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Word of Mouth

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Series exploring the world of words and the ways in which we use them

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Word of Mouth: Reading aloud

Reading aloud

28/08/2012

BBC Radio 4 - Word of Mouth, Reading aloud

Chris Ledgard explores the ways people have read to each other at home down the centuries.

Chris Ledgard explores the domestic world of reading aloud to friends and family both now and in the 18th century, the great age of elocution.

How to stand and hold your head, what to do with your hands and how to make appropriate facial expressions - these were skills studied by people who read aloud to their friends at home in the 18th century. Chris Ledgard discusses domestic reading in the great age of elocution with Oxford University's Abigail Williams and explores the instruction manuals which helped people mimic the great readers of their time. Chris meets modern families who read to each other and visits a primary school to brush up on his own reading skills.

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