"The Adventure of English" by Melvyn Bragg

It's taking me a bit of time to get through this one - after three weeks, I've only just got to Chaucer. The problem with it is that, no matter how hard old Merv tries to tart it up as an "adventure" (by throwing in wars and kings), it's still basically a book about philology. Which IS interesting, don't get me wrong, but just not the rollicking rollercoaster thrills 'n' spills ride that keeps you turning the pages. Also, I find it very irritating that he insists on quoting every little piece of verse in both old English AND in translation. It's O.K. once or twice, just to let us have a look at the original and think either a) oooh, I can read old English, therefore I am cleverer than I thought or b) oooh, I can read old English, it really hasn't changed much at all, has it? But every time is overegging the pudding (an image which no doubt comes from Norman French). Anyway, I've got a long train journey this weekend, so am hoping to make some serious headway with it then.