The History of English in Ten Minutes - for iPad/Mac/PC

by The Open University
19

Where did the phrase ‘a wolf in sheep’s clothing’ come from? And when did scientists finally get round to naming sexual body parts? Voiced by Clive Anderson, this entertaining romp through 'The History of English' squeezes 1600 years of history into 10 one-minute bites, uncovering the sources of English words and phrases from Shakespeare and the King James Bible to America and the Internet. Bursting with fascinating facts, the series looks at how English grew from a small tongue into a major global language before reflecting on the future of English in the 21st century.

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Recent Episodes
  • Anglo-Saxon
    Jun 22, 2011 – 00:01:08
  • Transcript -- Anglo-Saxon
    Jun 22, 2011 –
  • The Norman Conquest
    Jun 22, 2011 – 00:01:08
  • Transcript -- The Norman Conquest
    Jun 22, 2011 –
  • Shakespeare
    Jun 22, 2011 – 00:01:06
  • Transcript -- Shakespeare
    Jun 22, 2011 –
  • The King James Bible
    Jun 22, 2011 – 00:01:08
  • Transcript -- The King James Bible
    Jun 22, 2011 –
  • The English of Science
    Jun 22, 2011 – 00:01:09
  • Transcript -- The English of Science
    Jun 22, 2011 –
  • English and Empire
    Jun 22, 2011 – 00:01:11
  • Transcript -- English and Empire
    Jun 22, 2011 –
  • The Age of the Dictionary
    Jun 22, 2011 – 00:01:11
  • Transcript -- The Age of the Dictionary
    Jun 22, 2011 –
  • American English
    Jun 22, 2011 – 00:01:09
  • Transcript -- American English
    Jun 22, 2011 –
  • Internet English
    Jun 22, 2011 – 00:01:09
  • Transcript -- Internet English
    Jun 22, 2011 –
  • Global English
    Jun 22, 2011 – 00:01:09
  • Transcript -- Global English
    Jun 22, 2011 –
Recent Reviews
  • asddhf
    why sit through hours of a bad podcast when you can have this
    Says more in a mere 10 minutes than a certain other one - and without all errors.
  • FotoJoe
    palatable animated knowledge
    I feel bad using the word palatable to describe this "knowledge," but I must admit that more people will give this abbreviated course about the English-language a chance simply because they see the thumbnail that is of a cartoon image. It is actually pretty well done, and there's good, accurate research put into these I do also like that they included the transcripts of each of the 10 episodes as well. Well done. --PhotoJoe (Anchorage, Alaska) 30322f084502
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