This video tells us that Shakespeare invented over 2000 new words and phrases like eyeball, anchovy and puppy.

Transcript -- Shakespeare

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.

Education

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.

Share Transcript -- Shakespeare

Sign up to save your podcasts

Transcript -- Shakespeare

Transcript -- Shakespeare

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

Reading Political Philosophy: From Machiavelli to Mill - Audio

Start writing essays - Audio

Bon départ: beginners' French - Audio

Environmental Science in the Field - for iPod/iPhone

The Galapagos - for iPod/iPhone

Systems engineering: challenging complexity - for iBooks

Croeso: beginners' Welsh - Audio

Andante: beginners' Italian - Audio

Alan Turing: Life and legacy - for iPod/iPhone

Patterns of Life - for iPod/iPhone