When you pick up a dictionary and look up a word, have you ever stopped to consider who it was that compiled such meticulous work? Was it a scholar, or group of scholars, holed up in a musty backroom somewhere dedicating their lives to the task, or a wide group of volunteers, crowdsourcing an otherwise unthinkable workload? Or was it perhaps, a madman and mu ... Show More
Aug 25
Early America & The Savage Crimes of the Harpe Brothers
In the years following the American Revolution, when the country was still uncertain of itself and the frontier was still a place of violence, two brothers carved out a story of fear across the wilderness. When their story was first published in 1824, many people thought it was s ... Show More
1 h
Aug 12
The Grafton, The Invercauld and the The Multiple Wrecks of the Auckland Islands
In the winter of 1864, two ships met their fate on one of the most remote and unforgiving stretches of the Southern Ocean. The Grafton and the Invercauld were wrecked thousands of miles from civilization, leaving their survivors stranded on the desolate Auckland Islands. What fol ... Show More
1h 7m
Aug 3
Summer Break - Charlotte Riddell: The Open Door
Hey Everyone! here is a little episode to tide us over til next week when I'll be back to the usual posting schedule. I took a short, mid-season break to sort some bits and pieces out and enjoy a bit of the summer weather, but I do love a good ghost story, so here's one for the t ... Show More
1h 16m
Nov 2018
The Bizarre Origin of the Oxford English Dictionary
With 600,000 words and 3 million quotations, the Oxford English Dictionary is a massive tome. Work began on the dictionary in 1857, but the first edition wasn't published until 1884. Compiling the dictionary was a Herculean task, and James Murray, the editor of the dictionary, pu ... Show More
43m 20s
Aug 2025
CLASSIC: The Bizarre Origin of the Oxford English Dictionary
With 600,000 words and 3 million quotations, the Oxford English Dictionary is a massive tome. Work began on the dictionary in 1857, but the first edition wasn't published until 1884. Compiling the dictionary was a Herculean task, and James Murray, the editor of the dictionary, pu ... Show More
44m 44s
Dec 2024
Sex Life & Scandal of Charles Dickens
Like it or not, there's no escaping Charles Dickens at this time of year.But who was the man behind classics such as A Tale of Two Cities, Oliver Twist and of course, A Christmas Carol?His life is as rich as many of the characters' stories in one of his books, including a brutal ... Show More
48 m