Advanced stories and articles

The legendary detective investigates the disappearance of some valuable stones from a national treasure. All the clues point in one direction but Holmes is not convinced. (5,190 words)

In this very short story, the French master of the genre tells a charming tale of an old servant, his master (who is an ex-military man) and mistress, who live together in great unhappiness because the retired captain has a very bad temper. Nothing pleases him. Yet, in their own ways, the old lady and her servant are happy. De Maupassant tells us why (1,380 words).

In this very short story, Saki explores the idea that money is more important than blood. A very wealthy family has bought an old castle and are sitting down to dinner there with an old lady who works for them and some guests, when the wolves outside start to howl. The old lady announces that a member of the ancient family that once owned the property is about to die … (1,580 words)

There’s a lot of talk these days about the state of the planet. Children at primary school learn about the dangers facing our forests and rivers, the effects of global warming on glaciers and ice. Yet we hear very little about clouds. This article explains to us the different types of clouds and their importance for humankind (900 words).

The Italian Fascist dictator, Benito Mussolini, called himself ‘Il Duce’ (or The Leader), just as his friend and ally Adolf Hitler used the German ‘Der Führer’. But he ended his days hanging upside down outside a petrol station. This is the story of his rise to power, government and death (2,070 words).

H. P. Lovecraft is best known for horror stories but here he mixes horror and science fiction in a tale of a strange, old Doctor who never leaves his apartment, which he keeps as cold as possible. Gradually, we realise why. (2,440 words)

In this story of romance and prejudice in the slave-owning South of 19th century America, an orphan called Désirée falls in love with a wealthy man. He’s mad about her and at first they’re in heaven. The dream dies when he realises their child is not white but there is a surprising twist at the end. (1,850 words)

This classic of feminist literature describes the treatment of a late nineteenth century doctor’s wife as she suffers a nervous breakdown. The reader only slowly understands her unhappiness, as Perkins Gilman uncovers piece by piece the obsession that is taking hold of her heroine. (5,350 words)

‘Counterparts’ is about an alcoholic who cares more for a drink than he does for his job or family. We can almost taste the whiskey and smell the pubs, as Joyce tells us of his night out in Ireland’s capital. At the same time, he explores the drinker's misery, shame and violence. (3,820 words)

Taken from James Joyce’s collection of short stories, ‘Dubliners’, ‘Eveline’ is about a girl who is torn between the duty she feels to her difficult but helpless father and the love she feels for a man who can give her a new life in a new country. (1,715 words)

This story, from Joyce’s collection of short stories called ‘Dubliners’, introduces the reader to two young men who are not as respectable as they should be. Exploiting girls by trading on their feelings, they enjoy themselves at their expense and seem to have no conscience about doing so. (2,800 words)

Edith Wharton's novels deal with the differences in society’s expectations of the behaviour of men and women. They often tend end tragically but this story focuses more comic attention on a woman who has two ex-husbands and describes what happens when they re-enter her new family’s life. (5,075 words)

Saki's miserable childhood, brought up by his aunts in a very strict home, is reflected in this story where a child’s life and imagination is suppressed by a thoughtlessly cruel guardian. It is told, however, with Saki’s usual sense of humour and ends with a surprise for the reader. (1,520 words)

A handsome young man falls in love with a mysterious lady who seems to hide some great secret. When she will not tell him what it is, he leaves her. Some time later he finds out that the secret was not so mysterious after all but it is too late. (1,785 words)

A Ponzi scheme is one that gives an incredibly high interest rate because it uses money from new investors to pay dividends to existing investors. Charles Ponzi was a charming and enterprising con man who robbed thousands of people of their savings before his scheme collapsed and he went to prison for the last time. (1,530 words)

Before Columbus discovered what he thought was India at the end of the fifteenth century, the Americas were unknown to Europeans. Yet, within a few decades, the people of the southern area of the continent were dying, enslaved or in hiding. (900 words)

For ten years Robert Hendy-Freegard somehow managed to keep five people in fear of assassination by the IRA and effectively imprisoned in their homes. Having won their confidence, he took their money and many years of their lives. (2,040 words)

There are few places in the world as secretive and as little understood as North Korea. Although the South is booming, its Communist northern neighbour seems on the verge of starvation at the same time as it develops its nuclear weapons programme. This article tells us something about the founder of the country. (1,800 words)

Mountains take our breath away. People get up early to watch the sun rise over them or charter planes to fly around them and climbers risk death trying to ascend them. Find out how mountains were formed and how important they have been throughout human history. (930 words)

Patty Hearst was born into a rich and powerful American family but in 1974 she was kidnapped by a terrorist group. Some weeks later she turned up on security camera footage taking part in the armed robbery of a bank in San Francisco. She was arrested and sentenced to 35 years in prison but was eventually pardoned. Read and listen to this story to find out why. (1,170 words)

Oscar Wilde wrote many short stories and this one, about an innocent young man, an artist and a beggar who is not quite what he seems, is both funny and up-lifting. (1,685 words)

Dickens wrote this story in 1866 about a railway disaster. It’s his best short work, perhaps because he’d been in a train accident himself the year before. However, Dickens does more than describe his own experience: he explores several accidents through the eyes of a signalman responsible for the line. We’re unsure whether to trust the man’s strange story or think him insane. (3,895 words)

Rivers play a vital role in the earth's water system and the development of human civilisation. This is an introduction to the great rivers of the world and the impacts that they have on people's lives. (1,025 words)

The Spanish Civil War was one of the great battle grounds between the left and right wing during the 20th Century and it attracted artists, poets and intellectuals to the republican cause. This is the background to the conflict, how the republic lost and how General Franco then held on to power. (1,315 words)

Two friends move into a house that they don’t have to pay for so they can save money. Before long though, the dark history of the house and their nightmares make them realise their mistake. (4,870 words)

A political scandal and miscarriage of justice in the late 19th century based on antisemitism caused a split in French society and had far-reaching global consequences. When the French found they had a spy in their military they blamed the face that didn't fit - a Jewish one, rather rather than the real culprit. An innocent military officer spent many years in prison as the scandal unfolded over the next 10 years. (1,250 words)

A nineteenth century equivalent of a disaster movie! A man's cycling holiday is interrupted by a natural catastrophe and terrifying escapes from near-death experiences as he tries to get home to save his family certain death. (4,020 words)

Stephen Crane is famous for stories about the American Civil War. This is a vivid tale of accidental bravery that sees a young man go to get water from a well in the middle of a fierce battle in order to save face. In the event though a genuinely noble act of kindness marks him out as the hero he doesn't believe himself to be. (2,800 words)

Toussant L'ouverture was a black slave in Haiti and, yet, he could take on the might of Napoleon's French Empire and secure independence for his island nation. Although he was eventually captured, he was an inspiration to his people and freed them from the burden of colonialism and slavery. This is his story (1,870 words).

Europe is on the verge of war because of a document written by an impulsive head of state, which has been stolen from the home of the British Foreign Minister. The highest politicians in the land visit Sherlock Holmes to see if the great detective can pull the continent back from a pointless conflict. (5,650 words)

This ghost story frightens us by what we suspect, rather than what the author actually tells us. There is a sense of horror that never leaves us, as Bierce leads to his mysterious climax. (2,000 words)

Set in an unhappy home which, although upper-class, always faces financial difficulties. This story is about the unexpected and exciting way that the eldest child, just a young boy, takes it on himself to rescue his family. (4,925 words)

In this classic story of Cossack life in the nineteenth century, Chekhov paints a picture of women and men living wild and carefree lives, while the anti-hero of the story looks on with fear and envy, even while he knows he can never be part of the danger they live and love. (4,860 words)

Kipling's tale of two working-class adventurers in nineteenth century British India must rank as one of his greatest works. Even the vast continent of India was hardly big enough for their imaginations and so they set out to become kings. But …. (7,660 words)

The kidnapping and murder of the two-year old son of Colonel Lindbergh, the first man to fly across the Atlantic from the U.S. to France and a national hero, was a very big story in 1932. Someone was executed for the crimes but there are still many unanswered questions in this sad story. (1,820 words)

Thomas Hardy's many short stories are not much read nowadays, which is a shame because they are very good. This one makes fun of some of the most important social conventions of Hardy’s time. (2,445 words)

Pushkin’s ‘The Shot’ is set at a time when a man would fight to the death if he thought he’d been insulted, just as the author did twenty-nine times until he was killed. The story revolves around an expert shot who refuses to take part in a duel to save his honour. Is it cowardice or is there some hidden reason? (4,200 words)

Fitzgerald knew the disorder that drink can cause in life from personal experience and it was a theme he returned to again and again. Here, a recovering alcoholic is fighting for the only thing he really loves as he attempts to get his daughter back from his unsympathetic sister-in-law. (5,040 words)

Forests play a vital role in the life of our planet and everything that lives on it. Read about our relationship with forests throughout history, how much we depend on them and how we are destroying them (930 words).

Shaun Greenhalgh couldn't sell his own paintings, so he started forging great artists’ work with the help of his family. Shaun became very wealthy from his forgeries but they never spent the money on a nice house or luxury cars. He seemed happy just taking revenge on the art world that had rejected him. (910 words)

India’s Nobel Laureate, Rabindranath Tagore, wrote this sad story in Bengali about the son of a widowed mother, who struggles to take care of him and agrees to let her brother and his wife look after the lad. Far away from his family, the boy finds life without love in a strange house in the city much harder than he’d imagined. (2,050 words)

Conan Doyle’s legendary detective, Sherlock Holmes, has made us forget that the author wrote many more stories about crime where his creation plays no part. In this story, we learn about the disappearance of an entire train from the evil mastermind behind the mystery (4,700 words)

Percy Toplis was a working class boy who loved to pretend to be from the upper class. He had many schemes to trick the rich out of their money and went to prison for it more than once. His army career was almost as criminal. However, Toplis was involved in a mutiny against his officers and just escaped with his life. He was finally shot while on the run, but many mysteries remain about his life and death (2,130 words).

Stevenson is best-known for his children’s novel, ‘Treasure Island’, as well as his novella, ‘The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’, but this horror story concerns a young man making a deal with the Devil after he commits a dreadful crime. He can escape with the help of Satan or face the hangman (4,420 words).

Perhaps it has always been true that politics is a dangerous business. President Lincoln was assassinated, for instance, and Pope John Paul II was shot at. The killing of Duke Franz Ferdinand started the First World War. But Ingrid Betancourt was held hostage for six years in the jungles of Colombia, nobody knowing if she was alive or dead. How did it happen? (1,290 words)

Chesnutt has never received the fame he deserves as an author. He was criticised first for his radical beliefs and then, when he was old, for being a racist himself. This comic story, tells how a slave got the better of his young master and an old one too. (3,975 words)

One of the first colour horror films, Poe’s story became a box office smash hit in 1960. It was already the author’s most famous work. In it, a young man visits his childhood friend, Roderick Usher, who is suffering from a mysterious disease of the senses, and his dying sister, Madeline. He watches as disaster seizes them and then one night there's a terrible storm... (2,825 words).

Today, calculus is an essential part of modern mathematics. In the English-speaking world, Isaac Newton is often credited with its discovery, while in Europe, that honour goes to Gottfried Leibniz. Both men seemed to arrive at the calculus from different perspectives and were interested in different areas of it, but that did not stop them arguing bitterly about who was its creator (1,330 words).

This story is about an old prize fighter who needs to win against a much younger but less experienced opponent to pay off his debts and feed his family. The tension builds and as we follow the fighter through every punch and tactic, we get to know the man and hope that he will win. (5,200 words)

Katherine Mansfield lost her brother in The First World War and this story explores the feelings of two fathers whose sons were killed in that terrible conflict. She considers their different reactions and uses the struggles of an unlucky fly to make her dramatic point. (1,860 words)

Always a subversive who tried to undermine upper middle class life in the early twentieth century, Mansfield here looks at a successful businessman and head of a seemingly happy family, one evening late in his life. As we learn more about his aims and his disappointments, we start to question whether he has achieved all he set out to gain or lost too much trying. (2,000 words)

This very short story by the feminist American writer, Kate Chopin, examines the awakening of hope in a young, but sick, married woman, when she believes that the death of her much-loved husband in a train accident will allow her to live her own life. 'The Story of an Hour’ is also available at pre-intermediate level (930 words).

This is a delightful story, told by one of the funniest writers in English, about a fiercely intelligent child who manages to escape a boring excursion to the seaside so that he can explore hidden treasure. To do so, he has to deceive his aunt but, just for once, the young seem more inventive and intelligent than the old. (1,850 words)

Szabo was executed as a British spy in a prison camp in Germany at the age of 23 in 1945. She had been born in France and could speak French and English fluently. She had also lost her husband while he was fighting in the British Army and was perfect material for a spy. This is the story of a very brave young woman. (895 words)

Bierce’s anonymous storyteller introduces us to an old man who lived alone, mixed with no-one, and had a terrible tragedy in his past that turned his dreams to dust. Bierce is a master of the very short story and tells a tale that comes back to us again and again, although we don't realise this until the final sentences. (1,345 words)

One of O. Henry’s funniest short stories about the kidnapping of a young boy which goes horribly – and often painfully – wrong. It will have you laughing from beginning to end and also show you why this long-dead author is still held in such high regard. (3,530 words)

The Samurai warrior class of Japan has a very long history. They were once a powerful political and military force that saved Japan from the Mongol army twice and could make emperors bend to their will. However, they were also often accomplished poets and philosophers. (1,710 words)

In 1978 the Red Brigade kidnapped Aldo Moro, the Italian Prime Minister just as he was about to form a coalition Government including the communists. In the two months that the crisis played out, the whole world held its breath. (1,170 words)

Dickens is the most famous novelist ever to write in English. He was admired by contemporaries as diverse as Edgar Allan Poe and Leo Tolstoy. His novels teem with larger-than-life characters that have become part of the literary landscape. This article discusses the man behind the literary giant, his beliefs and personal life. (1,940 words)

Despite many discoveries and theories dating back to ancient times, two hundred years ago we had not the slightest idea that fossils existed. A lot has changed since then, of course, and this is the story of the rapid development of modern knowledge about fossils. (2,050 words)

There is a myth that the human race is getting better: we have a far deeper understanding of science and medicine than a few decades ago, for instance. We have more hospitals, universities and schools. More countries abide by democratic ideals and people have more say in government. Yet this does not stop genocide and bigotry. (1,940 words)

Ever since the release of 'Catch Me If You Can', starring Leonardo di Caprio and Tom Hanks, the early life of Frank Abagnale has been well-known and his exploits pretending to be a pilot, doctor and lawyer envied by all of us who lead routine lives but long for adventure. (1,285 words)

An introduction to the astonishing array of scientific techniques available to the police today to help them investigate crime. Find out how much has changed since the days of Sherlock Holmes! (1,505 words)

The story of Pablo Escobar who graduated from selling marijuana to exporting cocaine and built up a drugs empire that made him more powerful than government ministers. He escaped justice in Colombia for many years but the US wanted to extradite him. (1,920 words)

A history of architecture since human beings started to depend on it after the development of agriculture started a shift to permanent homes. It is now a very sophisticated science (and art perhaps) which affects most people's lives. (1,140 words)

This is the story of the plague that spread across North Africa, the Middle East and Europe in the Middle Ages. The Black Death killed as much as a third of the populations of some countries and wiped out whole cities. The article looks at its causes and the terrible effects it had on the people and their ways of life. (1,700 words)

Not too long after James Maybrick married his much younger wife, she was on trial for his murder. She was convicted but released some years later and then a diary was found that seemed to be Maybrick's and which describes a series of horrible murders very similar to those committed by Jack the Ripper. (1,070 words)

There can be few examples of cruelty and superstition more sadistic in western history than the treatment of so-called 'witches'. They were often older women living alone who were burnt, mutilated, drowned and crushed as agents of the Devil. This article explores this strange episode in history. (1,750 words)

Attitudes to the use of different drugs have changed a lot over the years. Right through the 19th century, the upper classes in Britain used opium. Sigmund Freud, the father of psychology, used cocaine morning and evening. And the French were regular smokers of hashish, including their greatest novelist, Flaubert. Now, though, they are illegal nearly everywhere in the world. (1,585 words)

Al-Biruni was a Muslim scholar who was born at the end of the 10th century and wrote over 140 books. He was interested in astrology, pharmacy, mathematics, philosophy, medicine, physics, mineralogy and languages. Read about his remarkable achievements and the world he lived in (1,330 words).

For Lavoisier in revolutionary France and the religious socialist, Priestley, in England, science meant very different things. For the Frenchman who devised the metric system, it was about systematising our knowledge of the world. For the Englishman, it was all part of realising God’s great plan for us. The paths of the two men crossed but their beliefs were very different. (1,850 words)