William McGuire "Bill" Bryson, OBE, FRS is a best-selling American author of humorous books on travel, as well as books on the English language and science.

This book romps through the history of Britain to reveal how English became such an infuriatingly complex - but ultimately world-beating - language. The subject areas covered in the course of the programme (which was originally broadcast in 6 episodes) include the arrival of the Angles and the Saxons, the rules which brought order to a disorderly language.

Other books by the same writer you might want to read:

Notes from a Small Island is a humorous travel book on Great Britain by American author Bill Bryson, first published in 1995.

Made In America is a nonfiction book by Bill Bryson describing the history of the English language in the United States and the evolution of American culture.