English – The Guardian – That’s the Way It Crumbles: The American Conquest of English by Matthew Engel – review

Matthew Engel urges us to hang tough against Americanisms in this entertaining history of linguistic imperialism Toilet training: is nowhere safe from the Americanisms that have been polluting our language for years?  Tim Adams Monday 3 July 2017 08.00 BSTLast modified on Tuesday 4 July 2017 11.49 BST Iworked for a few years in my 20s at the literary…

Roving Report – UK – HM Government – Brexit White Paper

The United Kingdom’s exit from and new partnership with the European Union   The_United_Kingdom’s_exit_from_and_partnership_with_the_EU_Web HM Government – Publications The Guardian Brexit white paper: key points explained All you need to know about the government’s outline for how the UK plans to leave the EU David Davis publishes Brexit white paper – Politics live A pedestrian…

Radio – Frequency of Laughter – Radio 4

Frequency of Laughter | Radio 4 | From 18 October; available on BBC iPlayer Radio with over a year to listen and also available as a podcast. The Frequency of Laughter is a six-part history of radio comedy, covering 1975-2005, presented by journalist and radio fan Grace Dent. In each episode she brings together two…

TV – War of Words – BBC 2

War of Words | BBC 2 | Saturday 15 November; available on BBC iPlayer until 14 December The 1916 Battle of the Somme remains the most famous battle of World War I, remembered for its bloodshed and its limited territorial gains. What is often overlooked, however, is the literary importance of the Somme: more writers…

Radio and TV – Armistice Day 2014

  Today marks the 96th anniversary of the armistice that brought an end to the First World War.   2014 is of course the centenary of the outbreak of the war, and the BBC has a dedicated World War One TV & Radio website. Viewers within the UK (or those outside the UK using a UK VPN)…

Books Etc Blog

Books Etc Blog Welcome!   When I started the Books Etc website in January (2014) I tinkered with the idea of a blog, experimented a bit and put the idea to one side as, frankly, I hadn’t a clue what I was doing and the learning curve for this arts grad was a tad too…