Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
Photo from the Imperial War Museums, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
There was one form of power that self-taught engineering genius George Stephenson never harnessed.
Read
From Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
In encouraging women into music, Alice Mary Smith thought promises of ‘greatness’ counterproductive.
© Nigel Brown, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.
Loyal subjects of King James II continued to fight his corner after he, and any real hope of success, had gone.
© Jorge Royan, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.
No one is more dangerous than the man who thinks that it is his destiny to direct things for the common good.
© Leonard Bentley, Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 2.0.
Queen Victoria assured her subjects that there were no second-class citizens in her eyes.
From Wikimedia Commons. Public domain image.
Abdul Karim’s rapid rise in Victoria’s household made him enemies.