The Language of Empire
Amok, "boomerang," "bungalow," "bangle," "dumdum," "plonk," "assassin" - these are some of the many words that have entered English by way of colonial expansion. This program explores how the British Empire in its heyday exported its language around...
Birth of a Language
Melvyn Bragg begins the story of English in Holland, finding ancestral echoes in the Frisian dialect. What follows is a chapter on survival as the English language weathers Viking and Norman invasions, vying with and eventually absorbing rival tongu...
English Goes Underground
With the Norman invasion, English became a third language in its own country, behind French and Latin. In this program, Melvyn Bragg examines the impact of Old French on the development of English. Manuscripts, tapestries, and dozens of curious etym...