1. Comedian and diarist Kenneth Williams claimed that he taught himself four new words from the O.E.D. every day.

2. George Eliot is the most-quoted female in the O.E.D.

3. It would take one person 60 years to proofread the entire O.E.D. text.

4. William Chester Minor was an American surgeon who contributed to the O.E.D. while confined to an asylum.

5. Frederick Furnivall, the O.E.D.’s second editor, created the narrow sculling boat in 1845.

6. John Sykes, editor of the Concise Oxford Dictionary, won The Times Crossword Championship ten times between 1970 and 1990.

7. Setters of The Times crosswords don’t use the full O.E.D., but rely on Collins English Dictionary, the Concise O.E.D. and Chambers Dictionary.

8. Robert Burchfield, O.E.D. editor from 1957, was a protégé of JRR Tolkien whilst at Oxford University.

9. When the compact edition was introduced, it was sold in a case that also included a magnifying glass to help users read the small type.

10. JRR Tolkien researched etymologies in the range from Waggle to Warlock for the O.E.D., and parodied its four principal editors as "The Four Wise Clerks of Oxenford" in his story Farmer Giles of Ham.