Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
© Walter Baxter, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
The Northumbrian saint warned of an enemy who would stop at nothing to silence the good news.
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© Stephen Glauser, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.
Jim Hawkins, on a remote desert island, has escaped pirates only to be caught by a shadowy figure among the trees.
© Rajesh Tripathi, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.
Samuel Smiles reminds us that until we brought the railways to India, we had little to boast about as an imperial power.
British Library Collection, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
The opening of the Bombay to Thane line was the real beginning of British India.
© Visit Israel, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.
A young Jewish woman in ancient Babylon falls victim to a heartless conspiracy.
© Paul Allison, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-A 2.0.
When captain Richard Pearson of the Royal Navy surrendered to American revolutionary John Paul Jones, Jones naturally assumed that meant he had won.