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Articles, Reference, Stories and Reading


FAMOUS PEOPLE

Dr Barnardo

Dr Thomas John Barnardo (1845-1905) spent his life working to help homeless children in London's East End. He rescued thousands of destitute children.


Alder Trees

The Alder tree is a cousin of the Birch and the Hazel, and like them its flowers and seeds are borne in catkins. It is usually to be found growing by the side of a slow-running stream.


Buffalo Bill

Buffalo Bill was a hero of the wild west and when he was only fourteen years old he used to ride seventy-five miles a day with The Pony Express.


General Grant

Ulysses Grant was born at Point Pleasant in Ohio and started his military career by attending the military academy when he was just 17 years old.


Isaac Newton (1642-1727)

Isaac Newton was born a prosperous famer's son in Woolsthorpe, near Grantham during 1642 and became one of our scientists of all time.


John Henry Newman

John Henry Newman was born in London on 21 February 1801 and was one of the most outstanding churchmen of the 19th century.


King George VI

In the wide wooded grounds of Sandringham, near the lake, stood York Cottage, a country house almost as unpretending as its name.


Lord Palmerston (1784-1865)

Henry John Temple (Lord Palmerston) was born in October 1784 and during a successful education at Harrow School, he was often engaged in school fights.


Nell Gwyn (1650-1687)

Before Nell Gwyn became an actress she used to sell oranges in the Theatre Royal, London, and it was here as a young girl that she became interested in acting.


Pocahontas

Pocahontas was one of the first native Americans to visit Britain. She was born in about 1595 and her real American Indian name was Matoaka.


Socrates

Socrates was born about 470 B.C. in Athens in ancient Greece and had the amazing gift of finding out the truth. His early years were spent as a soldier with great courage.


HISTORY

Battle of Bannockburn 1314

The battle of Bannockburn in Scotland was fought between the armies of the English under King Edward II and the Scottish leader Robert the Bruce.


Battle of Fulford 1066

The Battle of Fulford was a decisive battle fought near York on 20th September 1066 with the combined English armies against the Viking invaders.


Battle of Jutland 1916

The battle of Jutland was the only major naval battle between England and Germany in World War 1.


Battle of Naseby 1645

The English Civil War had been raging for three years when parliment's New Model Army faced King Charles I's main royalist army at Naseby.


British in Africa

The construction of the Suez Canal gave Egypt a central position in the British Empire because of the importance of the lines of communication to India.


British Period in Malta

The British Period is a very significant era in Maltese history and the British legacy lives on in many aspects of daily life.


Malta's Recent History

Along with the Great Siege of 1565, the most documented period of Malta's history is the Second World War.


Zulu Wars in 1879

The settlement of South Africa in the 19th century has a very turbulent history and it was especially true in Zululand, a province in northern Natal where the Zulus lived and farmed.


MYTHS & LEGENDS

Pandora's Box

A lot of people have heard of the Greek legend of Pandora's Box but few are actually aware of the story. It is a Greek tale about the beginning of the world.


William Tell

For centuries the people of Switzerland were engaged in a bitter struggle to throw off the rule of Austria. From this struggle many legends sprang up.


NATURE

Cultivating Flowers

As far as outdoors are concerned we can conveniently divide them into four groups: the Hardy Perennials which will live for a good many years...


How Trees Grow

During the daytime the green leaves take from the air a gas called carbonic acid gas. This they separate into two parts called oxygen and carbon.


Larch Trees

The Larch was brought to Britain in the 17th century from its home on the high mountains of Austria, Germany and Italy.


Meadow Flowers

Meadows and fields are really grasslands in that they bear more grasses than any other kind of plant. In several important respects, however, they differ from the upland pasture.


Wild Rabbits

Wild rabbits live in burrows or underground passages which they excavate, by means of their strong hind-feet, in the soil of sandbanks, fields, woods, etc.


Rooks in the Wild

One of the most interesting features of rook-ways is the habit of living in organised communities. A rook-society is similar to the pack-life of wild dogs.


The Himalayas

The name Himalaya means The Dwelling Place of Snow and it is a most suitable name for this, the greatest and highest range of mountains in the world.


PLACES

The Hudson River

The Hudson River was first explored in 1609 by the Englishman Henry Hudson, who was then working for a Dutch trading company


The Panama Canal

The Panama Canal is a short cut for ships between the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, and saves ships from having to take the long route round Cape Horn at the tip of South America.


The River Ganges

Although many places on the banks of the River Ganges are considered holy, some are more holy than others.