Scuffles, Swagger and Shakespeare: The Hidden Story of English Backdrop Blur
Scuffles, Swagger and Shakespeare: The Hidden Story of English Poster
United States
NR 0h 29m

Scuffles, Swagger and Shakespeare: The Hidden Story of English

"Shakespeare is often credited with revolutionising English, but is the real story more complex?"

The English language is spoken by 450 million people around the globe, with a further one billion using it as a second language. It is arguably Britain’s most famous export. The man often given credit for the global triumph of English, and the invention of many of our modern words, is William Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s plays first hit the stage four centuries ago, as the explorers of Elizabethan England were laying the foundations for the British empire. It was this empire that would carry English around the world. Language historian and BBC New Generation Thinker Dr John Gallagher asks whether the real story of how English became a global linguistic superpower is more complex.

Watch Now

Top Cast

  • Jonathan Culpeper

    Jonathan Culpeper

    Interviewed Guest

  • Simon Horobin

    Simon Horobin

    Interviewed Guest

  • Farah Karim-Cooper

    Farah Karim-Cooper

    Interviewed Guest

  • Cathy Shrank

    Cathy Shrank

    Interviewed Guest

  • John Gallagher

    John Gallagher

    Presenter

Overview

The English language is spoken by 450 million people around the globe, with a further one billion using it as a second language. It is arguably Britain’s most famous export. The man often given credit for the global triumph of English, and the invention of many of our modern words, is William Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s plays first hit the stage four centuries ago, as the explorers of Elizabethan England were laying the foundations for the British empire. It was this empire that would carry English around the world. Language historian and BBC New Generation Thinker Dr John Gallagher asks whether the real story of how English became a global linguistic superpower is more complex.

Rating

NR / 10
0 Reviews
0 Popular

Recommendations

Night Will Fall

When Allied forces liberated the Nazi concentration camps in 1944-45, their terrible discoveries were recorded by army and newsreel cameramen, revealing for the first time the full horror of what had happened. Making use of British, Soviet and American footage, the Ministry of Information’s Sidney Bernstein (later founder of Granada Television) aimed to create a documentary that would provide lasting, undeniable evidence of the Nazis’ unspeakable crimes. He commissioned a wealth of British talent, including editor Stewart McAllister, writer and future cabinet minister Richard Crossman – and, as treatment advisor, his friend Alfred Hitchcock. Yet, despite initial support from the British and US Governments, the film was shelved, and only now, 70 years on, has it been restored and completed by Imperial War Museums under its original title "German Concentration Camps Factual Survey".

Night Will Fall

7.6 2014