It is a major regret of mine that I have never been to England. Or Scotland (land of my ancestors), Ireland, or Wales. But through the auspices of the BBC and the American Public Broadcasting System, I have watched a great deal of very high quality television drama (along with many documentaries) produced in Great Britain. These have featured such eminent British actors as Jeremy Brett, Jeremy Irons, Geoffrey Palmer, Judi Dench, Derek Jacobi, Richard Briers, Susan Hampshire, and many, many more, in addition to older actors such as Lawrence Olivier, John Gielgud, Frank Middlemass, et al.

I have seen (and heard) English actresses portray characters from Eliza Doolittle and Nancy (in Oliver Twist) to Queen Elizabeth (I and II) and Queen Victoria, along with actors portraying all classes, from farmers and serfs up through the aristocracy, and several kings (Henry V, Henry VIII, Edward VII, etc.). Dramatizations of everything from The Pallisers (the aristocracy in Victorian England) to the various filmings of the works of Charles Dickens. Currently following The Inspector Lynley Mysteries and Foyle's War, and a couple of "Brit-coms" (The Good Life, As Time Goes By--and being a fan of word-play, one of the funniest schticks I've ever heard was in The Vicar of Dibley:   CLICKY).

Granted, most of the accents I've heard on television and in movies were put on by actors, but these were all excellent actors and masters of their craft, which includes being adept and convincing at doing various accents and dialects.

In addition, in my long and checkered life, I've met a fair number of English men and women in person, and worked with several. I went to university with an English girl (the lovely Phyllis Brooks), and I shared broadcasting duties with a young Englishman who was working hard to get rid of his English accent to fit in better in American broadcasting (I encouraged him to keep his accent because in the broadcasting milieu, it would be an individual characteristic and could be an asset to him).

I've heard a whole broad spectrum of English accents.

Which of this wide variety of accents are you striving to acquire, WAV?

Don Firth