The Adventure of English
the biography of a language
by Melvyn Bragg · first published 2003
100% recommend
"In this book Melvyn Bragg shows us the remarkable story of the English Language; from its beginnings as a minor guttural Germanic dialect to its position today as a truly established global language. Along the way its colorful story takes in a host of characters and locations, from the early tribes, Alfred the Great's stubborn resistance to the Danes, and through its early literary masterpieces such as Beowulf and the bawdy Geoffrey Chaucer; Henry VIII's battles with the church over bootleg bibles; a 'coarse' playwright named William Shakespeare; the songs of the Creole slaves and the worlds
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If this tickles your fancy, you should check out "Adventure of English" and the eponymous BBC documentary. https://www.amazon.com/Adventure-English-Biography-Language/... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihoYL-dUK1g Did you know that just about every English word that…
on “The lost letters of the English alphabet” ↗…scrolling to a random point in the podcast feed, I see than in four weeks in Dec ‘18 there were episodes on the thirty years war, ‘Sir Gawain & The Green Knight’, the poor laws and Venus. Bragg’s book ‘The Adventure of English’ is a good survey of the evolution of the English language too.
on “The Education of Melvyn Bragg” ↗…is a wide selection of popular-science treatments of the history of English and other languages that are both reliable and friendly and accessible for ordinary readers (for example, Melvyn Bragg’s The Adventure of English does right what Bryson set out to do). It is like with archaeology: if an ordinary person wants to learn about the Pyramids, there is no need for someone to recommend Graham Hancock to them as if otherwise…
on “When did Americans lose their British accents?” ↗If you enjoyed TFA, check out this excellent BBC tv doc (and companion book) with Melvyn Bragg, The Adventure of English: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1XQx9pGGd0
on “How far back in time can you understand English?” ↗