The Copybook

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

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KJV Bible

1471

© Peter McDermott, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

Cuthbert and the Expert Witness by Clay Lane

A hungry monk thought he had got away with the tastiest of crimes, but St Cuthbert kept his promise to his beloved birds.

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1472

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

The Tragedy of Hamlet by Clay Lane

The Prince of Denmark is bound to avenge his father’s murder.

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1473

© Peter McDermott, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

The Tanfield Railway by Clay Lane

Opened in 1725, the Tanfield Railway is one of the oldest railways still operating anywhere in the world.

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1474

© Derek Harper, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Clay Lane

Is an old family legend being used as a cover for a very modern murder?

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1475

© Rover Car Club of Australia, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

A Nation’s Wealth by Richard Cobden

It is not politicians and their policies that create wealth, but the hard work and ingenuity of ordinary people.

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1476

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

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Clay Lane

A knight issues a bizarre challenge to King Arthur and his court.

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

© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

May 16 NS

May 3 OS

St John of Konitsa : Hassan slipped across to Ithaca because it was in British hands and the Turkish authorities on the Greek mainland must not know what he was going to do.
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.
The Great and the Good : Daniel Defoe wondered whether goodness was not preferable to greatness.
Statements, Questions and Commands : Choose a word from our list, and then use it in any one of the three basic types of sentence — if possible.
Sentegrams : These sentences, taken from English literature, have been jumbled up like an anagram; see if you can piece them back together.
Good Sense : Rewrite these sentences so that the word ‘unless’ is not used.
The Coronation of Anne Boleyn : The weight of the crown that Anne Boleyn wore proved too heavy to bear.
Abstract : Use these words in sentences as a Noun, Verb or Adjective.
Better By Example : Gregory urged the persecuted Christians of Nazianzus to be the better men.
Speed Clues : Help a friend to guess five words in under a minute.
A Proper Game of Cricket : Mary Mitford makes an appeal for the traditional village cricket match.
Mini Bios : Write a short paragraph about a prominent person, but don’t start any sentence with he or she.
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