Minis
Mini Copy Book

Poets and Poetry

An Excellent Performance

On a visit to England in 1599, Swiss doctor Thomas Platter found time to pop across the Thames and take in a show.

Length: 112 words

Poets and Poetry

Dane-Geld

Three years before the Great War, Rudyard Kipling recalled how one English king simply paid his bullying neighbours to stay at home.

Length: 55 words

Discovery and Invention

The First Steam Whistle

After an accident at a level crossing, the bosses of the Leicester and Swannington Railway acknowledged that drivers needed more than lung power.

Length: 119 words

Classical History

The Surrender of Vercingetorix

As Rome’s grip on Gaul tightened, one man still dared to defy them.

Length: 115 words

Indian History

Seeds of Empire

The British Empire may be said to have started when Elizabethan importers got into a fight with the Dutch over the price of pepper.

Length: 117 words

Indian History

Sing Us a Song of Zion

The Sultan of Aceh in northern Sumatra welcomed his guests from Christian England with an unexpected gesture of friendship.

Length: 116 words