Sue Perkins explores the house of Samuel Johnson – author of ‘A Dictionary of the English Language’.

Published in 1755, this book was to set the standard for all future dictionaries.

Comedian Sue also pays a visit to the British Library for a whirlwind tour of the earliest English dictionaries, with all their attendant quirks and oddities.

With:

* Biographer, Henry Hitchens
* Oxford English Dictionary Editor, John Simpson
* Antiquarian bookseller, Karen Thomson

Producer: Sarah Jane Hall

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2009.

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