The Copybook

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

535

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

Cuthbert’s Christmas by Clay Lane

One Christmas Eve back in the twelfth century, a monk keeping midnight vigil in Lindisfarne priory watched spellbound as two great doors opened all by themselves.

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536

By James William Edmund Doyle (1822–1892), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Edgar and the Ship of Kings by Florence of Worcester

Following a very grand coronation at Bath in 973, King Edgar travelled to Chester and showed his people that he had become a mighty lord indeed.

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537

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

Short Shrift by William of Malmesbury

Kenneth II, tenth-century King of Scots, once cracked a joke about Edgar, King of England, being on the short side. He very soon wished he hadn’t.

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538

Westminster Charter of 966, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Edgar’s Peace by James William Edmund Doyle

Edgar, King of England from 959 to 975, was surnamed ‘The Peaceful’ by a grateful public because of the care he took to defend person and property.

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539

By Adolph von Menzel (1815–1905), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Tone Deaf by J. R. Sterndale Bennett

Joseph Joachim was regarded by most people in Europe as the greatest violinist ever, but in the home of Sterndale Bennett there was a dissenting voice.

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540

© Хомелка, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.

‘There is No Precedent for Such a Thing!’ by Elbert Green Hubbard

When Elizabeth Fry asked if she could lead prayers for the women inside Newgate gaol, the Governor was momentarily confused.

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

© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

May 2 NS

April 19 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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