SIMON ELMES is Creative Director of the BBC's Radio Documentary Unit, where he oversees a wide range of programmes. He was Executive Producer of the long-running magazine Word of Mouth, from its inception until 2004. In 1996 it was awarded one of the world's premier broadcasting prizes, the Premio Ondas. He produced the award-winning The Routes of English, a 26-part series on the history of the English language, and has written four books to accompany the series. He also produced the 2005 radio and TV project Voices.