Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
© Graham Robertson, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
As a young man, surveyor Thomas Telford was a red-hot political activist who yearned for revolution, but admittedly he had read just one book on the matter.
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© LenskiyS, wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.
The politicians of Novgorod, angry at Moscow’s interference, thought they would teach her a lesson by selling out to Poland.
© Roger Butterfield, Geograph. Licence CC-BY-SA 2.0.
Back in the days of the prophet Samuel, so the story goes, a grandson of Trojan hero Aeneas brought civilisation to the British Isles.
© AleXXw, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: public domain.
A Victorian artist and avid bird-watcher banished cats from his country cottage, but soon wished he hadn’t.
By Percy Carpenter (1820-1895), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
Edmund Burke tore into the directors of the East India Company, accusing them of doing less for the country than India’s mediaeval conquerors.
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After the East India Company quieted the Maratha Confederacy in 1805, Harsukh Rai looked forward to a new era of good government.