The Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

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Clay Lane

The Copy Book

A Library of History and Literature in English

September 19 September 6 OS

The Copy Book is an ever-growing library of short passages from history and literature, intended for practice in paraphrase and précis or simply for reading pleasure. They include brief summaries and eyewitness accounts of major events in our national history, and extracts from fables, poetry, plays, novels, political speeches and biography. Many were included by NL Clay in his anthologies of ‘straightforward English’.

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On This Day

September 19 ns

September 6 os

We keep civil anniversaries on the New Style date, and Church events on the Old Style. See About our calendars.

September 6 os

The Feast of St Bega (9th century) 1 post

St Bega

An Irish princess fled to Cumbria to escape the Vikings, clutching her precious silver bracelet.

Archive

What follows is an index to all 1547 posts in The Copy Book. You can keep up-to-date with new posts, and discover old posts you may have missed, with the Clay Lane Blog, where you will also find a selection of word games and exercises in grammar and composition.

The posts are currently listed most recent first. Use the buttons below to sort the posts alphabetically, or shuffle the list so you can find posts from right across the collection.

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1

The Blues, the Greens, and Belisarius

The Nika Rebellion drew a rising Roman general against some rioting sports fans, and it was a tense game.

2

The Story of Miss

A half-starved cat is recruited by the Allies in the fight against Hitler.

3

Art Appreciation

Some years before the Elgin marbles were put on display in the British Museum, rising artist Benjamin Haydon got a sneak preview.

4

Shock and Awe

Fame found Abraham Lincoln before he was ready for the scrutiny of the camera.

5

As I Came Through Sandgate

... I heard John Wesley sing. A visitor on the quayside on Sunday May 30th, 1742, would have stumbled into a crowd agape and a determined clergyman singing psalms.

6

The Causes of the Great War

John Buchan, who was as close as anyone to the events, gave his assessment of how all Europe was plunged into war in 1914.