The Copybook

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

565

© 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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566

© 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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567

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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568

© 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.

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569

© 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.

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570

By Thomas Harriot (?1560-1621), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

The Man Who Mapped the Moon from Science (Journal)

In 1609, Englishman Thomas Harriot turned his new-fangled telescope on the moon, and sketched for the first time the face of another world.

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Clay Lane The Copybook
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© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

May 1 NS

April 18 OS

Flying Scotsman : In 1928, a train service linking London and Edinburgh became the world’s longest non-stop run.
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.
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?
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