Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
Via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
That infernal nonsense ‘Pinafore’ took America by storm.
Read
© Martin Jernberg, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
The East India Company’s top agent in India was also the man who put Calcutta on the world map.
© Alan Pennington, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.
William Cobbett makes a distinction between everyday business and the murky world of Westminster lobbyists and financial speculation.
© Olaf Tausch, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.
A mother is determined to see that her disabled daughter gets the help she needs.
© Kenneth Allen, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.
An English sailor became the target of the first worldwide manhunt following an audacious act of piracy.
© Orin Zebest, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
Ethel Smyth puts on a show for a self-declared music enthusiast.