iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Abraham Shackleton (1836–95) is my latest #OEDMaker, and here’s a piece about him. Also available on Facebook to @DictionarySocNA members and at themakersoftheoed.wordpress.com/the-quotatio...

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Isn't he one of the most villainous characters in all opera? A strong field, I know; but Scarpia really revels in his villainy.

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

He delivered, didn't he? And I had a good cry during 'E lucevan le stelle'. Though I'm afraid I have to agree with a lot of the criticisms here: bachtrack.com/review-tosca...

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

…whose borrowers include one Dr W. C. Minor—‘the only man who is allowed to read our books outside the library’, for the obvious reason that he is confined to Broadmoor. Just an incidental detail, but a nice bit of fun. (It’s called ‘All-Consuming Fire’, if you’re interested.)

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Amazing where researching the #OED and its contributors can take you. I wasn’t expecting to find myself reading a Doctor Who novel in which Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson (yes, it’s a novel with a lot of crossover, including the Cthulhu Mythos as well as Conan Doyle) investigate a library…

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Percy James Philip (1886–1956) is my latest #OEDMaker, and here’s a piece about him. Also available on Facebook to @DictionarySocNA members and at themakersoftheoed.wordpress.com/the-editors-...

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

I have never forgotten reading these words in 2002, and they are much in my mind today. Thinking of you, @awillett.bsky.social.

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Richard Francis Weymouth (1822–1902) is my latest #OEDMaker, and here’s a piece about him. Also available on Facebook to @DictionarySocNA members and at themakersoftheoed.wordpress.com/miscellaneou...

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

…and that’s enough autotrombation for now. Except that *cough* if you haven’t yet acquired a copy of the book, it’s available here: global.oup.com/academic/pro... www.amazon.co.uk/Making-Oxfor... (also as e-book and hardback)

global.oup.com

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

In the Journal of British History (thank you Michael Adams): ‘Gracefully written and occasionally wryly humorous, it achieves the highest standard of scholarship […] it will stand as the definitive biography of the project for a century, at least.’ 10/

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

In Dictionaries (thank you George Goebel): ‘The density of Gilliver’s research and the detail of treatment are impressive, but they are never displayed for their own sake […] the narrative remains clear, focused, and readable. [...] a marvelously rich and detailed study.’ 9/

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

In History (thanks to the late Daniel DeWispelare): ‘Peter Gilliver’s meticulous account of the “making” of the Oxford English Dictionary is essential reading for historians, linguists, and literary scholars who are interested in Anglophone lexicography and its most important creation.’ 8/

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

In the TLS (thank you @misterslang.bsky.social): ‘It is to [Gilliver’s] credit that for all the inescapable longueurs of dictionary production, this account has something of the ripping yarn […] fascinating.’ 7/

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

In Oxford Today (thank you @johngarthwriter.bsky.social): ‘The story, personalities and rich archival photographs make this a thoroughly engaging book for logophiles or those interested in this most enduring of achievements’ 6/

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

On David Crystal’s blog (thank you David): ‘the most wonderful book […] a riveting story that Gilliver writes up brilliantly, even to the extent of giving us chapter-ending cliffhangers. I can easily imagine a television drama coming out of it. […]’ 5/

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

In the Church Times (thank you Pat Ashworth): ‘Peter Gilliver is uniquely placed to do what he describes as inhabiting the minds of his predecessors. He does it beautifully in this scholarly, detailed work […] a riveting read that could absorb the whole of Christmas.’ 4/

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

In the Telegraph (thank you Nicholas Mander): ‘will secure itself a pre-eminent place as the “offical history” among the burgeoning literature on the OED. […] The material is marshalled with erudition and elegance.’ 3/

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

In the Spectator (thank you Christopher Howse): ‘Gilliver's prose is a pleasure to read and his research indefatigable. We Casaubon-manqués, with the OED stretched out on our shelves and coiled ready in our computers, rejoice at his big book.’ 2/

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

My book ‘The Making of the OED’ was published on 25 Aug 2016, so I have missed the exact 10th anniversary; but I don’t care. I am going to indulge myself by quoting from the wonderful series of reviews I was lucky enough to get ten years ago. (Yes, I kept a file of them, of course I did.) 1/

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Another pair of #OEDMakers (though in a very modest way): James Edgerton Learned (1839–1902) and Dwight Whitney Learned (1848–1943). Here’s a piece about them. Also available on Facebook to @DictionarySocNAmembers and at themakersoftheoed.wordpress.com/miscellaneou...

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Emily Frances Saunders (1826–1910) and Grace Ellen Saunders (1834–1915) are my latest #OEDMakers, and here is a piece about them. Also available on Facebook to @DictionarySocNAmembers and at themakersoftheoed.wordpress.com/the-quotatio...

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Ellen Margaret Creak (1853–1937) and Thomas Gasquoine Creak (1860–1922) are my latest #OEDMakers, and here is a piece about them. Also available on Facebook to @DictionarySocNAmembers and at themakersoftheoed.wordpress.com/the-quotatio...

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Ah yes, and here's the verb from a 2001 source. (See what I did there.)

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Well, we have evidence of ‘yes-anding’ (as a noun) back to the 1980s.

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Here’s a piece about a whole group of #OEDMakers: namely the musicians. Also available on Facebook to @DictionarySocNAmembers and at themakersoftheoed.wordpress.com/miscellaneou...

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

Cornelis Stoffel (1845–1908) is my latest #OEDMaker, and here—after another gap (apologies, life continues busy)—is a piece about him. Also available on Facebook to @DictionarySocNAmembers and at themakersoftheoed.wordpress.com/the-quotatio...

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Frederick John Sweatman (1873–1936) is my latest #OEDMaker, and here—after a bit of a gap, for which I can only plead various distractions—is a piece about him. Also available on Facebook to @DictionarySocNA members and at themakersoftheoed.wordpress.com/the-editors-...

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

One of those unarguable Johnson definitions.

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

James Murray Named New UK Health Secretary? Well, I wasn't expecting that.

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

...and secondly, much earlier, in an interestingly different intransitive use, from the Melbourne Leader of 11 Apr 1868 (and possibly suggesting it could be traced earlier still) #ongoingresearch

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

In fact it's not in the OED yet (nor does Stan say it is)...but it's on our radar. Oh, and for your delectation, some earlier evidence: first in the more common transitive sense (from the wonderfully-named Twice-a-Week Democrat (Caruthersville MO) 30 Nov 1909) .../

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

I'm strangely delighted to have discovered that Karl Friedrich Emich Meinrad Benedikt Fidelis Maria Michael Gerold Prinz von Hohenzollern plays sax in his own band: www.royal-groovin.de/

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Reposted by Peter Gilliver

Outspoken™️ @out5p0ken.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

NYC opened a pop up The Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Reading Room displaying 3.5 million pages of released and partially redacted Epstein files, printed into 3,437 bound volumes. Thank you artists 🏆

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Carl Wilhelm Ernst (1845–1919) is my latest #OEDMaker, and here’s a piece about him. Also available on Facebook to @DictionarySocNA members and at themakersoftheoed.wordpress.com/miscellaneou...

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

You may love your mobile, and think landlines are quaint and antiquated, but for all sorts of reasons they're still needed by many. Please consider signing. Indeed, please sign. c.org/LqYqxP4nHj

c.org

Sign the Petition

Save Our Landlines! Stop Forced Digital Switchovers! Keep Heather Safe!

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Time to autotrombate again: here's me telling you almost all almost anyone could want to know about the history of the OED. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

podcasts.apple.com

The history of the OED: do we know our Onions (sic)?

Podcast Episode · Lexipoddery: the OED podcast · 29 April · 39min

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

None, I'm afraid. But you can email it to me if that helps.

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

I mourn the passing of Desmond Morris, anthropologist and artist. He became a great enthusiast for the #OED while living in 78 Banbury Road, the home for many years of the Dictionary’s first Editor, James Murray. I count myself privileged to have known him.

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

#OnThisDay 98 years ago the final fascicle (Wise to Wyzen) of the #OED was published. Not long now until the centenary....

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Edgar Neels Martin (1894–1966) is my latest #OEDMaker, and here’s a piece about him. Also available on Facebook to @DictionarySocNA members and at themakersoftheoed.wordpress.com/the-editors-...

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

Richard Stephen Charnock (1820–1905) is my latest #OEDMaker, and here’s a piece about him. Also available on Facebook to @DictionarySocNA members and at themakersoftheoed.wordpress.com/the-quotatio...

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

I'm excited. And if you have a ticket (there may just be a few left) you will be too. Tonight, an evening of amazing drama, and some of the best music written by one of England's finest composers. Oh, and Elgar conducted this choir in this very piece. Come. www.ticketsoxford.com/events/elgar...

ticketsoxford.com

Elgar: The Kingdom | Tickets Oxford

After our performance of The Apostles in March 2025, the Oxford Bach Choir returns with the second part of our two year Elgar Project with this performance

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

Charles Bridges Mount (1827–1916) is my latest #OEDMaker, and here’s a piece about him. Also available on Facebook to @DictionarySocNA members and at themakersoftheoed.wordpress.com/the-editors-...

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

Worth a repost. She was a very special lady.

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Peter Gilliver @petermgilliver.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

#OnThisDay in 1986, my partner Robin and I decided that the thing we had—having met in January—was a Very Good Thing. And, 40 years later, the Very Good Thing is still going. Please be happy with us.

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