By Charles Dixon (1872-1934), Archives New Zealand, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0 generic.
By 1915, the Allies were struggling to break through Germany’s Western Front, and so began looking for another line of attack.
© Josep Renalias, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.
George served in the Roman army and lies buried in Israel, yet he makes an ideal patron for England.