Fridayfilm // week 33
An important part of academic history.
This week's Friday film is an extraordinary story about two very different men sharing the same passion. Their contibutions helped shape what is today an important, modern institution.
Friday film: The Professor and the Madman.
Professor James Murray is given the task of collecting and compiling contributions for the one of the most comprehensive dictionaries in the world, the Oxford English Dictionary. In this process, he discovers that a man named W.C. Minor has made an incredible number of contributions, and decides to honor him. But it turns out Minor is in an asylum for criminals, after being convicted of a murder. The professor decides to pay him a visit.
Mel Gibson plays the professor and Sean Penn the eager contributor. The 2019 movie is a biographical drama based on the true story of professor Murray's work on the famous dictionary, a work that began in 1879.
The Oxford English Dictionary:
"An unsurpassed guide for researchers in any discipline to the meaning, history, and usage of over 500,000 words and phrases across the English-speaking world." www.oed.com
Most recent additions: doggy day care, bush name, spice bag, declinism.
Published: 14/08/2025 Last updated: 14/08/2025
