Comprehension

Marcus Sedgwick – MidWinterBlood

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Here’s a summary of Part 1 of MidWinterBlood by Marcus Sedgwick: Chapter 1: The story begins in June 2073 on a remote Scandinavian island called Blessed Island. Eric Seven, a journalist, arrives to investigate rumors about a mysterious flower that supposedly prevents aging[4][5]. Upon arrival, Eric feels an inexplicable sense of familiarity with the island … Read more

Shakespeare (Extract from Bill Bryson’s book)

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Read the following extract from Shakespeare by Bill Bryson and answer the questions below, in full sentences, on lined paper (the book is available on soraapp.com) What does the author Bill Bryson say of William Shakespeare in the first two sentences? What did Francis Thackeray suggest about Shakespeare? What announcement was made in 2009? By … Read more

William Shakespeare -15 Top Facts

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Cobbe Portrait of Shakespeare

Full name: William Shakespeare. Born: Exact date unknown, but baptised 26 April 1564. Hometown: Stratford-upon-Avon, England. Occupation: Playwright, actor and poet. Died: 23 April 1616. Best known for: Writing hugely successful theatre plays! Also known as: The Bard of Avon. 1) During his lifetime, William Shakespeare wrote around 37 plays for the theatre and over 150 poems! No one can say the exact number, because some of his work … Read more

Nelson Mandela

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Nelson Mandela facts… Throughout history, lots of people around the world have faced discrimination – where they are treated differently because of their race, skin colour, gender, age and lots of other things, too. Sadly, it still happens to this day! But there are some amazing people who have worked hard to make a change for the … Read more

Albert Einstein

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Einstein

Full name: Albert Einstein Born: 14 March 1879 Occupation: Scientist specialising in physics, also known as a theoretical physicist* Died: 18 April 1955 Best known for: His theory of relativity* 1. Albert Einstein was born in Germany, but lived in Italy, Switzerland and Czechia (which was then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire), until he eventually moved to the United States … Read more

Bessie Coleman, Fiennes & Henson

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BESSIE COLEMAN (1892-1926) Another defiant, history making female pilot, Bessie was the first African American and Native American woman to get her pilot’s licence and was known for her impressive flying tricks of loops and figure 8s. As she wasn’t allowed to go to a flying school in the US due to her race and gender, she … Read more

Shark Attack

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SHARK-ATTACK?    The chances of being attacked by a shark are staggeringly low – one in 3.7 million, to be exact – but it’s understandable why we see them as such a big threat. Films often depict them as huge killing machines – but humans aren’t exactly their ideal prey. They don’t even like the … Read more

Gotham, Nottinghamshire

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Extract from I NEVER KNEW THAT ABOUT ENGLAND, by Christopher Winn Read the following passage and on lined paper, answer the questions, in full sentences. GOTHAM (Old English for “Goat home”) Gotham is a simple Nottingham village, and the men of Gotham were simple people with simple ways. We are told in The Merry Tales … Read more

Annesley, Nottinghamshire

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Extract from I NEVER KNEW THAT ABOUT ENGLAND, by Christopher Winn

Read the following passage and on lined paper, answer the questions.

ANNESLEY, NottinghamshireAnnesley Hall

Lost Love

Hills of Annesley,  bleak and barren

Where my thoughtless childhood strayed

How the Northern tempests, warring

Howl above thy tufted shade

 

Now no more, the hours beguiling,

Former favourite haunts I see,

Now no more my Mary smiling

Makes ye seem a heaven to me

 

ANNESLEY HALL, where the teenaged LORD BYRON loved and lost MARY CHAWORTH, his first and saddest passion, stands beside the ruins of a church, across the fields from the poet’s home at Newstead Abbey. In the park nearby, is DIADEM HILL, 578 ft (176 m) high, where they would meet and where they finally parted.

In one summer holiday, when he was 15, George Gordon, Lord Byron fell in love with the daughter of the house, Miss Mary Ann Chaworth. Unfortunately, she married someone else (John Musters) very soon afterwards.

Byron truly loved Mary, his ‘bright morning star of Annesley’, who was petite and exquisitely beautiful, but she did not return his feelings and he never recovered from her rejection. “Had I married Miss Chaworth, perhaps the whole tenor of my life would have been different,’ he wrote, and something of the aching sense of loss that runs through his poetry can still be felt here, where his melancholy and self-destruction began.

Lying in the ruined church is WILLIAM CHAWORTH, slain in a duel by Byron’s great uncle William, the ‘Wicked Lord’ from whom Byron inherited his title and the desolate Newstead Abbey.

Mary Chaworth died in 1832, when Annesley Hall was attacked by a mob rioting over the Great Reform Bill.

Answer the following questions in full sentences

  1. Who was Lord Byron’s first love?
  2. Where did they meet?
  3. What did Lord Byron think of her and how did he react to losing his love?
  4. What did Lord Byron say of his first love?
  5. How did Lord Byron react to the loss of his first love?
  6. What happened to William Chaworth?
  7. Byron’s Great uncle was known as what?
  8. What happened to Lord Byron’s first love in1832?

 

 

Ernest Shackleton & Amelia Earhart

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THE AMAZING PEOPLE WHO TOOK ON THE WORLD! ERNEST SHACKLETON (1874-1922)  Shackleton is one of the world’s most famous explorers as he dedicated his life to exploring Antarctica and went on four expeditions (a journey with a mission) to the south pole in his lifetime. His first two expeditions on the ships Discovery and Nimrod … Read more