The Copybook

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

559

© Birmingham Museums Trust, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.

The Sword in the Stone by Sir Thomas Malory

Sir Kay has left his sword at home, and his young brother Arthur is determined to find him a worthy blade for the New Year’s Day joust.

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560

From the National Museum of the US Navy, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

The Gift of Life by A. G. Gardiner

When columnist ‘Alpha of the Plough’ was asked to select his most memorable moment of the Great War, he told the story of HMS Formidable.

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561

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

Measured Government by Napoleon Bonaparte

To Napoleon, the way that politicians in Paris had forced metric measurements on the public was a lesson in bad government.

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562

© lvm15, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

A Match Made in Stockton by Clay Lane

The modern match is ignited by friction, a simple idea but one which had not occurred to anyone until 1826, when a Stockton pharmacist dropped a stick.

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563

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

Massacre at Amritsar by Winston Spencer Churchill

After one of the worst outrages in modern British history, Winston Churchill stood up in the House of Commons to label the Amritsar Massacre an act of terrorism.

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564

From the Auckland War Memorial Museum, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.

My Heart’s Right There by A. G. Gardiner

The British Tommy’s fondness for ‘Tipperary’ exasperated some of his countrymen, but ‘Alpha of the Plough’ thought it showed proper English spirit.

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

© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

April 24 NS

April 11 OS

Christ is Risen! : Felicia Skene recalls the Easter celebrations on one emotionally-charged night in Athens
Approachable : Replace the verb ‘can’ with these alternatives, and explain how the meaning of the sentence has changed.
The First Easter : In a translation from the Authorized Version of the Bible, published in 1611, St Mark recounts the discovery of Christ’s empty tomb.
A Collect for Easter Day : A short prayer from the Book of Common Prayer, for the day of Christ’s resurrection.
The Gambler : Which well-known expression is Dr Johnson talking about here?
If I Had But Two Little Wings : Samuel Taylor Coleridge holds on to those precious moments when loneliness is a problem for tomorrow.
Red Eye : Reconstruct the speaker’s original words from these reports.
Responsible : Combine each group of ideas into a single sentence, in as many ways as you can.
Opposites : Suggest words that seem opposite in meaning to the words in this list.
Three of a Kind : For each of these things, think of three different varieties of it.
The Son of God Goes Forth to War : A hymn in praise of St Stephen, the first Christian martyr.
Peace Plan : Report this brief exchange between Anna and M. Pierre and Tolstoy’s War and Peace
Metaphors : Choose one of these words and use it metaphorically, not literally.
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