How to speak “properly” in the 1920s!
The BBC’s ‘Back in Time for School’ television programme (Thursdays, BBC One 8.00 pm) is showing how children’s education in the 1900s varied so much from today’s classroom experience, almost 100 years later. This week’s episode (available from 8pm on 10 January) shines a light on the 1920s with a focus on speech and pronunciation and the ‘Kings English’ in particular. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0by4v9h
Last summer I was asked by the BBC series production team to record my voice for this series of Back in Time for School, speaking in the style of a 1920s BBC wireless (as radio was then known) presenter.
‘Back in Time for School’, focusses on how the BBC played a role in developing children’s speech by repeating the Kings English, as it would then have been known. This accent is sometimes known today as Queen’s English, received pronunciation or BBC English.
During episode two, I play the role of the instructing teacher on the wireless, speaking the accent of Kings English. “Take a peep at these three trees” trills out my voice across the airways to the school children, as I read words then sentences which the children then repeat as they sit at their desks in the classroom. There is particular emphasis on vowel sounds in words to help children speak more clearly and uniformly across the UK. The idea of teaching children to speak in a uniform way across the country was quite an extraordinary ambition and the speech lesson is met with a range of reactions from squirming embarrassment to horrified disbelief by today’s school children.
Although this ambition might sound very out of step with today’s approach to accent and accessibility in society, at the time it was deemed a service to help children with their speech.
Vowel sounds in words are very different, depending on the regional accent. For example, the long ‘oo’ sound, heard in ‘boot and soup’ in Kings (now Queen’s) English would be pronounced as ‘boat and soap’ in a Norfolk accent. The long ‘I’ found in ‘right, light and bright’ would be pronounced as an ‘oy’ sound (as in boy). As a child with a Norfolk accent I learned the highway code and told my brother that you should “walk on the royt, carry a loyt and wear something broyt”.
Still, one hundred years on from the BBC’s transmission of speech instruction, regional accents still persist and continue to represent and embody a wealth of social history and the diverse character of the United Kingdom. Originally, Kings English was regarded as a ‘non-regional specific accent’ as it was the accent taught in public schools across the UK, whether in the North, South, East or West of the country. Kings English was encouraged to be spoken as an accent that could be understood by all. Today’s dictionaries still use Queen’s English, to aid with pronunciation, through the use of phonetic symbols.
These days, as long as the listener can understand the speaker, that is what is important. It’s also important, whatever your accent, that your voice is interesting and engaging. Confidence in speaking is also an important factor in being listened to. Be proud of your accent, speak clearly and if you need any help with clarity, confidence and impact, get in touch.