"Ewan MacColl and Dick van Dyke "
Your chalk and cheese comparison misses te point Jow
Scots was the accent Ewan grew up with - it was the accent of his family and the lodgers his mother took in - it was the accent that the songs he got from his parents were sung in
I've just been exploring the Lomax archive and listening to what MacColl had to say about learning his songs
The fact that he was singing them to Cinema queues in the Hungry Thirties made them a part of him, not something he had to "achieve"
Van Dyke was no different from many of the actors who attempted Cockney on the screen, certainly not all American
I tried to watch the 1938 film, 'Pygmalion' last night, but was so embarrassed at Wendy Hiller's 'Cockney' Eliza I turned it off in disgust - a patronising joke

I'm very attracted to Annie Neilson's 'ballad English' - if you can't 'or shouldn't try a Scots accent, it seems an excellent idea to neutralise your own - I really can't see 'Sheath and Knife' working (for me or for the audience) in broad Scousebut it works perfectly for me in neutral English
Jim Carroll