One Woman, 17 British Accents - Anglophenia Ep 5

The UK is incredibly diverse
in terms of accents,

and it just so happens that I can do many
of these accents as my party trick.

So come with me as I take you on a guided
tour through all of the accents

and archetypes of Great Britain.

Hi, I'm Siobhan Thompson, and
this is Anglophenia,

and what I'm speaking right now is
RP, Received pronunciation,

or, you know, your standard BBC English.

It's spoken across the country,

generally by middle, upper-middle,
and upper class people.

Think of Martin Freeman, Benedict
Cumberbatch, or, you know,

most of the presenters of BBC News, so:

"Good evening, it's 9 o'clock, and
this is the news. I'm very important."

Heightened RP is generally only spoken
on film and television, now.

So, you know, think of Nell Card
or the Dowager Countess in Downton Abbey.

"Oh, Gerald, I do love you, but you're so
terribly, terribly poor!"

Now, London is the accent most people
outside of Britain can recognize,

you know, that classic Lock, Stock
and Two Smoking Barrels:

"Get out of my pub! Go on, get out of it!"

"Shut it, you tart!"

East Anglia is a flat, boggy kind of place
with a flat, boggy kind of accent.

I'd love to give you an example of
somebody that comes from there

that speaks like this, but they all
lose this accent as soon as they can.

Steven Fry is from Norfolk, but he doesn't
speak like this because he's posh.

Here's the kind of classic kind of
East Anglia phrase:

"I done dropped my computer
in the fan and it's broken."

Now let's go across the island
to the West Country,

which is a much rounder sound, it's farm-
land full of sheep and cows and apples.

Think of like Sam Gamgee, from
the Lord of the Rings,

or Hagrid, from the Harry Potter movies.

"Oi, you bloody kids, get off my land!"

or: "Oh, Mister Frodo, don't let them
turn me into anything unnatural!"

Then, if you go down to Cornwall, it gets
a little bit more piratey, so:

"Hoist the mizenmast, squire Trelawney!"

Now, Southern Welsh is this great
sing-songy kind of an accent.

Think of Tom Jones, or Richard Burton.

You know: "Rage, rage against
the dying of the light!"

"Bloody hell, I love Dylan Thomas!"

Northern Welsh is where the
singer Duffy is from.

It's a breathier, thicker
kind of an accent,

and most people from there speak Welsh
at home and English as a second language.

So, you know: "Diolch yn fawr iawn."

Now, across the country, to the
West Midlands, in Birmingham,

it's a very nasal kind of an accent,

mostly on account of all the industry
that went on in the area.

Cat Deeley, who presents "So You Think
You Can Dance" is from there,

and so is Ozzy Osbourne, you know:

"Sharon, where's the bloody remote?"

Yeah, that voice he does isn't because
of drugs, it's just where he's from.

Scouse is your classic Liverpool accent.

The Beatles are from there,
and so is Paul McGann.

They were also made European capital
of culture a couple years ago by the EU,

so don't tell me they're not
cultured, alright?

Up into Lancashire, you known think
of Christopher Eccleston, or

most of the cast of the
downstairs in Downton Abbey.

"Daisy, get those buns out
the oven before they burn!"

"Oh, Mister Bits ..."

So, across the penins' to Yorkshire,

it's a much kind of flatter
accent from Lancashire,

and they cut off a lot of the words.

So: "I'm going to pub up hill."

Think of Sean Bean from Lord
of the Rings or Game of Thrones.

"One does not simply walk into Mordor."

So, in Northumberland and Newcastle,
they speak in a Geordie accent.

So, you know, think of the Geordie "sure",

or Cheryl Cole, remember, she got
fired from The X-Factor,

because nobody could understand
a word she was saying, or Billy Elliot!

"All I want to do is dance ballet,
but my dad makes me box."

Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland,

it's a very soft, maybe a little
snooty kind of an accent.

Think of Ewan McGregor or Dame
Maggie Smith as Professor McGonagall.

"That's 10 points taken from
Gryffindor, Mister Potter!"

Glasgow is a much thicker
kind of an accent.

Billy Connolly and Peter Capaldi
are both from there.

They cut off a lot of the words, so:

"Haven't any butter, so I got to go
to the shop, you know."

And so, up to the very north,
to the highlands of Scotland.

Think of Amy Pond from Doctor Who,
or maybe Sir Robert Burns.

"The best laid plans o' mice an'
men gang aft agley"

Now, let's go to Northern Ireland,
and it's all about the vowels with

the Northern Irish accent, like,
so, like: "How now, brown cow".

Liam Neeson is from there.

"I've got a very particular
set of skills!"

I know he doesn't say it
in that accent in the movie,

but it sounds very cool, so, like ...

And finally, Southern Ireland is obviously
not a part of the United Kingdom,

but I can do a Dublin accent,
so let's just do it.

It's a pretty classic Irish accent with a
lot of assonance to it.

Sinéad O'Connor is from there.

"Nothing compares ... nothing
compares ... to you"

That is all from me.

Tell me if there's any British accents
that I missed, because I love a challenge.

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and thanks for watching