British Library Trip

On a (very) cold late-November morning, we set off from Prince Henry’s at the bright and early hour of six o’clock. One dramatic sunrise, coffee pit stop and Oxford traffic jam later, we were dropped off outside the iconic British Library, which was, as ever a hive of activity. We were whisked into a fascinating dialectologist, Jonathan Robinson, who educated us all on the complexities of language pronunciation and change and showed us many of the amazing voice recordings the Library holds.  After that, we were let loose around the library to visit the Treasures collection, the highlights of which being: the Magna Carta of 1215, the St James Bible and a manuscript by Mozart. For lunch, we explored the Christmas Market at Trafalgar Square and the surrounding areas, and then we were off to the house of Dr Samuel Johnson, the author of the modern English Dictionary. Although Johnson himself admitted he was naive in trying to end language change and standardise the English language; his dictionary was a massive leap forward in the progression of creating universal meanings and spellings for words in the English language. Overall it was a fantastic day out, exploring the history of the English language, and was incredibly useful for our ongoing A Level course