Clay Lane

The Copy Book

A Library of History and Literature in English

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1111

The Aspden Cup

British factory workers started a historic three-cornered league in the Russian city of St Petersburg.

In the 19th century, Russia’s Tsars began to recognise the link between freedom, trade and prosperity. Merchants from Britain and other European neighbours were encouraged to relocate industries such as shipping, steel and textiles to Imperial Russia’s increasingly open society, and none was more important than Association football.

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Picture: Via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.

1112

Passover to Pentecost

St Bede explains how the Exodus and the Ten Commandments are related to Easter and Whitsuntide.

Just as the Jewish festival of Passover commemorated the Israelites’ escape from slavery in Egypt, so the Feast of Weeks fifty days later commemorated the giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai. St Bede explains how these two feasts are taken up in the Christian year as Easter and Whit Sunday or Pentecost.

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Picture: © Mujtaba Hassan, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 4.0.. Source.

1113

The Lion of Piraeus

A marble statue in Venice bears witness to Europe’s long history of brave defeats and fruitless victories.

The Piraeus Lion has seen some remarkable history pass before his eyes, from the days when Scandinavian and English mercenaries were taking the fight to the Normans in Italy, to the day when the Turks came knocking imperiously on the doors of Vienna.

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Picture: © Didier Descouens, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.. Source.

1114

One False Step

Louisa Musgrove thought she had hit on a sure method of winning Captain Wentworth’s affections.

Anne Elliot has no expectation that Captain Wentworth will ever forgive her for turning down his proposal of marriage eight years before. Nonetheless, the Captain’s attentions to young Louisa Musgrove have been noted, and events on the promenade at Lyme in Dorset complicate matters further.

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Picture: © Chris Talbot, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.. Source.

1115

Mary Anning

A twelve-year-old girl from Lyme Regis made a historic discovery while selling seashells to tourists.

Around the time that the fictional Anne Elliot paid a visit to Lyme Regis in Jane Austen’s novel ‘Persuasion’, in real life a young girl named Mary Anning was chipping away at the nearby cliffs, and had already entered the history books.

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Picture: Via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.

1116

The Living Past

High above the roof of the Amazonian rainforest, Professor Challenger sees something that eerily reminds him of home.

High on a remote plateau amidst the Brazilian rainforest, Edward Malone, Professor Challenger and their party of explorers come across fresh, oozing prints in the mud. Lord John Roxton sees three toes and thinks ‘bird’, but the sight reminds Professor Challenger of Sussex — and quite a different creature.

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Picture: © Ballista, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.. Source.