As part of its Evolving English exhibition, the British Library held a seminar on Monday entitled The Language Wars based on the book of the same name by Henry Hitchings. Unfortunately one of the main speakers, Simon Heffer, was unable to attend and his place was taken by Bernard Lamb, President of the Queen’s English Society.
Mr Lamb was not a very charismatic speaker and you could sense that the audience were starting to tire of him because his sole mantra was that there is a correct way to write and speak, but he did not adequately explain why this should be so. This was a particular disappointment to those of us who advocate the cause of prescriptivism!
The highlight of the evening was a performance by rapper, writer and poet Dizraeli who received resounding applause for his brilliant rap The 21st Century Flux. Applause from everyone, that is, except Mr Lamb who sat with his arms crossed throughout!