The Copybook

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

1633

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

The Character of George Stephenson by Samuel Smiles

A self-made man who never forgot his humble beginnings.

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1634

Photo by Orrin Dunlap Jr, in ‘Popular Radio’ (1926). Via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

John Logie Baird by Clay Lane

Baird’s inventions didn’t always work as well as his televisions.

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1635

© chris55, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.

The First Train Journey by Steam by Clay Lane

Richard Trevithick’s boss hailed the engineer as a genius. Today he’d have been fired. (Oh, and the train was delayed.)

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1636
The Keeper of the Gate by Clay Lane

A widow cast her precious icon into the sea rather than see it dishonoured by government agents, but that wasn’t the end of the story.

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1637

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

St Nicholas of the Cats by Clay Lane

A very unusual monastery with some very unusual protectors.

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1638

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

A Battle of Wills by Clay Lane

Following an appalling atrocity in fourth-century Thessalonica, two strong and determined men refused to back down.

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

© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

May 3 NS

April 20 OS

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.
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.
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