''The Adventure of English'' is a British television series (
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
) on the history of the
English language
English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...
presented by
Melvyn Bragg
Melvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg, (born 6 October 1939), is an English broadcaster, author and parliamentarian. He is best known for his work with ITV as editor and presenter of ''The South Bank Show'' (1978–2010), and for the BBC Radio 4 documenta ...
as well as a companion book, written by Bragg. The series ran in November 2003.
The series and the book are cast as an adventure story, or the biography of English as if it were a living being, covering the history of the language from its modest beginnings around 500 AD as a minor
Germanic dialect to its rise as a truly established global language.
In the television series, Bragg explains the origins and spelling of many words based on the times in which they were introduced into the growing language that would eventually become modern English.
Episode list
DVD
A two-disc
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
set of the mini-series was released on 2 June 2009 with an overall runtime of 405 minutes.
See also
*
History of the English language
English is a West Germanic language that originated from Ingvaeonic languages brought to Britain in the mid-5th to 7th centuries AD by Anglo-Saxon migrants from what is now northwest Germany, southern Denmark and the Netherlands. The Anglo-Sax ...
*''
The Story of English
''The Story of English'' is an Primetime Emmy Award, Emmy Award-winning nine-part television series, produced in 1986, detailing the development of the English language.
''The Story of English'' is also a companion book, also produced in 1986.
...
''
References
External links
* .
''The Adventure of English''at
Hodder Headline
Headline Publishing Group is a British publishing brand and former company. It was founded in 1986 by Tim Hely Hutchinson. In 1993, Headline bought Hodder & Stoughton and the company became Hodder Headline Ltd. In 1999, Hodder Headline was acqui ...
.
''The Adventure of English''at Films Media Group.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adventure Of English
2000s British documentary television series
2003 books
2003 British television series debuts
2003 British television series endings
Books by Melvyn Bragg
ITV television dramas
Television series by ITV Studios
London Weekend Television shows