The Story of English

The Story of English is the title of an Emmy Award-winning nine-part television series, and a companion book, both produced in 1986, detailing the development of the English language.

The book and the television series were written by Robert MacNeil, Robert McCrum, and William Cran.[1] The book has been revised twice, once in 1993, and again in 2002.[2]

The documentary series was directed by William Cran,[3] and originally broadcast on BBC and PBS. It was co-produced by MacNeil-Lehrer Productions and the BBC, and was principally funded through a grant from General Foods. The third episode, "A Muse of Fire", won the 1987 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational Programming - Writing.[4] The series was released as a 5 tape box set in 2001, running 495 minutes.

The book and series have been used in University courses.[5][6]

Episode list

  1. An English Speaking World
  2. The Mother Tongue
  3. A Muse of Fire
  4. The Guid Scots Tongue
  5. Black on White ( Includes Interviews With Philadelphia Hip Hop Legends The Scanner Boys, Parry P and Grand Tone)
  6. Pioneers, O Pioneers!
  7. Muvver Tongue
  8. The Loaded Weapon
  9. Next Year's Words

References

  1. ↑ McCrum, Robert; Robert MacNeil, William Cran (1986). The Story of English. New York: Viking. ISBN 0-670-80467-3.
  2. ↑ ISBN 0-14-015405-1 and ISBN 0-14-200231-3
  3. ↑ The Story of English at the Internet Movie Database
  4. ↑ "Primetime Emmy Award Database - The Story of English". Emmys.com. Retrieved 2013-04-20.
  5. ↑ The Story of English Video Series - contents listing, including timecode descriptions at the Wayback Machine
  6. ↑ ENG 121: The Story of English — a Northern Arizona University course using The Story of English as its base.