Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
From James Lillywhite’s Cricketer’s Annual for 1890, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
Meriel Talbot’s distinguished career in government came as no surprise to those who had seen her at the wicket.
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© Maigheach gheal, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
Composer Ethel Smyth starts telling the Archbishop of Canterbury a joke, and then wishes she hadn’t...
By John Everett Millais, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
Sir Thomas More gives his explanation for the mysterious disappearance of King Richard III’s nephews.
© Kim Traynor, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.
Major-General Charles Napier, given the task of policing a Chartist rally in Manchester, was alarmed to hear the protestors had brought the big guns - literally.
© Geof Sheppard, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.
In 1928, a train service linking London and Edinburgh became the world’s longest non-stop run.
© David Ingham, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
The guardian of a lonely signalbox recounts a truly haunting experience.