Very good, you're not allowed to speak in that accent anymore! In fact, it is extinct.
Last edited by formby (2015-01-10 10:14:20)
There is some debate whether it is really English without an accent, but yes, no one speaks with this accent anymore. It was loaded with class connotations: public school educated and elitist. And it was not regional, as an example, The Beatles manager, Brian Epstein, spoke BBC English.
It's no longer to be heard, perhaps on Radio 4(?), the connotations now is that you would be a hooray-henry or an in-bred chinless wonder and would be mostly perceived negatively. Although it might remain in use in some British armed forces in the officer class.
Now we have regional accents and Estuary English as spoken Blair and the current crop of newsreaders.
The only place to find accentless English is in the US. Duh.
I've moved around the UK my whole life. Wherever I go people think the local accent is accentless, and other people have regional acccents. True some accents are easier to decode than others, but all are strongly noticeable to someone not from that area. That includes Estuary English.
The whole regional accent thing in the media is a joke really. Statistics show people trust regional acents more than RP, which is to be expected, but only certain regional accents are considered acceptable. I never hear E or W Mids, Humberside, Lincs, possibly the West Country, Suffolk and all sorts of other accents on voiceovers, ads, etc. And that's not just because I don't watch TV - only particular accents (off the top of my head: Yorkshire, Geordie, Scottish and generic non-Cockney Southern) are deemed acceptable, probably because they're easy to recognise and familiar enough to decode. I can't recall but I think Scouse is also taboo, probably because it's associated with thieves. Which is fair enough, of course.
The Liverpool accent until Alan Bleasdale got a hold of it, was seen as creative and one of the more colorful - in the true meaning of the word - regional accents in the UK. Unfortunately, the media portrayal of Liverpool aided and abetted by the Tories in the 80s, literally did the accent in. This accent has also changed quite significantly in parts since the early 60s, becoming harder and more harsh sounding. I imagine a lot of Northern cities and those in decline have experienced similar changes.
One thing has always bemused me, is how Janet Street Porter with that awful grating cockney accent could be allowed to pollute the airways with her utterly ugly voice.
Thanks. Now I've got that horrible fucking Searchers song in my head all day.