The Copybook

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

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1399

© Zarateman, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 1.0 Universal public domain dedication.

The Peninsular War by Clay Lane

Napoleon’s six-year-long campaign (1808-1814) to bring Spain and Portugal into his united Europe was frustrated by Arthur Wellesley.

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1400

From Wikimedia Commons. Licence: public domain.

The Bald Lover by Clay Lane

A man’s mid-life crisis leaves him a little ... exposed.

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1401

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

Jesty and Jenner’s Jab by Clay Lane

Benjamin Jesty and Edward Jenner continue to save millions of lives because they listened to an old wives’ tale.

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1402

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

Discovery! by Mark Twain

Mark Twain covets the supreme sensation of being a trailblazer.

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1403

© Richard Croft, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

Robin Hood and the Debt of Honour by Clay Lane

The outlaw showed that strange as it may be, he did have a code of honour.

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1404

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

The Friendship of Cats by Théophile Gautier

A cat’s affection is not easy to win, but the rewards make the effort worthwhile.

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

© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

May 22 NS

May 9 OS

The Wars of the Roses : A struggle between rival Royal Houses begins in 1455, after questions are raised about King Henry VI’s capacity to rule.
Kim’s Game : Test your memory with this mental agility game from the pages of Rudyard Kipling.
A Mechanical Miracle : The father of computing believed his machine held the key to some of life’s greatest mysteries.
Essential Nouns : Suggest nouns of essence, such as leadership or supremacy.
The Follies of Youth : RL Stevenson was of the opinion that wrongthink was better than groupthink.
Thick and Thin : Express each of these ideas as a single word.
Break : Explain what each of these common expressions means, and give examples.
Blind Guide : William Wirt recalls an overpowering sermon from a blind man in a little wooden chapel.
It’s All in the Delivery : Aeschines paid tribute to the oratory of his greatest rival — whether he meant to or not.
The Road to Ruin : George Berkeley warned that industry, not financial speculation, was the guarantee of a nation’s wealth.
Signs of Command : Suggest publicly-displayed commands, and say how many of them are sentences.
My Native Notes : Scotsman James Boswell always spoke good English when in England, but he was careful to leave a little Scots in.
Hidden Message : Reveal the hidden message in a letter, and write a coded letter of your own.
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