Jolly Wicked, Actually (MP3): The 100 Words that Make Us English

Jolly Wicked, Actually is a wonderfully entertaining compendium of the 100 words and phrases that have, over the last century, become the cornerstones of modern spoken English.

Despite attempts by politicians and writers, despite lessons in citizenship enshrined in the national curriculum, we have famously never been able to define for posterity precisely what Englishness is. Jolly Wicked, Actually takes certain well-loved and crucial expressions such as sorry, nice, common, posh, cuppa and chippy, explores their strange and wonderful origins, and demonstrates with wit and charm how they are emblems essential to all our notions of Englishness.