Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
© Alex ‘Florstein’ Fedorov, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.
William Gladstone explains that a truly ‘exceptional nation’ respects the equality and rights of all nations.
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© Velvet, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.
George Stephenson won the admiration of French navvies by showing them how a Geordie works a shovel.
© David Iliff, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 4.0.
Lemuel Gulliver finds that the people of Balnibarbi just don’t appreciate their hardworking academics.
From the British Library, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
By the early eighth century, sacred art was thriving in newly-Christian England, but in the East seeds of doubt and confusion had been sown.
By John William Waterhouse (1849-1917), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
Charles Dickens tells the story of King Henry II and the enchantingly beautiful Rosamund Clifford.
© Jonathan Cardy, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.
Richard I thought a veteran Crusader and conqueror of Saladin could handle a few French peasants.