The Copybook

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

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KJV Bible

1531

© Jeff Buck, Geograph. Licence CC-BY-SA 2.0.

The Hermit of Handbridge by Charlotte Yonge

King Harold died at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Or did he?

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1532

© Andrew Hill, Geograph. Licence CC-BY-SA 2.0.

Edith and Edward by Clay Lane

A King and Queen gentler than the times in which they lived.

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1533

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

Byron and Hercules by Clay Lane

Lord Byron could not have hoped for a better omen in his support for the oppressed people of Greece.

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1534

Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

The Third Siege of Missolonghi by Clay Lane

The cruelty of the Ottoman Turks so shocked Europe that the tide of opinion turned against them.

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1535

© Jon Thomson, Wikimedia Commons. Licence CC-BY-SA 2.0.

How Alfred Burnt the Cakes by Charlotte Yonge

A popular tale of scorched cakes and a scolded king.

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1536

© Martpan, Wikimedia Commons. Licence CC-BY-SA 3.0.

The Gift Thrice Given by Clay Lane

A story about William the Conqueror’s father, Robert the Magnificent.

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

© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

May 20 NS

May 7 OS

The Bishop and the Chatterbox : One week into a Lenten retreat with the Bishop of Hexham, a boy’s miserable life is turned right around.
The Battle of Nechtansmere : King Ecgfrith of Northumbria dismissed repeated warnings about his imperial ambitions.
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.
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.
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