Clay Lane

The Copy Book

A Library of History and Literature in English

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1537

The Character of George Stephenson

A self-made man who never forgot his humble beginnings.

George Stephenson (1781-1848) was an illiterate boy from the North East, who, through his pioneering railways and steam engines, became arguably the most important civil engineer in world history.

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

1538

Cyril and Hypatia

A ‘Christian’ mob kidnapped and murdered a much-loved professor of mathematics - for her politics.

Hypatia was head of the Philosophical School in Alexandria. She was a very likeable mathematician and astronomer, who numbered pagans, Jews, and several Christian clergymen among her past and present students.

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

1539

Daniel in the Lions’ Den

The King who condemned him to the den of lions felt far worse about it than Daniel did.

Nebuchadnezzar II was King of Babylon (near to modern Baghdad) in the 6th century BC. Many Jews lived there, after Jerusalem was conquered by the Babylonians 587 BC.

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Picture: From Wikimedia Commons. Public domain image.. Source.

1540

The Daring Escape of Richard the Fearless

The ten-year-old got away from a royal castle disguised as a bundle of hay.

William Longsword was the son of Rollo, a Viking who had made his home in northern France, much to the disgust of the French kings. William was murdered on December 17, 942, leaving a son named Richard.

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1541

The Eagle, the Jackdaw, and the Shepherd

An over-excited jackdaw goes out of his league, and pays the price.

A jackdaw is a member of the crow family, with a little silver sheen to the back of its head. It is not one of the larger crows, but in this story, a jackdaw’s envy leads him to forget that.

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Picture: © Mike Pennington, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.. Source.

1542

Edmond Halley

Edmond Halley will forever be associated with the comet named after him, but his greatest achievement was getting Sir Isaac Newton to publish ‘Principia Mathematica’.

Halley’s comet is named after Edmond Halley (1656-1742), Britain’s second Astronomer Royal and a friend and colleague of Sir Isaac Newton.

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Picture: From Wikimedia Commons.. Source.