The Copybook

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

559

© 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.

Read

560

© 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.

Read

561

© 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.

Read

562

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.

Read

563

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

To-Whit, Tu-Whoo! by A. G. Gardiner

The mournful owl in her Sussex garden so troubled A. G. Gardiner’s friend that she rarely visited her house in the country.

Read

564

© DrStew82, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.

The Lost Colony of Roanoke by D. H. Montgomery

In 1585, Sir Walter Raleigh’s first attempt to found an English colony in the New World failed, but two years later he was keen to try again.

Read

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

© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

April 23 NS

April 10 OS

A Tale of a Garter : Following the Battle of Crécy in 1346, Edward III instituted an order of chivalry in honour of St George, inspired (some said) by something he picked up in the street.
The Day of Resurrection : An eighth-century hymn of the Greek Church, for Easter Day
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.
Latest

Clay Lane Home

Search

Blog

The Copybook

Think and Speak

Comfortable Words

Word Games

Featured Authors

Featured Subjects

Search The Copybook

About Clay Lane

Close Menu