Ways with Words - 1x09 - Episode 9- Followmy.tv

AWAY WITH WORDS presenter Neil Innes takes to the skies as he follows the English language to America - and back - in this week's edition of the fun programme about words and their origins. Beginning with a look at some of the Imperial War Museum's collection of fighter planes at Duxford near Cambridge, Neil visits two wartime airfields, and an American air force base, to explore the ways in which common words and phrases have criss-crossed the Atlantic - by sea on the Mayflower; by air with the American forces and on celluloid with the movies. Continuing with the theme of flight, Neil meets some birds of prey at Audley End near Saffron Walden in Essex. He adopts early pioneer mode to describe where the term "talking turkey" came from. And he gets some contemporary instruction in the typically American sports of basketball and ten pin bowling a the USAF base at Mildenhall in Suffolk. Then it is off to the movies, with Neil setting out in style in the car John Goodman used in the film "The Borrowers" to visit Britain's famous Elstree Studios, where he explores the props store and has a close encounter with "Rock Man" and "Judge Dread". The programme follows the Hollywood connection to Tibenham in Norfolk where film star and wartime US air force commander, Major General James Stewart was based. And Neil goes up in a glider for a final bird's eye view of some of the word alternatives which help prove the wry observation. attributed to George Bernard Shaw, that England and America are two countries divided by a common language.