2. Put the verbs in the following text into the appropriate tense.
Thomas Cook – the ‘inventor’ of package holidays
The inventor of the ‘package tour’ was Thomas Cook. Born in Leicester in 1808, Cook was a preacher who 1) ………… (go) around the country telling people about the evils of the alcohol. He 2) …………. (believe) that people would be less tempted by drink if they could get out of the cities and into countryside on their day off.
In 1841, while he 3) ………… (travel) around North, he 4) ………… (have) a brainwave. He 5) ………… (reserve) an entire train to go from Leicester to Loughborough and back again in one day. Cook 6) ………… (organise) lots of activities for these customers, and the tickets, which he 7) ………… (sell) for one shilling (five pence), included everything – travel, food and entertainment. The ‘excursion’ as he called it 8) ………… (be) a great success – he 9) ………… (sell) more than 500 tickets.
As the railway 10) ………… (spread) across Britain, Cook’s excursions 11) ………… (become) more ambitious. By the mid 1840s, he 12) ………… (conduct) tours to Scotland, Liverpool, Newcastle and London. By 1855 Cook 13) ………… (organise) tours and felt that he 14) ………… (have) enough experience to start venturing oversees. He 15) ………… (begin) with continental, but soon 16) ………… (extend) his tours to North America, Egypt and India.
By the time of his death in 1893, the name Cook 17) ………… (become) synonymous with guided tours and what 18) ………… (begin) as the modest day-trip to the countryside 19) ………… (turn) into worldwide business.