highly entertaining Observer A prolific author. he can write with authority on trends in the spelling of rhubarb and indeed on the history of the spelling of any tricky word you care to mention. English spelling is as rich a mixture of anachronism, privilege and fashion as the House of Lords Sunday Times A prolific author. Crystal's many examples show that the development of English spelling is as random, unsystematic and anomalous as the British constitution. It does not store any personal data.Entertaining. The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies.

The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category 'Performance'. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category 'Other. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category 'Necessary'. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category 'Functional'. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category 'Analytics'. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. uk/9/456-conclusions-about-language-learning-from-the-david-crystal-interview-part-1/ uk/6/455-david-crystal-interview-part-2-questions-from-listeners/ uk/1/454-david-crystal-interview-part-1-professor-of-linguistics/ There are also audiobook versions which are read out by the man himself. Many of those titles can be purchased as ebooks from David Crystal’s website – from any good bookseller.

Making Sense: The Glamorous Story of English Grammar.

Just A Phrase I’m Going Through: My Life in Language (which is both his autobiography and a highly accessible introduction to the field of linguistics).

Spell It Out: The Curious, Enthralling and Extraordinary Story of English Spelling.

Pronouncing Shakespeare: The Globe Experiment – a fascinating project investigating how English was pronounced by the original actors in the Globe Theatre when Shakespeare was alive.

Wordsmiths and Warriors: The English-Language Tourist’s Guide to Britain (Written with his wife Hilary).

You Say Potato: The Story of English Accents (written with his son Ben).

The Oxford Illustrated Shakespeare Dictionary.

The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language.

Spell It Out by David Crystal