Jennifer Speake is a freelance writer. She was the editor of the first editions of The Oxford Dictionary of Foreign Words and Phrases (1997) and The Oxford Dictionary of Idioms (1999).
`brilliantly arranged . . . I recommend it without hesitation to all students of the English language and lovers of literature, as well as to pedants, crossword fanatics and those who like to prove people wrong in argument.' - Auberon Waugh, Sunday Telegraph`much pleasure, earthy or erudite, and sometimes both, lies here in store' - Richard Holmes, The Times