The Copybook

Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.

1363

Photo by Hayman Selig Mendelssohn, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

St Elizabeth the New Martyr by Clay Lane

The grand-daughter of Queen Victoria was as close to the poor of Moscow’s slums as she was to the Russian Tsar.

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1364

© Nigel Brown, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

The Battle of Glen Shiel by Clay Lane

King Philip V of Spain sent a second Spanish Armada against Britain, but it suffered much the same fate as the first.

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1365

© David Dixon, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

The Pimpernel Fails to Show by Baroness Orczy

Lady Blakeney agrees to spy for the French Revolutionary government in return for her brother’s life.

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1366

© Carole Raddato, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

Boudica by Clay Lane

British sympathy for Roman imperial progress evaporated when officials began asset-stripping the country.

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1367

© Wellcome Trust, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 4.0.

David Livingstone by Clay Lane

The Scottish missionary and medic believed that slavery could better be eradicated by trade than by force.

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1368

© Sarah Charlesworth, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

The Bully and the Brakesman by Clay Lane

A young George Stephenson takes responsibility for the team spirit at Black Callerton mine.

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Clay Lane The Copybook
About Clay Lane nicholas@claylane.uk

© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

May 5 NS

April 22 OS

When the Cat’s Away... : A Victorian artist and avid bird-watcher banished cats from his country cottage, but soon wished he hadn’t.
Patience : Make a single sentence out of these three ideas.
The Angel Cried : A hymn sung in the weeks after Easter, imagining how Gabriel brought the news of Christ’s resurrection to Mary.
She was a Phantom of Delight : Mary Wordsworth wasn’t pretty or bookish, but she was kind and vital, and William loved her.
Hardly : Tone down these bold assertions with ‘hardly’.
The Death of Julius Caesar : When Julius Caesar entered the Senate that day, a note warning him of treachery was clutched in his hand — unread.
Two Letters Home : A German soldier stopped the Great War so he could ask Captain Hulse to post a letter for him.
Smile : Choose adjectives of praise for these nouns, at about the 7/10 level.
The Making of Mark : St Mark wrote his Gospel as a summary of the preaching of St Peter.
Zheng He and the Rise of Malacca : Malacca became a refuge from the overbearing empires of the Far East, thanks to a celebrated Chinese admiral.
Confusables : Compose sentences to bring out the similarities and differences between these words.
Jill and I : Include yourself in these sentences about Jill.
Saddled : Use these words in sentences, and see if you can use one of them as a verb.
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