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Susie Dent On the Wonders of the English Language

History &
Social Policy

Writer and broadcaster Susie Dent on her fascination with words and the stories they tell us

The genius of Countdown’s dictionary corner Susie Dent is the master of the English language. Lexicographer and etymologist by training, she has spent 30 years on our screens explaining the history and origin of words on one of the world’s longest-running game shows, Channel 4’s Countdown.

In September 2024 Dent came to the Intelligence Squared stage to discuss her life-long love affair with the English language and how it has culminated in her debut crime novel Guilty by Definition — a glorious celebration of the English dictionary. As all good crime novels begin, it unfolds around a mysterious disappearance. And the protagonist, Martha Thornhill, Senior Editor of the Clarendon English Dictionary, uses words, and their peculiarly precise meanings, as clues in her quest to find out what really happened.

In conversation with critic, journalist and broadcaster Alex Clark, Dent discussed her engrossing new mystery novel and her fascination with words and the stories they tell us.

Speakers for the motion

  • Susie Dent

    Writer, broadcaster, and her first novel is Guilt By Definition

Chair

  • Alex Clark

    Critic, journalist and broadcaster

Speakers are subject to change.

Speakers

Speaker

Susie Dent

Writer, broadcaster, and her first novel is Guilt By Definition

Susie Dent Writer and broadcaster on language. She recently celebrated 30 years as a co-presenter and the resident word expert on C4’s Countdown, and also appears on the show’s comedy sister 8 out of 10 Cats does Countdown. Susie comments regularly on TV and radio on words in the news, and answers notes and queries about words and phrases in various weekly columns. She has written for several news publications, and is the author of multiple books, including her latest, An Emotional Dictionary: Real Words for How You Feel, from Angst to Zwodder, published in 2022. Guilty by Definition is her first novel.
Host

Alex Clark

Critic, journalist and broadcaster

Alex Clark is a critic, journalist and broadcaster. A co-host of Graham Norton’s Book Club and the Times Literary Supplement podcast, she is also a regular on BBC Radio 4 and writes on a wide range of subjects for the Guardian, the Observer and the Irish Times. She is a patron of the Cambridge Literary Festival, and has judged many literary awards, including the Booker prize.