Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
© Chinmaya Panda, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.
Charles II was thinking about handing Bombay back to the Portuguese, when an Indian rebel stepped in.
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By Thomas Rowlandson (1756–1827), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
When Lord Cochrane went to a fancy dress ball in Valetta, his costume nearly got him killed.
© Neil Reed, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
Between 1536 and 1539, King Henry VIII’s government divided up the Church’s property amongst themselves and left a trail of devastation.
By Alexis Simon Belle (1674–1734), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
At sixty-seven, Alexander Forbes rode to war with Bonnie Prince Charlie, and over a decade afterwards was still a hunted man.
© FaceMePLS, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0 generic.
According to legend, when the Venetians tried to kidnap it the Holy Table of St Sophia in Constantinople made a dramatic escape.
© 掬茶 (Kiku cha), Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.
Japan’s first Shogun owed his life and his rise to power to a spider and two harmless doves.