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Laurie Bauer

A unique collection of original essays by 21 of the world's leading linguists. The topics discussed focus on some of the most popular myths about language: The Media Are Ruining English; Children Can't Speak or Write Properly Anymore; America is Ruining the English Language. The tone is lively and entertaining throughout and there are cartoons from Doonesbury andThe Wizard of Id to illustrate some of the points. The book should have a wide readership not only amongst students who want to read leading linguists writing about popular misconceptions but also amongst the large number of people who enjoy reading about language in general.

Language Myths

Roget's Thesaurus ranks as one of the greatest English language reference works, used for generations by anyone looking for help in order to write a letter, prepare a speech, solve a crossword, or write any manner of prose or poem.  Its sales now exceed 32 million copies.  This concise edition contains the essential entries from the original 1852 volume, and has been revised and updated to include all the latest buzzwords and phrases.

Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases

Albert Jack

Mr Jack has been nimble and he's been quick, searching through the history of nursery rhymes and he's found out all kind of plum tales, just like little Jack Horner. He's unearthed the answers to some very curious questions... 
 
Who were Mary Quite Contrary and Georgie Porgie? How could Hey Diddle Diddle offer an essential astronomy lesson? And if Ring a Ring a Roses isn't about catching the plague, then what is it really about? This ingenious book delves into the hidden meanings of the nursery rhymes and songs we all know so well and discovers all kinds of strange tales ranging from Viking raids to firewalking and from political rebellion to slaves being smuggled to freedom. 
 
Full of vivid illustrations and with each verse reproduced, here are a multitude of surprising stories you won't be able to resist passing on to everyone you know. Your childhood songs and rhymes will never sound the same again.

Pop Goes the Weasel

The Secret Meanings of Nursery Rhymes

Alan Connor

‘Alan knows everything, knows everyone, and writes beautifully too.’ 
RICHARD OSMAN 
 
‘The man with the contents of the Oxford English Dictionary stored just above his left eyebrow … and he’s quite funny too.’ 
RORY CELLAN-JONES 
 
'A gorgeous, funny tour of the British Isles as seen from the clouds.’ 
KONNIE HUQ 
 
 
For fans of THE ETYMOLOGICON and VERY BRITISH PROBLEMS, a delightfully damp tour of the British Isles. 
 
 
Mizzle. Dreich. Raining knives and forks. A real mugga-fisty. A spot of plother... 
 
We Brits love talking about the weather. So much so that our islands have hundreds of words and phrases for rain, some self-explanatory and others that really leave us scratching our heads. From a light smirr in Aberdeen to a "it's raining knives and forks!" in the Brecon Beacons, each type of rain tells a story about the people and places it falls on. 
 
In this delightfully damp tour of the British Isles, writer and puddle-splasher Alan Connor digs deep into the meaning and quirky histories of over one hundred words for precipitation. He gets caught in a plash in Northumberland, crashes a fox's wedding in Devon and ponders the phenomenon of Brits-who-picnic-in-the-car, in this charming and witty celebration of our very British obsession.

188 Words for Rain

A delightfully damp tour of the British Isles, led by natural forces (an official BBC Weather book)

Andy McNab

Abandoned as a baby, Andy McNab's start in life was tough. Growing up in South London with foster parents, and surrounded by poverty, he attended seven schools in as many years, disillusioned and in remedial classes. It wasn’t long before his life descended into petty crime. By the age of sixteen, he was in juvenile detention. 
 
Recruited into the Army from there, it soon became apparent that he had the reading age of an eleven year old. The next six months in the Army education system changed his course of his life forever. Today Everything Changes is the inspiring story of when life changed for Andy McNab.

Today Everything Changes

Quick Read

David Crystal

Learning to talk is probably the greatest milestone in a child's development: a deeply moving and often hilarious experience for all parents. 
 
In this charming and informative book, Britain's leading expert on the English language talks you through every stage in your child's language development. Over thirty years after its original publication, this new and updated edition of Listen to your Child shows us that while the world our children are growing up in may have changed, one thing has not: parents still need to listen. 
 
Gathering decades of research from psychologists and linguists, Professor Crystal shows how the more we know about language acquisition - from 'cooking' and 'babbling' to melodic 'scribble talk' and simple words and then to incessant chatter - the more there is to delight in. 
 
From birth to the early school years, Listen to your Child provides a painless introduction to the study of child language acquisition as well as invaluable advice for parents.

Listen to Your Child

A Parent's Guide to Children's Language

Lynne Truss

The BBC Radio 4 series that inspired the bestselling book Eats, Shoots & Leaves 
 
'... It's fair enough that punctuation fans should have the opportunity to hear more words of wisdom from their heroine' - Sunday Times 
 
'Truss presents the arguments for and against the different uses of punctuation in such a humorous way...' - Observer 
 
'It all adds up to lots of memorable, and improving, good fun' - Times 
 
The runaway success of Eats, Shoots & Leaves brought millions of grammar geeks out of the closet and made it cool to care about punctuation. This is the radio series that started it all: five programmes in which Lynne Truss explores changing fashions in punctuation. 
 
She accompanies the founder of the Apostrophe Protection Society through Berwick Street Market on a hunt for the 'greengrocer's apostrophe', enters the classroom to hear how children learn punctuation, and finds out whether anyone punctuates text messages. Talking to writers and experts like Fay Weldon and David Crystal, she discovers the origins of the comma in Greek drama and Gregorian chant, considers the case for 'semi-colonic irrigation' and asks how a writer's choice of punctuation expresses his tone of voice.Looking into the future, she wonders if 'emoticons' will put colons, commas and apostrophes on the endangered species list. 
 
Impassioned, informative and always amusing, this is an essential listen for anyone who loves language. 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 03-31 December 2002

Cutting A Dash

The BBC Radio series that inspired Eats, Shoots & Leaves

Kingsley Amis

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The King's English is Kingsley Amis's authoritative and witty guide to the use and abuse of the English language. A scourge of illiteracy and a thorn in the side of pretension, Amis provides indispensable advice about the linguistic blunders and barbarities that lie in wait for us, from danglers, four-letter words to jargon and even Welsh rarebit. If you have ever wondered whether it's acceptable to start a sentence with 'and', to boldly split an infinitive, or to cross your sevens in the French style, Amis has the answer - or a trenchant opinion. By turns reflective, acerbic and provocative, The King's English is for anyone who cares about how the English language is used.

The King's English

Yomi Sode

In poems exploring family, survival, generational trauma and the complexities of belonging, Manorism is an examination of the lives of Black British men and boys. At the heart of the book is the ongoing pressure of code-switching - changing one's behaviour and language to suit radically different cultural contexts and environments. The violence of artists such as Caravaggio in seventeenth-century Rome and modern-day commentary by the likes of David Starkey and Piers Morgan provide a lens for considering differences of impunity afforded to white and Black people. Snippets of Yoruba interweave with English, and a moving final sequence - adapted for the Almeida stage in June 2021 to glowing reviews from the Guardian, Time Out and others - charts the dramatic reconciliations surrounding a death in the family. The result is a thrillingly original book that charts the vulnerabilities and rich nuances of Black masculinity in Britain.

Manorism

Charlie Croker

Have you ever arrived in a hotel room and been baffled by the information provided? 
Beware of your luggage. 
In your room you will find a minibar which is filled with alcoholics. 
Do not throw urine around. 
 
Have you ever been to a restaurant and wondered what on earth to order? 
Bored Meat Stew 
Lorry Driver Soup 
Kiss Lorraine 
 
Have you ever arrived in an airport and found that the supposedly helpful signs just make you feel more lost? 
You are required to declare all sorts of private things. 
Departure. Bus stop. Car rectal. 
Please buy your ticket consciously. 
 
Charlie Croker has, and in 2006 he gathered together what he thought was the definitive collection of English language howlers for his bestselling book Lost in Translation. But he reckoned without the great British public. Not only was the book a smash hit, it also opened the floodgates to a deluge of emails and letters stuffed full of further mistranslations and mutilated phrases. From a leaflet from the Museum of Rasputin in Russia (which is apparently situated in a house that belonged a pilot fish Zubov) to a song title on a pirated Pink Floyd CD (Come Fartably Numb), the scrambled sentences just kept flooding in. At the same time Charlie has continued his travels and picked up gems of his own. With such a wealth of material, a sequel wasn't just a necessity, it was a public service, and Still Lost in Translation is even more addictive, whimsical and side-splittingly hilarious than the first book.

Still Lost in Translation

More misadventures in English abroad

Xiaolu Guo

The new memoir from prize-winning writer and filmmaker Xiaolu Guo - playful, provocative and original, it's her deeply personal take on striving for a life of her own 
 
'When it comes to spinning light and shadow on the complexities of living, loving and language, Xiaolu Guo is one of the most valuable writers in the world' DEBORAH LEVY 
 
The world can seem strange and lonely when you step away from your family and everything you have tried to call your own. Yet beauty may also appear. In the autumn of 2019 Xiaolu travelled to New York to take up her position as a visiting professor for a year, leaving her child and partner behind in London. The encounter with American culture and people threatens her sense of identity and throws her into a crisis - of meaning, desire, obligation and selfhood. 
 
This is a memoir about separation - by continents, by language, and from people. It's about being an outsider and the desperate longing to connect. Xiaolu uses her exploration of language (one of the meanings of the word 'radical' is the graphic component, or root, of Chinese characters), and her own life, to create this unique text. At once a memoir, a dictionary, and an ardent love letter, it is an expression of her fascination with Western culture and her nostalgia for Eastern landscapes, and an attempt to describe the space in between. An archive of an artist's search for creative freedom, it is above all else an intimate account of her efforts to carve out a life of her own. 
 
'Radical in angle of attack, smart and brave' IAIN SINCLAIR, author of The Gold Machine

Radical

A Life of My Own

Alex Games

Balderdash &amp; Piffle: One Sandwich Short of a Dog's Dinner is a thrilling ride through the provocative, bewildering and often downright bizarre world of language and etymology. From the brash jargon of celebrity magazines to the delicacies and feints of the euphemism, author and word-sleuth Alex Games has uncovered the remarkable stories that lie behind some of our best-loved words and expressions. 
 
By grouping words into distinct themes - such as put downs and insults, the vocab of fashionistas and the lingo of dodgy dealings - Balderdash &amp; Piffle looks at the English language in a fresh and revealing light. 
 
Who was the original Jack the Lad? What is the tragic story behind the expression Sweet F.A.? Balderdash &amp; Piffle will show you where thugs come from, why 'barmy' once had more to do with your beer than your brain, and how a little bit of 'hanky-panky' could literally work magic. From the 'Cloud-cuckoo-land' of Aristophanes to the town of Balaclava, this is a funny but rigorously researched account of English words and their origins. 
 
Drawing together sources as diverse as William Shakespeare, David Cameron and the Burnham-on-Sea Gazette, Alex Games recalls the trends, innovations and scandals that have produced some of our most familiar but least explored words and phrases. Accompanying a brand new series of the hit BBC television programme Balderdash &amp; Piffle - and containing all the results of the 'Wordhunt' from the first series -this entertaining book is a treasure trove for English-language lovers everywhere.

Balderdash & Piffle: One Sandwich Short of a Dog's Dinner

In this fascinating survey of everything from how sounds become speech to how names work, David Crystal answers every question you might ever have had about the nuts and bolts of language in his usual highly illuminating way. Along the way we find out about eyebrow flashes, whistling languages, how parents teach their children to speak, how politeness travels across languages and how the way we talk show not just how old we are but where we&rsquo;re from and even who we want to be.

How Language Works

Kick the Bucket and Swing the Cat takes a humorous tour through the fascinating, sometimes tragic, and often surprising history of the English language and its etymology. 
 
Author, humorist and word-sleuth Alex Games uncovers the trends, innovations and scandals that have shaped the meanings of our most popular words and expressions, from Chaucer to Internet jargon and Ancient Greek to American slang. Who was the original Jack the Lad, Gordon Bennett or Bloody Mary? Where do dodgy geezers and hooligans come from? What are skeldering, dithering and sabre-rattling? 
 
This amusing but rigorously researched account of English words and their origins combines the findings of the major BBC TV series and the nationwide Wordhunt, and is an entertaining treasure trove for English-language lovers everywhere.

Kick the Bucket and Swing the Cat

The Complete Balderdash & Piffle Collection of English Words, and Their Curious Origins

Bill Bryson

This highly entertaining BBC Radio 4 series is written and presented by Bill Bryson and based on his bestselling book, 'Mother Tongue'. In it he romps through the history of Britain to reveal how English became such an infuriatingly complex – but ultimately world-beating – language.  But why English? Why don’t we speak Gallic, or any other of the European languages? According to Bryson, it’s down to the remarkable ability for the English language to assimilate other vocabularies, to adapt and – above all – to survive.  From the old English words that are still in everyday use, such as ‘eat’, ‘drink’, ‘man’ and ‘wife’, to the current hybrid language of the 21st century with its many diverse dialects, Bryson, in his unique and ever-affable style, guides us through the development of English into a rich and expressive language.  Bryson explains how English has been shaped through invasion and conquest, as well as the rules that brought order to a disorderly language, the million and one ways to have fun with the English language, and the struggle with phrasal verbs (including the way things often get lost in the translation).  And finally, he contemplates the future of English. Does Estuary English really Rule OK?   '...Worth a listen for anyone who is interested in how we came to have such a rich language' - Sunday Times

Journeys In English

Christopher Fowler

'A delight . . . a glorious, witty and life-affirming ragbag of autobiography, cultural commentary and hard-won wisdom.' ANDREW TAYLOR, author of The Shadows of London 
 
'Perceptive, wise and illuminating . . . an unmissable farewell.' Barry Forshaw, FINANCIAL TIMES 
 
'The most hilarious, life-affirming book you&rsquo;ll read this year.' SAGA magazine 
 
'Wit and wisdom that make every page turn . . . what a fine talent the world has lost.' STARBURST 
 
This is the memoir Christopher Fowler always wanted to write about 'writing'. 
 
It's the story of how a young bookworm growing up in a house where there was nothing to read but knitting pamphlets and motorcycle manuals became a writer - a 'word monkey' - and pursued a sort of career in popular fiction. And it's a book full of brilliant insights into the pleasures and pitfalls of his profession, dos and don'ts for would-be writers, and astute observations on favourite (and not-so-favourite) novelists. 
 
But woven into this hugely entertaining and inspiring reflection on a literary life is an altogether darker thread. In Spring 2020, just as the world went into lockdown, Chris was diagnosed with terminal cancer. And yet there is nothing of the misery memoir about Word Monkey. Past and present intermingle as, in prose as light as air, he relates with wry humour and remarkable honesty what he knows will be the final chapter in his story. 
 
Deeply moving, insightful and surprisingly funny, this is Christopher Fowler's life-affirming account of coming to terms with his own mortality. 
 
'A remarkable book by a remarkable writer: amazingly entertaining and informative and also, for obvious reasons, one of the most moving.' SIMON MASON, author of the DI Wilkins Mysteries 
 
'Wonderful . . . there is no bitterness here, but a hearty celebration of how art defines a life, with dark humour on the right occasions and the deliberate aim to leave a positive message . . . his enthusiasm is infectious and sobering when you are aware that he was dying as he wrote these pages.' Maxim Jacubowski, CRIME TIME

Word Monkey

John August

Craig Mazin

The ultimate guide to writing and building a successful writing career—from the creators of the "highly influential" (Vulture) hit podcast Scriptnotes. 
 
With decades of Hollywood experience, John August and Craig Mazin know what it takes to write a successful script for the screen. And over the past ten years, they've analyzed generation-defining movies and shared their wisdom on their popular podcast Scriptnotes, inviting experts in the craft, including Mike Schur, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach, Seth Rogen, and many others to discuss everything that makes a script shine. 
 
Now, in their first book, August and Mazin draw on more than 550 hours of Scriptnotes conversations, as well as their own storied careers, to help readers begin, refine, and sell their own scripts. Part writing class, part informational interview with the best creators in the business, this essential book shares tips on:<ul><li>The Basics—including the rules of screenwriting, and when to break them</li><li>The Craft—including how to create a compelling story with captivating protagonists, worthy antagonists, and a sound structure</li><li>The Business—including how to pitch a script and the do's (and don’ts) of working collaboratively on a project</li></ul>Perfect for screenwriters, film buffs, and anyone who enjoys behind-the-scenes stories of popular movies like Die Hard and Clueless, this one-of-a-kind resource provides exclusive access to the screenwriting process—and will inspire anyone ready to pen their own successful screenplay.

Scriptnotes

Geoff Tibballs

Would you Adam and Eve it? Over a hundred years after it was first heard on the streets of Ye Olde London Towne, Cockney rhyming slang is still going strong, and this book contains the most comprehensive and entertaining guide yet. 
 
Presented in an easy-to-read A to Z format, it explains the meaning of hundreds of terms, from old favourites such as apples and pears (stairs) and plates of meat (feet) to the more obscure band of hope (soap) and cuts and scratches (matches) through to modern classics such as Anthea Turner (earner) and Ashley Cole (own goal), as well as providing fascinating background info and curious Cockney facts throughout. Also included are a series of language tests so that readers can brush up on their newfound knowledge on their way to becoming a true Cockney Geezer. 
 
All in all, The Ultimate Cockney Geezer's Guide to Rhyming Slang is well worth your bread and honey to have a butcher's.

The Ultimate Cockney Geezer's Guide to Rhyming Slang

Keith Houston

Where does the ampersand get its name from? What does the hashtag have to do with commerce in ancient Rome? Keith Houston gives the answers in this delightfully entertaining book. 
 
From the pilcrow ¶ to the ampersand, the entire cast of Shady Characters reflects the changes in written communication through the ages, charting how punctuation has adapted to each new technological innovation. Together, these shady characters form a rich, entertaining and surprising history of the written word and our ongoing attempts to shape it. 
 
'Engaging typographical journeys . . . Houston brings to life a history of ingenuity and imagination' The Times 
 
'Entertaining, informative, a must-read. If ever a book deserved its hardbacked, reverse-embossed, lavishly illustrated, thick white heavy paper incarnation, and a place on an actual bookshelf, it is Shady Characters' Guardian 
 
'Houston brings considerable wit to the 5,000-year-old enigma of how we attempt to communicate our thoughts through visible signs . . . Shady Characters might make you look at books - in print or online - in an entirely new way' Nature 
 
'Refreshing . . . the stories he uncovers along the way are fascinating' Telegraph 
 
'Ventures into the previously untrodden history of punctuation marks . . . scholarly, highly readable' Spectator 
 
Keith Houston is the founder of ShadyCharacters.co.uk, where he writes about the unusual stories behind some well-known - and some rather more outlandish - marks of punctuation.

Shady Characters

Ampersands, Interrobangs and other Typographical Curiosities

Robert McCrum

Go anywhere in the world today and you'll see or hear English in some form. It may not necessarily be the Queen's English that you're hearing, but it is, nevertheless, a form of universally recognised English - it is Globish. 
 
In his wonderfully witty and informative new book, Robert McCrum explores the curious history, vivacity and endurance of English and ponders why, while British and American empires have waxed and waned, the English language, freer from its moorings like never before, has quietly taken over the world.

Globish

How the English Language became the World's Language

Mark Abley

Half the world's languages are threatened with extinction over the next century, as English and the rest of the world's top twenty languages drive all before them. What ways of looking at the world will die along with them, what cultural riches, what experiences, histories and memories? And how does it feel to be one of the last remaining speakers of a language that is on its way to extinction? What chance is there of saving any of these languages? Is it feasible in the long term or even worthwhile? 
 
Mark Abley's journeys among the speakers of languages at the brink takes him to aboriginal Australia (where he meets the last surviving fluent male speaker of Mati Ke, who cannot speak to the only other fluent speaker, as she is his sister and in their culture it is forbidden to speak to siblings once one has reached puberty) and to American Indian reservations, as well as to places where the languages are fighting back - Wales, the Faeroe islands, the Isle of Man - whilst also charting the triumphant return of Hebrew.

Spoken Here

Lance Parkin

Mark Jones

Inspired by Milton's Paradise Lost and now a major motion picture, Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy has captured the imagination of children, adults and the critics alike. Now you can understand the symbols of the alethiometer, revisit the stories and chart the history of Lyra's world in this invaluable companion to the unforgettable novels. 
 
With an enlightening biography of Philip Pullman, outlines and analyses of the novels, audio books, stage play and forthcoming movie, a dictionary of key words from Armoured Bear to Zombi, and a history of Lyra's world, this volume gives crucial further information to all admirers of the timeless books.

Dark Matters

An Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to Philip Pullman's internationally bestselling His Dark Materials trilogy

An anthology of BBC Radio documentaries featuring the bestselling author 
 
Bill Bryson is the world's funniest travel writer, and a master of comic observation. His hugely popular books, spanning topics from linguistics to Shakespeare to the human body, have sold over 16 million copies and been translated into 30 languages, and his 2003 science book A Short History of Nearly Everything won the prestigious Aventis and Descartes prizes. 
 
This sparkling collection features seven BBC Radio programmes that collectively illuminate his personal passions. In The Art of Travel, he talks to Annette Kobak about his memorable journeys around the USA; while in the 6-part series Divided by a Common Language, he scours American history in an attempt to find out why Americans talk and behave differently from British people. Journeys in English, based on his acclaimed book Mother Tongue, sees him romping through the history of Britain in six episodes, to reveal how English became the complex yet world-beating language it is today. 
 
Ramblings: Windsor Great Park finds Bill heading out across the royal park in the company of Clare Balding, as he discusses his love for walking and exploring. As a castaway on Desert Island Discs, he shares the soundtrack of his life with Sue Lawley; and in With Great Pleasure, he selects some of his favourite writing, including Evelyn Waugh's Scoop, a Hardy Boys classic and Three Men in a Boat. Finally, in Bookclub, he chats to James Naughtie and an audience of readers about A Short History of Nearly Everything. 
 
Contents 
 
The Art of Travel: Bill Bryson 
Divided by a Common Language 
Journeys in English 
Ramblings: Windsor Great Park with Bill Bryson 
Desert Island Discs: Bill Bryson 
With Great Pleasure: Bill Bryson 
Bookclub: Bill Bryson 
 
Production credits 
 
The Art of Travel: Bill Bryson 
Presented by Annette Kobak 
Produced by Kate McAII 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 27 January 1991 
 
Divided by a Common Language 
Presented by Bill Bryson 
Produced by Brian King 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 29 July-2 September 1995 
 
Journeys in English 
Written and presented by Bill Bryson 
Produced by Brian King 
 
First broadcast as Mother Tongue on BBC Radio 4, 13 December 1997-17 January 1998 
 
Ramblings: Windsor Great Park with Bill Bryson 
Presented by Clare Balding 
Produced by Lucy Lunt 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 24 September 2015 
 
Desert Island Discs: Bill Bryson 
Presented by Sue Lawley 
Produced by Angie Nehring 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 31 January 1999 
 
With Great Pleasure: Bill Bryson 
Readers: Kerry Shale and Bill Wallis 
Produced by Mary Ward-Lowery 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 30 September 1999 
 
Bookclub: Bill Bryson 
Presented by James Naughtie 
Produced by Dymphna Flynn 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 6 February 2005 
 
©2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

The Bill Bryson BBC Radio Collection

Divided by a Common Language, Journeys in English and more

Jing Tsu

What does it take to reinvent the world's oldest living language? 
 
China today is one of the world's most powerful nations, yet just a century ago it was a crumbling empire with literacy reserved for the elite few, left behind in the wake of Western technology. In Kingdom of Characters, Jing Tsu shows that China's most daunting challenge was a linguistic one: to make the formidable Chinese language - a 2,200-year-old writing system that was daunting to natives and foreigners alike - accessible to a globalized, digital world. 
 
Kingdom of Characters follows the bold innovators who adapted the Chinese script - and the value-system it represents - to the technological advances that would shape the twentieth century and beyond, from the telegram to the typewriter to the smartphone. From the exiled reformer who risked death to advocate for Mandarin as a national language to the imprisoned computer engineer who devised input codes for Chinese characters on the lid of a teacup, generations of scholars, missionaries, librarians, politicians, inventors, nationalists and revolutionaries alike understood the urgency of their task and its world-shaping consequences. 
 
With larger-than-life characters and a thrilling narrative, Kingdom of Characters offers an astonishingly original perspective on one of the twentieth century's most dramatic transformations.

Kingdom of Characters

A Tale of Language, Obsession, and Genius in Modern China

Julia Cresswell

A fascinating, thematic exploration of clich&eacute;s from as the actress said to the bishop to zero hour, explaining what they are and where they&rsquo;ve come from. Julia Cresswell has taken her best-selling dictionary of clich&eacute;s (&lsquo;Sumptuous&hellip; A mine of information.&rsquo; Guardian) back to the drawing board and has created a book, packed with famous (and infamous) quotations and memorable information, that will change the way you see English.

The Cat's Pyjamas

The Penguin Book of Clichés

Susie Dent

'Susie Dent is a national treasure' RICHARD OSMAN 
 
'Susie Dent is a one-off. She breathes life and fun into words and language' PAM AYRES 
__________________________________________ 
 
Would you be bewildered if someone described you as radgy? 
Do you know how to recognise a tittamatorter? 
And would you understand if someone called you a culchie? 
 
How to Talk Like a Local gathers together hundreds of words from all over the country and digs down to uncover their origins. From dardledumdue, which means daydreamer in East Anglia, through forkin robbins, the Yorkshire term for earwigs, to clemt, a Lancashire word that means hungry, it investigates an astonishingly rich variety of regional expressions, and provides a fascinating insight into the history of the English language. 
 
If you're intrigued by colourful words and phrases, if you're interested in how English is really spoken, or if you simply want to find out a bit more about the development of our language, How to Talk Like a Local is irresistible - and enlightening - reading. 
__________________________________________________ 
 
'Nobody on earth knows more about the English language than Susie Dent and nobody writes about it more entertainingly' GYLES BRANDRETH 
 
'It's an interesting and, at times, hilarious read. One for word-lovers' THE SUN

How to Talk Like a Local

A National Phrasebook from the author of Word Perfect

David Corbett

Former private investigator and New York Times notable author David Corbett offers a unique and indispensable toolkit for creating characters that come vividly to life on the page and linger in memory. Corbett provides an inventive, inspiring, and vastly entertaining blueprint to all the elements of characterization-from initial inspiration to realization-with special insights into the power of secrets and contradictions, the embodiment of roles, managing the "tyranny of motive," and mastering crucial techniques required for memorable dialogue and unforgettable scenes. This is a how-to guide for both aspiring and accomplished writers that renders all other books of its kind obsolete.

The Art of Character

Creating Memorable Characters for Fiction, Film, and TV

Various

Ten emblematic lectures by world-leading thinkers, specially selected by the series producer. 
 
Since 1948, the BBC's iconic annual lecture series has provided a platform for brilliant, entertaining individuals to discuss and develop their ideas on radio. The topics range from art and science to history, culture, politics and more, and each Reith Lecture - which is a little longer than a TED talk - is followed by a lively question-and-answer session showcasing the speaker's expertise, wisdom and wit. 
 
This collection brings together ten of the very best Reith Lectures, chosen by the series producer, Jim Frank. Prize-winning artist Grayson Perry argues that art can no longer shock us - we've seen it all before; bestselling novelist Hilary Mantel explores how art can bring the dead back to life; Eliza Manningham-Buller, the former MI5 director, tells us what it was like to head up the security services in the aftermath of 9/11; Tom Kirkwood asks whether ageing and death are the price we pay for sex; and Margaret MacMillan discusses the relationship between war and humanity, and the role of the soldier. 
 
In addition, Atul Gawande considers the future of medicine; Michael Sandel examines the expansion of markets; Kwame Anthony Appiah appeals for a world free of racial fixations; Vilayanur S. Ramachandran looks at the process we call 'seeing'; and Daniel Barenboim celebrates the power of music to bring us together. Illuminating, captivating and thought-provoking, these superlative radio lectures are full of insight and inspiration. 
 
Production credits 
Presented, chaired and introduced by Sue Lawley 
Produced and curated by Jim Frank 
Edited by Hugh Levinson 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
Tom Kirkwood: Sex and Death 18 April 2001 
Vilayanur S. Ramachandran: Synapses and the Self 9 April 2003 
Daniel Barenboim: In the Beginning was Sound 7 April 2006 
Michael Sandel: Markets and Morals 9 June 2009 
Eliza Manningham-Buller: Terror 6 September 2011 
Grayson Perry: Nice Rebellion - Welcome In! 29 October 2013 
Atul Gawande: The Century of the System 2 December 2014 
Kwame Anthony Appiah: Colour 1 November 2016 
Hilary Mantel: The Day is for the Living 13 June 2017 
Margaret MacMillan: Fearing and Loving - Making Sense of the Warrior 3 July 2018 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

The Reith Lectures

10 of the best

Melvyn Bragg

In this collection, Melvyn Bragg surveys how English has evolved over 1,000 years. He starts by looking at the disappearance of old dialects like that of Cumbria, and how English has been enriched by foreign languages, from Latin and Old French to dozens more as conquest, trade and immigration played their part in recent centuries. He also examines new coinages, puns and wordplay; how accents and social class are entwined; swear words; attempts to stop the evolution of language in its tracks; and, lastly, the many varieties of English that are spoken around the world today. 
 
Next, it's dialects from around Britain: the Pitmatic of Northumberland, the dialect of (London/Derry), the increasingly elusive Cornish dialect, Pidgin and Shropshire dialect, before finishing up with a speculation on the future of English dialects. Finally, Melvyn examines some of the many different varieties of English spoken around the world today, taking in Spanglish from the USA, Indian English, Caribbean English, Australian English, South African English and a kind of 'international English' used between non-native English speakers. 
 
©2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

The Routes Of English Complete Series 1-4

Roald Dahl

The Roald Dahl Series

Penguin Readers Roald Dahl

The Roald Dahl Classic Collection

Roald Dahl’s Words for…

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