Even if Great Britain never had an Academy of English similar to the France’s Académie Française or the Spain’s Real Academia Española, authority is still assigned to different bodies. But to whom?

The desire for having a standard to hold onto and the search for a language guardian who is able to fulfill this desire have lingered on the minds of many. From Shakespeare and Dryden to dictionaries such as the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) – role models have always been found. Fowler’s A Dictionary to Modern English Usage is often considered the authority on English. You can even find comments such as J. Ezard’s saying that Fowler is “the closest Britain has to an Academy of English”. Others might consider her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II a language authority. So here is my question:

Who or what do you consider an English language authority?