Why English is the world’s best language

THE English language – spoken by 1.8 billion people around the world – is one of the reasons Britain is so great. Now a remarkable new exhibition at London’s British Library tracks its history. Here, curator Roger Walshe raves about English.

FROM Anglo-Saxon runes – an early alphabet – to today’s rap music, the story of our language is fascinating.

Taboo language and swear words frequently made the journey from the street to polite society, often by way of the stage.

Just before the First World War, George Bernard Shaw courted controversy with the salty dialogue he put in the mouth of Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle in hit play Pygmalion, later turned into the film My Fair Lady.

Read more about this exhibition and the journey of the English language