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73

One Man Army

By Edward Fraser

The fort at Budge Budge near Calcutta proved stubborn against the massed artillery of the East India Company, but a tipsy seaman took it all by himself.

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Picture: Dominic Serres (1722–1793), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.

Posted May 24 2021

74

Fire and Ice

From The Old English Genesis Translated by Albert Stanburrough Cook

When the angels rebelled against their Maker, they demanded a kingdom of their own in a land without him — and he gave them what they wanted.

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Picture: Terje Sørgjerd, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.. Source.

Posted May 3 2021

75

A Good Morning’s Work

By William George Spencer Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire

When Joseph Paxton, then just twenty-three, came to Chatsworth as Head Gardener he wasted no time getting settled in.

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Picture: © Allan Warren, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.

Posted May 2 2021

76

A Smuggler and a Gentleman

By Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch

Harry Paulet was going about his unlawful business when he spotted a French fleet slip quietly out of Brest and into the Atlantic.

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Picture: Attributed to George Morland (1763-1804), via Royal Museums Greenwich and Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.

Posted April 29 2021

77

The Length of a Horse

By James Alexander Lovat-Fraser

Unlike some of his fellows in Westminster, Scottish statesman Henry Dundas made no attempt to make himself sound more ‘English’.

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Picture: By Sir Thomas Lawrence (1768-1830), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.

Posted April 25 2021

78

The Wreck of the ‘Dutton’

Sir Edward and Lady Pellew were on their way to a dinner engagement one stormy day, when their carriage was caught up in tragedy at sea.

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Picture: By Thomas Luny (1759-1837), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.

Posted April 23 2021

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Film Video William Shakespeare: The Quality of Mercy (from ‘The Merchant of Venice’)

Posted Today

The Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat In most contests the choices are win, lose or draw, but what happened here remains a mystery.

Posted Today • The Copy Book

How I Met Nastenka The story-teller recalls his first meeting with Nastenka, and the man who brought them together.

Posted Yesterday • The Copy Book

Scansion Turn these lines into well-punctuated lines of verse.

Posted February 3

Columbus Arthur Clough marvels at the vision of a man who could cross the Atlantic without knowing there was a farther shore.

Posted February 2 • The Copy Book

Loan Words Match each word to the language we have borrowed it from.

Posted February 2

Who’ll Turn the Grindstone? Whenever Charles Miner suspected an ulterior motive, he would say quietly ‘That man has an axe to grind!’

Posted February 1 • The Copy Book

Lap

Posted January 31 • Think and Speak

A Full Day’s Play It was one of those rare occasions when a game of cricket had not been interrupted by the weather, but would the Church be so forgiving?

Posted January 29 • The Copy Book

Grammar Examine these sentences, and say whether the word ‘up’ should be removed.

Posted January 29

Sunday in London Every Sunday, the Englishman is raised to heaven by the choir, and then taken to her bosom by Mother Earth.

Posted January 29 • The Copy Book

Music Video Ronald Binge: Concerto for Alto Saxophone: II: Andante espressivo

Posted January 28

Ye Children, Hearken Unto Me David, fresh from another close encounter with Saul’s men, shares his advice for living a charmed life.

Posted January 28 • The Copy Book

Look Upon This Picture Hamlet cannot understand what his mother could possibly see in his uncle Claudius.

Posted January 27 • The Copy Book

Metaphors Rewrite these sentences, substituting each metaphor with another of similar meaning.

Posted January 27

Vocabulary Compose sentences to illustrate the meaning of these words.

Posted January 27 • Think and Speak

Music Video Henry Purcell: Miserere Mei

Posted January 26

Outbreak John Galsworthy shared his unease at the rise of two competing forms of national speech.

Posted January 26 • The Copy Book

Verbs and Nouns Separate these words into two groups, nouns, and nouns that are also verbs. Which one’s the odd-one-out?

Posted January 26 • Think and Speak

The Peacock Throne The dazzling throne of the Mughal Emperors has vanished from history, but not before Abdul Hamid Lahori had seen it.

Posted January 25 • The Copy Book