Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
© 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.
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© Claudia Yang, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.
Railway enthusiast, music lover, and the man who gave us stereo sound.
© Nick MacNeill, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.
A fox terrier spies what looks like a hapless victim – until he gets up close.
Via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
Oedipus flees home in an attempt to escape a dreadful prophecy, unware that it is following at his heels.
Photo by Свято-Троицкий собор, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
A Turkish official was itching to know the secret behind a Russian slave girl’s personal charm.
From the Imperial War Museums Collection, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
A heartfelt plea for humility at the height of Britain’s Empire.