We just finished watching this fascinating 6 part mini series on the history of the English language. A number of years ago (mid 80's) there was a series The Story of English which was also very good but this is higher budget and even better. Melvin Bragg is always involved in excellent programs. It is available on YouTube if you have Apple TV and can watch it on your TV and the library has it on DVD. Really worth a look.
"The Adventure of English is a British television series (ITV) on the history of the English language presented by Melvyn Bragg as well as a companion book, also written by Bragg.
The series and the book are cast as an adventure story, or the biography of English as if it were a living being, covering the history of the language from its modest beginnings around 500 AD as a minor Germanic dialect to its rise as a truly established global language."
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/adventure-of-english/
