Cut glass 1930s RP female accent required!

[boombox]

I've got a little project for which I would like to feature a proper old school female RP accent. Any suggestions on where to look?

Sample!

Local drama society?

[OscarFoxtrot]

Neither Amy nor Emma are quite cut-glass but they're fairly clear and neutral
https://www.ivona.com/us/about-us/voice-portfolio/

Ethel (Jane) Cain gives advice on diction for operators here
http://www.samhallas.co.uk/repository/recordings.htm

I don't know what it would cost for Ivona or Cereproc to turn that into a text-to-speech voice.

Local drama society or a retired headmistress is probably your best bet. Lots of my mother's friends could have done it twenty years ago.

[yesnaby]

Joanna Van Gyseghem?

(actress in 'Rumpole' always talking about Harrods)

[Craig Sawyers]

Originally Posted by boombox

I've got a little project for which I would like to feature a proper old school female RP accent. Any suggestions on where to look?

Alas my daughter now lives in Australia. But she's a trained professional actor, and if she was still living in the UK I'm sure she'd have helped.

What's the project? More details...

[boombox]

Hi Craig

Basically it's a sort of home-brew tannoy system for a small shop, whereby I'd like to play pre-recorded messages. Not many, and only from about a selection of six messages maybe. e.g.

"Key cutter needed"
"Heavy item requested"
"Watch battery change needed"
"Customer at rear counter"

etc.

Your daughter being in Australia might not be an impediment thanks to the wonders of t'internet!

[peter_scott]

Try this:
https://youtu.be/4i3VmIMoeUk
and
https://youtu.be/1uwKzCuxxo4

Peter

[MurphyNut]

Gemma King is superb, she came to my period house some years ago for filming and she lives for the 1930's. I don't know if she's still doing voice overs but it might be worth an inquiry.

http://www.southernretro.com/gemma_king

[cheerfulcharlie]

You could also put out a request or peruse a site like Freesound.

There are some members offering text to speech like this.

https://freesound.org/people/JohnLaV...sounds/131754/



.

[TrevorG3VLF]

There is a woman in the Nationwide adverts who has impecable speech. Don't know her name.

[David G4EBT]

Outside of the world of acting and radio announcers, RP was never a prevalent as is often thought.

Even back in the early 1970s, RP had dwindled to an estimated 3% of the population, and those who are elderly and were brought up to speak 'RP' have toned it down over the years. There's no better example than the Queen. People sometimes refer to a ‘correct’ English accent as being 'Queen's English', or 'BBC English' because way back in the 1950s and a bit beyond, BBC announcers spoke RP, and the Queen certainly did, but not any more.

For some bizarre reason, RP was also used in public information films, which I'll come onto later.

Firstly, have a listen to the first televised Queen's Christmas speech in 1957, which is as good an example of RP as we're ever likely to hear:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBRP-o6Q85s

(Notice that 'often' is pronounced 'orfon' and 'lost' is pronounced 'lorst').

Contrast that with Queen's Christmas Speech 60 years later, in 2017.

No longer is she speaking with an RP accent and hasn’t done for may years. She's speaking in what’s now called 'Standard Southern English', with just traces of RP still lingering, which is inevitable. How she or anyone in a position of authority speaks in a formal setting, will be more formal and grammatically correct than in informal speech:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Mzor6Hf1tY

To show how far accents have changed and RP has become almost extinct, as good an example as any is an informal interview in 2010 of Prince William and Catherine (Kate) Middleton, (now his wife) prior to their marriage, with the interviewer and interviewees speaking informally in ‘Standard Southern English’:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XHKFRX_S7Y

There’s a marked difference from how the Queen speaks, and that's a generational thing.

They just sound like any nice, young, well-educated couple - Kate sounds no different from our three granddaughters for example. There are several lapses into colloquial pronunciations which neither William nor Kate would use if giving a formal speech. For example, sometimes they say ‘yeah’ but mostly ‘yes’. Other examples:

William ‘We wanna family’ (not 'we want a family')
Kate – "Sco’land" rather than "Scotland". (An Estuary English 'glottal stop', as in li-ul and 'ospi-ul').

William: "We met at university – ‘Sen’ Andrews" (not "Saint Andrews").

Interviewer ‘I dunno’ (not "I don't know")

William "it wasn’t ten - it was about twenny" (not 'twenty').

"Your cooking was all right but it’s got bedda" (not 'better')
14.20: William ‘I’m not tryener’ rather than I’m not trying to’
Lots of 'fillers' such as 'sort of, sort of,...
Colloquialisms such as ‘I don’t know the ropes’

It's almost as if they're subconsciously 'dumbing down' to try to sound like 'normal people'.

If you listen to the following video of when Prince William and Kate (Now 'The Duchess of Cambridge') had their second child.
Again, all of the English commentators in this video speak good ‘Standard Southern English' – NOT RP:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY8x8xMwFN8

A good example of modern ‘Standard Southern English’ can be heard by the narrator on this film about the history of Mullard at Mitcham, which might be of interest in its own right:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUIOGJYMWsw

I think most people listening to that wouldn't say that the commentator was speaking RP, or even 'posh' - simply that she 'has a nice accent'.

Back to what RP sounds like, from the early 1940s onwards to the 1970s, there was a series of Public Information Films by the British Film Institute which are freely accessible in their Archives. The films were made using RP. There never was ever a time when anyone portrayed in those films spoke like that in real life and most people never did, but the films are an excellent ‘time capsules’ of what RP sounded like:

http://player.bfi.org.uk/collections...rmation-films/

1939 - How to fit a Gas Mask':

http://player.bfi.org.uk/film/watch-...gas-mask-1939/

1944 - 'The Suit in which we live' (about 'make do and mend'):

http://player.bfi.org.uk/film/watch-...y-itself-1944/

'Mother & Child 1940':

http://player.bfi.org.uk/film/watch-...nd-child-1940/

It's really quite bizarre that the women actresses - acting the part of ordinary working class housewives - spoke RP in the film, except the older lady ‘Mrs Anderson’ in the pinafore. In contrast, the down-to-earth commentary was supplied by Londoner Herbert Hodge, a BBC radio personality, taxi driver and author.

A couple more:

1948 – how to use a telephone (RP):

http://player.bfi.org.uk/film/watch-...elephone-1948/

As late as 1973, the commentator and some actors were still using the RP accent in public information films such as this one about 'going metric':

http://player.bfi.org.uk/film/watch-simply-metric-1973/

I'm as fascinated as anyone about anachronistic representations of RP accents and hope that at least some of the above verbiage is of interest

[Jon_G4MDC]

I found that most informative David.

Today, on the BBC, I find the 10 minutes on a Saturday morning, just before 8 O'clock most interesting. It is something like Points of View - a hold them to account program. I forget the name of it - sorry.

Usually it is hosted by Samira Ahmed (spelling only approximate). I can listen to her all day. On the other hand my French teacher had a pitch which had me wondering if I could get out of the window as soon as possible. In English or French.

I agree it is about speech formation, but just as much it is about pitch.

The recorded voices on checkout machines, automated phone lines and let us not start about railway announcements, just raise the blood pressure.

I am very fortunate to have a wife who can play with this for fun. She says she would have a go at the job for the OP - just for fun.

[Radio Wrangler]

I always found the the word received rather odd in this context.

Surely it was Transmitted Pronunciation

David

[val33vo]

Valerie Singleton but maybe too expensive

[barretter]

Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler

I always found the the word received rather odd in this context.

Like most words "receive" has a variety of meanings. In this context it signifies "accepted as authoritative". The Chambers Dictionary defines "Received Pronunciation" as "the particular pronunciation of British English which is generally regarded as being least regionally limited, most socially acceptable, and is considered the standard" so not necessarily the way Joan Greenwood spoke in the late 1940s.

[Junk Box Nick]

I love these old public information films. They are so terribly British.

Voices change over time either subconsciously or deliberately - it's particularly interesting to hear recordings of politicians at different points in their lives.

RP isn't extinct though it seems rare these days (though I guess it depends on the circles you move in). I know a few people for whom it is their natural style though they are all of a certain age and background.

Probably the best plan is to seek out the local amateur dramatic group. If there is no longer a genuine RP speaker there's bound to be some good mimics who could do the job whilst avoiding venturing into caricature.

In RP speech the vowel sounds are shortened and swallowed, i.e. 'Room' becomes 'Rum'; and, of course, the flat 'a' is not used.

Originally Posted by David G4EBT

It's almost as if they're subconsciously 'dumbing down' to try to sound like 'normal people'.

To be really up-to-date it is necessary to begin every sentence with 'So'.

[Station X]

Or "I was like".

To be really up-to-date it is necessary to begin every sentence with 'So'.

I do use it sometimes for comedic effect, leaving the salient facts for later, bring on the cliff hanger!
Back on topic, the OP wants RP, a trifle outdated these days (for yer youngsters), I find it most acceptable and rather British. It is probably too un-PC to recommend the lovely Caribbean accent heard on London transport in the 60's 70's...

[mark_in_manc]

Ah, if that was what you were after, my church could supply folks to record versions with local variations from St Kitts, Barbados, Jamaica, Montserrat - you name it. 50+ years in Manchester hasn't altered the voices much.

[Richard_FM]

Originally Posted by Junk Box Nick

I love these old public information films. They are so terribly British.

I used to like Harry Enfield's Cholmondley Warner spoofs of old information films. The Charley Says collections have some slightly later examples.