language change brief history

878 ad

alfred the great starts to drive out the vikings by unifying tribes in wessex

1066

norman conquest of England - english became peasant workers

1215

king john signs the magna carta, forever limiting the power of english monarchs

1337

hundred years' war begins between france and england

1348

black death arrives in england - mainly kills the poor

1450

invention of the printing press

1476

william caxton establishes the first printing press in england

1526

william tyndale smuggles the english translation of the bible into england

1604

first of the enclosure acts

1607

jamestown founded

1608

east india company's ships arrive in bengal, india

1611

king james bible is published

1755

samuel johnson's dictionary standardized english spelling

1776

declaration of independence

1788

colonisation of australia begins

1838

first commercial electrical telegraph

1858

government of india act

1870

first education act

1876

alexander graham bell invents the telephone

1880

education is made compulsory for children aged 5 - 10 years old.

1884

the oxford university press begins to produce oed

1914

WWI

1922

BBC is established

1928

equal franchise act

1936

first television broadcast by bcc

1993

launch of the world wide web