BBC R3 Documentary - 'Tyndale's Testament'
Readers - Anthony Hyde & Phillip Anthony
Presented by David Daniel
Produced by Denis Nolan
Broadcast January 15, 1993
[Re]Coded from tape at 128/44.1

Documentary about William Tyndale 1493? - 1536

William Tyndale had as much influence on the English language
as Shakespeare, Jonson, and Coverdale. He invented compounds
like loving kindness, and king of kings. Most of the King James AV
edition of the bible is his. English speaking people use his phrases
in every day speech without knowing their author.

The words: 'In the beginning was the word ...' are his.

Tyndale was a common man with controversial views. He believed
that the bible should be available to the people in the language
they spoke, rather interpreted for them by the few who knew Latin.

His studies showed him that the Latin texts were significantly
divergent from the original Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic. He learnt
these languages with help from Dutch and Swiss non-conformists,
and started translation into English. Completed parts were printed in
Worms, Germany, and shipped to England. Most were intercepted
and burnt. But some began to circulate in 'samizadt' form. This made 
him a target. A 'fatwah' (or whatever the church called this kind of
persecution) was declared against him.

He was captured, and interrogated. He was broken on the rack. When
he had nothing left to betray, he was strangled. His remains were then
burnt.  His name was near lost to history. We know so much of him only
because the records of his statements under torture later surfaced.

This is an academic documentary. Not religious. Not churchy. Nor
anti-church. Nor flakey. Just dispassionate statement of history,
and assessment of prose.
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