Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
© 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.
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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.
Photo by Lt John Warwick Brooke, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
However obscure a man may apparently be, his example to others inevitably shapes the future of his country.
© Bambooo, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 4.0.
‘Be careful what you wish for’, they say, and there could be no more endearing example.