Posted by Peter Hyland on June 10, 2014 at 12:19:41 user Peter_H.
In Reply to: Re: Arthur's voice posted by Magnus Smith on June 05, 2014 at 00:24:24:
Mike’s post and Magnus’s two posts (now and in 2012) deserve a considered reply, and I’m going to try to get back on track and do justice to their posts after a run-away argument on a side-issue. I have listened again to the BBC Cumbria transmission of the remastered talk by AR. Others have described AR’s voice as “public school educated”, “stilted”, “Edwardian” etc. but I think AR was speaking in what was then considered to be ‘RP’ (Received Pronunciation, although the term “standard English” is probably better). RP or standard English was then more or less confined to the South of England. When AR says “. . a fisherman casts . .”, he actually says “carsts”. He pronounces “that” as more like “thet”. He speaks crisply and carefully, but this was probably in part due to the fact that it was a broadcast talk and he had no doubt been instructed, and maybe coached, to speak very clearly and more slowly than in normal conversation.
AR left the North of England when he went to Rugby School when he was 13, apart from a year at Yorkshire College when he was 18. After that, his life in London, and particularly his stay in Russia when he mixed with British Foreign Office officials and journalists, must have eroded any Yorkshire accent he may have had. The ability to change accent varies between one person and another – some are ‘chameleons’ in this respect while others have the same accent throughout their life.
It is important to realise that accents cannot be divided simply into two – i.e. on the one hand RP or ‘cut glass’ or ‘posh’ or however you want to call it, and on the other hand a broad regional accent. The accents can merge seamlessly. It is possible to speak clear standard English with a regional flavour – the BBC Cumbria announcer on the clip is a good example – note her flat ‘a’s. It is quite possible that W. G. Collingwood had such an accent. The Prime Minister, W. E. Gladstone, a Liverpudlian, is reported as having a slight Liverpool accent throughout his career. (And some Scottish accents are considered an improvement on standard English.)
The old type of ‘standard English’ as spoken by AR has now almost vanished. I recently watched again Ben Fogle’s programme about the 1974 S&A film and I noted that in the film clips the Amazons, and in particular Nancy, as played by Suzanna Hamilton, pronounced their surname as “Bleckett”. The adult Suzanna Hamilton was then interviewed by Fogle – no trace of the ‘a’s turned into ‘e’s, and her accent was much more flat and up to date. She had come a long way in 30 years (the Fogle programme was made in 2003).