The Copybook
Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
Mrs Clements of Durham is not a household name, but the product she invented is.
Mrs Clement’s innovative process for making hot mustard powder sparked welcome fresh business for farmers and potters in northeast England, and is the secret behind the famous Colman’s of Norwich - and their “bull’s head” logo.
Arkwright invented the factory, without which modern life would be impossible.
Richard Arkwright (1732-1792), the son of a Lancashire tailor, was knighted in 1786 in recognition of his role as one of the architects of the Industrial Revolution - not for the inventions once credited to him, but for developing the idea of factories.
Fate and a vicious professional thief named Fagin conspire to trap orphan Oliver Twist into a life of crime.
‘Oliver Twist, or, The Parish-Boy’s Progress’ is a novel by Charles Dickens. First published in February 1837, it has been dramatised for film and TV many times, and turned into a popular musical named ‘Oliver!’. Here is the first part of a two-part summary of the plot.
The young monk taught some hard-hearted pagans a lesson they’d never forget.
The historian Bede (c.672-735) was a monk at Jarrow, a short distance up the River Tyne from Tynemouth in North East England. It was at Jarrow that Bede heard this story, as told by one of those who had seen it a few years earlier.
His alpaca-wool mills near Bradford proved the social benefits of private enterprise in the right hands.
Sir Titus Salt (1803-1876), Baronet, was a Victorian industrialist who made his fortune in the wool industry. His Christian principles and dislike of industrial slums led him to build a model village for his workforce by the River Aire.