Episode 174: Speak and Spell

During the decade of the 1640s, England was divided by Civil War. At the same time, the sound of letter of U was also experiencing its own division, ultimately resulting in two distinct ‘long’ sounds and two distinct ‘short’ sounds. In this episode, we explore those developments ...  Show more

As we conclude our look at the 1630s, we explore the events leading to Civil War in England and the expansion of the English colonies along the eastern coast of North America. We also examine the evolution of syllable stress in English and the variation in stress patterns in Mode ...  Show more

Did you know that William Shakespeare, one of the most famous English writers, hugely shaped how we speak English? In fact, he invented over 1700 new English words. So in this podcast we have hand picked 15 of the most useful expressions that you can start using to add a bit of s ...  Show more

This 2016 episode covers the living and evolving nature of language. It shifts and changes; pronunciations and spellings morph throughout time. English is no exception.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 

Sophie Duncan delves into the playwright’s world-famous tragedy to reveal what it tells us about youth in the Tudor era The doomed romance of young lovers Romeo and Juliet has captured imaginations across the centuries – but what does William Shakespeare’s play tell us about the ...  Show more

Recently, we marked the 400th anniversary of the publication of the First Folio, a collection of plays by William Shakespeare. To celebrate this landmark in literary history, in today's Long Read, eight historical experts offer their takes on what the Bard's plays reveal about en ...  Show more