Linguist and lexicographer Sarah Ogilvie charts the fascinating history of how the first Oxford English Dictionary came to be, telling the stories of the extraordinary people who worked tirelessly to produce it.

Most of us probably don't think about how the dictionary came to be — it's just always been there.

In our school days, we might have leafed through a massive tome; today, we're more likely to look up words online. But where did the dictionary come from?

Sarah Ogilvie is a senior fellow of Linguistics at the University of Oxford. As a lexicographer, she is also responsible for compiling dictionaries.

In The Dictionary People, Ogilvie tells the story of how the Oxford English Dictionary was created, showcasing some of the ordinary – and extraordinary – people who worked for decades to bring the dictionary to life.