The Copybook

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

1369

© 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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1370

© 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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1371

© 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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1372

Photo by RKO Radio Pictures, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Leslie Howard by Clay Lane

Howard gave his life to saving the ‘great gifts and strange inconsistencies’ of Britain’s unique democracy.

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1373

Photo by RKO Radio Pictures, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Britain’s Destiny by Leslie Howard

In a Christmas broadcast in 1940, actor Leslie Howard explained why British sovereignty was worth fighting for.

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1374

© tangopaso, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.

Apple of Discord by Clay Lane

Thetis snubs Eris, goddess of Discord, and sets off a series of events leading to the Trojan War.

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

© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

May 6 NS

April 23 OS

St George the Triumphant Martyr : One of the Emperor Galerius’s most trusted generals openly defied him.
Full Merrily : On July 5th, 1535, the night before he was to be executed by order of King Henry VIII, it seemed that Sir Thomas More was the only man in the Tower of London who was happy.
The First Traffic Lights : The busy crossroads outside the Houses of Parliament was the testing ground for a new technology.
Good Companions : Explain what these wise classical authors are telling us.
The Rule of the Road : Being a free citizen doesn’t mean that everyone else has to get out of your way.
Blind Courage : George Santayana reprimanded politicians and military men who thought war was good for the country’s soul.
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.
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