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Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.

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973

© Christine Westerback, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

Thoughtful Tom by Jane Loudon

Jane Loudon describes an moment of unexpected paternal affection from a Tom cat.

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974

From Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

A Woman’s Logic by Emmeline Pankhurst

Emmeline Pankhurst recalls how she brought some much-needed reason into the operations at Chorlton workhouse.

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975

By Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

False Unity by John Buchan

The German Empire promised wonders to restless, grudging Europe, and not to let common sense wake us from our dreams.

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976

By Joseph Nollekens (1737-1823), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Pubic domain.

The Temperate Zone by William Pitt the Younger

William Pitt complained that European politics offers only a choice of inhospitable extremes.

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977

© GraceKelly, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.

The Garden and the Machine by John Buchan

John Buchan compared how the Germans and the British understood their empires, and saw two very different pictures indeed.

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978

By Ernest Brooks (1878–1957), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

The Avengers by John Buchan

John Buchan was moved by the way the nations of the British Empire volunteered for service in the Great War.

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Clay Lane The Copybook
About Clay Lane nicholas@claylane.uk

© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

May 8 NS

April 25 OS

The Outbreak of the Second World War : The only truly global conflict in history began when German troops crossed into Poland in September 1939.
Repeat Offender :
In Two Minds : Join these ideas together to a form a single sentence, in at least two different ways.
The First Traffic Lights : The busy crossroads outside the Houses of Parliament was the testing ground for a new technology.
Good Companions : Explain what these wise classical authors are telling us.
The Rule of the Road : Being a free citizen doesn’t mean that everyone else has to get out of your way.
Blind Courage : George Santayana reprimanded politicians and military men who thought war was good for the country’s soul.
Patience : Make a single sentence out of these three ideas.
The Angel Cried : A hymn sung in the weeks after Easter, imagining how Gabriel brought the news of Christ’s resurrection to Mary.
She was a Phantom of Delight : Mary Wordsworth wasn’t pretty or bookish, but she was kind and vital, and William loved her.
Hardly : Tone down these bold assertions with ‘hardly’.
The Death of Julius Caesar : When Julius Caesar entered the Senate that day, a note warning him of treachery was clutched in his hand — unread.
Two Letters Home : A German soldier stopped the Great War so he could ask Captain Hulse to post a letter for him.
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