English language Category
Caxton’s printing press
Kent-born William Caxton (c.1422-91) was the first to bring the printing press to Britain and to publish…
No future tense
Although there are several ways to construct a future meaning in English, there is no stand-alone future…
The Huguenots
The Protestant religion emerged in the sixteenth century and its followers grew to be a sizeable minority…
C.S. Lewis
Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963), or ‘Jack’ to friends and family, was born in Belfast. As a boy…
Cockney rhyming slang
A Cockney used to be defined as someone born ‘within the sound of Bow Bells’ in the…
King James Bible
The King James Bible is also known as the ‘King James Version‘, as it is one of…
Mr. Men and Little Miss
Father and son, Roger and Adam Hargreaves, created the Mr. Men and Little Miss series of children’s…
Aldous Huxley
Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) was born in Surrey, attended Eton and Oxford and was a gifted, articulate student.…
William Shakespeare
“He was not of an age, but for all time”… so wrote Shakespeare’s friend, Ben Jonson, in…
George Orwell
George Orwell was the pen-name of Eric Blair (1903-50), who died of tuberculosis shortly after the publication…
“We shall fight on the beaches”
In 1940 the war with Germany was not going well. Belgium, The Netherlands and France had all…
Cat idioms
An idiom is a phrase which should not be taken literally but whose meaning is alluded to…