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

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49

By Clara Taggart MacChesney (1860-1928), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

The Abuse of Literacy by William Hazlitt

Reading and writing should have taught the people more than name-calling and how to manipulate opinion.

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50

By Edward Hopper (1882-1967), via Wikimedia Commons. Photo © JJonahJackalope, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Among Old Friends by A. G. Gardiner

‘Alpha of the Plough’ hoped Sir Arthur Conan Doyle did not treat his old friends as he treated his favourite books.

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51

By an anonymous artist, via the Wellcome Collection and Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0.

A Reckless Indifference to Life by George McKinnon Wrong

In eighteenth-century England, the death penalty was the solution to almost any crime.

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52

By James Peale (1749–1831), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

Dear Anne Elliot by Anne Thackeray

Anne Thackeray saw something satisfying in the self-control of Anne Elliot.

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53

By Arthur Rackham (1867-1939), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

The Three Bears by Robert Southey

The beginning of Robert Southey’s classic fairy tale.

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54

By Dmitry Levitzky (1735-1822), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

A Man Without a Price by Charles Maybury Archer

A Russian princess admitted defeat with a most gracious compliment.

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© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

May 13 NS

April 30 OS

St Erkenwald, Light of London : The seventh-century Bishop of London helped kings and clergy to shine Christian light into the darkness of mere religion.
The Martyrdom of St James the Great : James, brother of John the Evangelist, was executed for his faith by a close friend of the Emperor Caligula.
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.
A Thousand Commas : Assess the punctuation of this sentence, according to the author’s own principles.
Batter My Heart : John Donne gives God a free hand to do whatever needs to be done.
Window Seat : Describe the view from one of the following vantage points.
Repeat Offender :
In Two Minds : Join these ideas together to a form a single sentence, in at least two different ways.
The First Traffic Lights : The busy crossroads outside the Houses of Parliament was the testing ground for a new technology.
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