Minis
Mini Copy Book

Each post in this section is a short précis (summary) of a passage in The Copy Book. All of them are in modern English. They are intended for students of English as a Foreign Language at Elementary Level.

Extracts from Literature

Fan Frenzy

Ardent opera buffs descend like locusts on Jenny Lind’s hotel, eager for a memento.

Length: 114 words

Indian History

Press Agents

When Lord Salisbury asked the Russian Minister of the Interior how many agents the Tsar had in India, the reply came as a shock.

Length: 61 words

William Thomas Stead

Playing with Fire

William Stead warned his fellow-journalists to take care that their bellicose rhetoric did not end in a real war with Russia.

Length: 116 words

Aulus Cornelius Gellius

Androcles and the Lion

Gaius Caesar is disappointed with the quality of the entertainment on offer in Rome’s Circus Maximus.

Length: 116 words

William Thomas Stead

The Man who Made the Headlines

William Stead conceived modern print journalism in the belief that newspapers could change the world.

Length: 115 words

Extracts from Literature

Criminal Justice

A man unjustly condemned to transportation finds that thieves thieve, but sometimes decency shines through too.

Length: 116 words