The Copybook

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

1477

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

Pygmalion and Galatea by Clay Lane

Pygmalion discovered that prudishness is not the same as purity.

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1478

© Hein56didden, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Damon and Pythias by Clay Lane

A tale of two friends with complete confidence in each other, and loyal to the death.

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1479

© Klaus-Peter Simon, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.

The Gordian Knot by Clay Lane

Alexander fulfilled the letter of a prophecy and he did become ruler of the world, but it wasn’t quite fair.

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1480

© China_Crisis, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.5.

The Midas Touch by Clay Lane

An ancient Greek myth about the dangers of easy wealth.

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1481

From the Library of Congress, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

The Caucus Race by Lewis Carroll

Alice experiences for herself the very definition of a pointless exercise.

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1482

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

‘The marriage cannot go on!’ by Charlotte Brontë

The cup of happiness is dashed from Jane Eyre’s lips.

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

© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

May 1 NS

April 18 OS

Flying Scotsman : In 1928, a train service linking London and Edinburgh became the world’s longest non-stop run.
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.
Russia’s Heroic Stand : In 1941, with much of the West subdued, Adolf Hitler bent the full force of his hatred on Moscow.
Approachable : Replace the verb ‘can’ with these alternatives, and explain how the meaning of the sentence has changed.
The First Easter : In a translation from the Authorized Version of the Bible, published in 1611, St Mark recounts the discovery of Christ’s empty tomb.
A Collect for Easter Day : A short prayer from the Book of Common Prayer, for the day of Christ’s resurrection.
The Gambler : Which well-known expression is Dr Johnson talking about here?
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