Many a True Word
What are the top one hundred words we use the most? How should anchovy, chastisement and tryst be pronounced? How good are you at spelling the most commonly misspelt words and names? For the answers to these andquestions and much more, sit back and let Richard Anthony Baker take you on a journey through the English language.
Marvel at the richness of what we derive from French and German; bristle at the words banned in the Daily Telegraph; laugh at the officialese of corporate writers; bone up on our use of language from William Shakespeare (and the Bible) in our day-to-day talk; absorb Richard's master classes on how to win at Scrabble with devastating ease and how to complete cryptic crosswords with impressive alacrity; and test your linguistic agility by trying to answer the five questions which Google puts to job applicants.
For many years Richard worked in the BBC Radio Newsroom, at one point editing the main bulletins in Radio Four's Today. During his 30 years at the BBC, he wrote and presented a large range of programmes for Radios Two and Three; and for Radio Five Live, he devised the world's first obituaries programme, Brief Lives, producing over 300 editions.
His well-regarded biography of music hall legend, Marie Lloyd, appeared in 1990. In 2005 he published the definitive British Music Hall: An Illustrated History, followed in 2011 by the companion volume, Old-Time Variety: An Illustrated History. He contributes regularly to The Stage and the British Musical Hall Society's magazine, The Call Boy, and he co-edits (with Max Tyler) the invaluable quarterly journal, Music Hall Studies.