Fry's English Delight - Series 7 Broadcast on BBC Radio 4 July 12th 2014 Fry's English Delight is a BBC Radio 4 documentary series in which language enthusiast Stephen Fry explores various aspects of the English language. Presented by Stephen Fry Produced by Sarah Cuddon (episode 1), Nick Baker (episodes 2 and 4), Merilyn Harris (episode 3) --- Episode 1 - Magic Language and magic have a mysterious relationship, which is probed in this programme by Stephen Fry. It's a beguiling, secret world in which magicians and psychologists feel equally at home. The common factor - nobody knows exactly how either works. Derren Brown, illusionist and mentalist, is Stephen's guest. He describes how the idea of magic features in his work, how the art of persuasion is akin to magic, and how some people are more susceptible than others to this mysterious - largely verbal - art. Derren also exerts an amazing power over Stephen, despite them being two hundred miles apart. And he does it using words alone. From a psychological and neuro-scientific angle, Dr Steven Pinker examines the idea that language itself is a form of magic and the use of words give us the power to change our perception of reality. And we venture into the coven of Davenport's Magic Shop to meet some young Harry Potters trying out their stage patter. Magic Circle Vice President Richard Penrose leads us to a safe containing the first ever glossary of magic terminology -The Discovery of Witchcraft - and utters some magic words he then refuses to explain. Folklorist Juliette Wood offers some theories as to the origins of taboo words like Hocus Pocus and Abracadabra. Philip Pullman talks about the magical effect of poetry. And Stephen himself conjures another poetic figure from history, the great Magus Prospero from Shakespeare's The Tempest, to demonstrate Shakespeare's use of magical language to create new worlds. First broadcast: 04 Aug 2014 --- Episode 2 - Capital Punishment Adopting a wild west theme, Stephen ventures into the untamed territory of names, place names, brands and trademarks. For example, 'wild west' - should those two words have capitals? Stephen hears from a lexicographer in a cowboy hat, some west country cows (West Country cows?) an intellectual property lawyer and an onomastician - the name given to name experts. What he finds out is that 'capital-ism' changes its rules, and may be threatened by technology, as well as discovering that trade mark owners will be quite assertive about making sure you spell their brands with capital letters. What the programme really asks, to misquote Juliet, is what is a name? And do names operate differently to other words? One of the answers is counterintuitive. Linguistically, names don't always behave like other words. Capitalising on this, Stephen will conduct tests on listeners' ability to capitalise correctly. The trouble is the solutions aren't always clear. There will be no mention of hoovering in this programme. Or should that be Hoovering? First broadcast: 11 Aug 2014 --- Episode 3 - Reading Aloud Stephen Fry looks at the history and practice of reading aloud. Silent reading is a relatively new accomplishment for man. In Greek and Roman times, reading silently to oneself was frowned on - libraries resonated with the rumble of individuals reading aloud to themselves. Skill in the art was much respected and it was fashionable to hold soirees at which one read aloud to one's friends. Pliny the Younger was so ashamed of his lack of skill in this area that he recruited a talented slave to conceal himself behind a curtain and read aloud a manuscript while Pliny mimed delivery of the content to the audience seated in front - the first recorded example of the art of lip-syncing. Later, monks started putting spaces between the words of a manuscript so it was easier to make silent sense of the content and, over the centuries as populations became more literate, so reading silently became the norm. But reading aloud didn't go away. Stephen's studio guest is Professor John Mullan of University College, London, who provides fascinating insight into the greats of literature and their skills in this area - Austen, Dickens, Stevenson. He points out that contemporary authors are having to hone these skills in order to satisfy the demands of attendees at the ever growing number of literary festivals, eager to hear text delivered in the authorial voice. We hear also from Jane Davis and members of her Reader Organisation in Liverpool, a charity working to connect people with great literature through shared reading aloud. Damien who is bi-polar, and Louise who has Asperger Syndrome, are witnesses to the change the simple art of reading aloud can bring to troubled lives. First broadcast: 18 Aug 2014 --- Episode 4 - Plain English Plain English can be very valuable. Clarity, precision and simplicity are highly important - in an airline safety announcement, in online terms and conditions or instruction manuals, or messages from public bodies. But Stephen finds it's not as simple as that. A definition of plain-ness is hard to achieve. The study of readability, as it is properly called, can grade certain texts and calibrate their readability, usually coming up with the age of the person who might be expected to read and understand them. But it's not an exact science, and can't come up with a single defined plain-ness. There ought to be a plain English law, it's been suggested. The trouble is, defining what plain English means can be paradoxically complicated. In order to do so, Stephen and Charlotte dance the tango, examine a famous TV commercial and have an argument. Stephen claims that there is a law enforcing government departments to communicate in plain English. Charlotte doesn't believe him. The outcome of their disagreement is a bit, well, complicated. First broadcast: 25 Aug 2014 --- Recorded from iPlayer. Audio Codec: MPEG-1 Layer 3 Audio Sample Rate: 44100 Hz Audio BitRate Type: CBR Audio Channels: 2 Audio Bitrate (kbps): 128 Duration: 4 x 30 mins