Episode Details

Londoners who helped create the world's largest English dictionary. She has unearthed a fascinating group of people across all social classes who represent some of the most interesting contributors to the Dictionary from all parts of this great city one hundred and fifty years ago. From a pornographer living in Bloomsbury who sent in sex words, to a servant in Eaton Square, a suffragist in St John's Wood, a plant expert at Kew Gardens, a coin specialist at the Royal Mint, and - yes! - a Gresham Professor of Geometry, this is a people's history of one of our most famous books.

This lecture was recorded by Professor Sarah Ogilvie on the 16th April 2026 at Barnard’s Inn Hall, London

Sarah Ogilvie is Professor of Language and Lexicography at the University of Oxford. A specialist in technology and linguistics, she has previously taught at Cambridge University and Stanford University, and worked at Lab 126, Amazon's innovation lab in Silicon Valley.

A former editor on the Oxford English Dictionary, her most recent book is The Dictionary People: The Unsung Heroes Who Created the OED (Chatto and Windus). She is also author of Words of the World (Cambridge University Press), co-author of Gen Z, Explained (University of Chicago Press), editor of The Cambridge Companion to English Dictionaries, and co-editor of The Whole World in a Book (Oxford University Press).

The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/living-planet

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