Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
© Chris-Downer, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
For Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Christmas was a time to let the dead past bury its dead.
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© Martin Addison, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
Elizabethan adventurer Sir Francis Drake combined sailing round the world with really annoying the King of Spain.
© David Dixon, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
The sounds of an English country Christmas helped Tennyson in his deep mourning for an old friend.
© Stefan Bauer, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.5.
By Divine providence, the shocking murder of Good King Wenceslas led to a flowering of Christian faith in Europe.
© Pablo Conreras H., Wikimedia Commons Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.
British expats in Valparaíso kicked off the Chilean passion for soccer.
Photo by Vash Alex kun, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
Scandinavian tradition says that the daughter of King Harold was consort to one the great rulers of Kievan Rus’.