I've actually got a real problem, not with 'foreign' accents, but with my 'native' East Riding accent. For a couple of years I've been writing a series of songs interlinked with stories, all based around East Yorkshire. Having lived for a large part of my adult life outside the area, all over England and abroad, my own accent is a bit of a mishmash. What's more, I can't find anyone who now speaks the 'real' East Riding who could teach it to me (and would anyone be able to understand it anyway?). Also, should I try to recreate the accent in the written word as well as attempting to perform it in the true speech?

An extra problem arises when I come to Hull, where one branch of my family stems from – this has an accent all its own.

There's a lot of Yorkshire dialect stuff around in West Riding and south Yorkshire dialects, but I can't find much in East Riding dialect – I haven't even heard Jim Eldon do anything in the old wolds speech.

So, what I've decided is that, because accents and speech change dramatically over time, and the scope of my piece goes from pre-history to the present day, I'll use a modern-day East Riding accent, or as close to it as I can come. There has to be compromise somewhere along the road.