Famous people with Cockney accent

Guest   Mon Jan 08, 2007 8:01 pm GMT
Please mention some of these people.

Thanks in advance.
Mary-le-Bow   Tue Jan 09, 2007 3:35 am GMT
David Beckham
Terence Stamp
Michael Caine
Gary Oldman
09HE   Tue Jan 09, 2007 6:54 am GMT
But definitely NOT Dick Van Dyke!

Ha ha!
M56   Wed Jan 10, 2007 6:25 am GMT
<But definitely NOT Dick Van Dyke!

Ha ha! >

Or Audrey Hepburn.

LOL!
M56   Wed Jan 10, 2007 6:29 am GMT
Alfie Bass (actor, born in Bethnal Green)
David Beckham (footballer, born in Leytonstone)
Nigel Benn (boxer, born in Ilford)
David Bowie (singer, born in Stepney Green)
Billy Bragg (singer, born in Barking)
Bernard Bresslaw (actor, born in Stepney)
George Carey (archbishop, born in Bow)
Jack Cohen (founder of Tesco supermarket chain, born in Whitechapel)
Windsor Davies (actor, born in Canning Town)
Alfred Hitchcock (film director, born in Leytonstone)
Stanley Holloway (actor, born in Manor Park)
Angela Lansbury (actress, born in Poplar)
Vera Lynn (singer, born in East Ham)
Warren Mitchell (actor, born in West Ham)
Dudley Moore (actor, born in Dagenham, Essex)
William Morris (craftsman, born in Walthamstow)
Alf Ramsey (football manager, born in Dagenham, Essex)
Maggie Smith (actress, born in Ilford, Essex)
Terence Stamp (actor, born in Stepney)
Jack Warner (actor, born in Bow)
Barbara Windsor (actress, born in Shoreditch)
M56   Wed Jan 10, 2007 6:30 am GMT
And not, sorry to say, Michael Caine:

"Some London-born performers who are not Cockneys include Michael Caine, Max Bygraves, Arthur Mullard and Tommy Steele."
10BL   Wed Jan 10, 2007 7:51 am GMT
"Or Audrey Hepburn.

LOL!"

No, Audrey certainly was no Cockney. But I always give her a by - she was Audrey Hepburn, after all.

I suppose Dame Wendy Hiller fails the test too - both she and Audrey did Eliza Doolittle.
10BK   Wed Jan 10, 2007 10:10 am GMT
Maybe we shouldn't have mentioned Audrey - it seems to have unleashed a mass of "Tiffany" spam.

Ha ha!
Damian in Edinburgh   Wed Jan 10, 2007 3:48 pm GMT
Actually a lot of those people listed are/were not true Cockneys at all, if you define the term Cockney in it's strict sense. David Beckham is a good example of an East Londoner but he is not a Cockney, as Leytonstone is well, well out of range of the sound of the bells of the church of St Mary-le-Bow which is located just off Cheapside, in the City, between St Paul's Cathedral and Bank tube station.

Pedantically a Cockney has to be born in an area which is within the sound of the Bow bells (ie St Mary-le-Bow). In reality not many people are born within the range of these bells any more because it is more or less in the heart of the business/commercial heart of London which is called the City (as opposed to the rest of London outside the Square Mile. The nearest big residential area would be the Barbican I would guess (still in the City) but not many, if any, residents in upmarket Barbican would classify themselves as Cockneys, that's for sure!

But nevertheless, to many people in the UK, a Cockney is anybody who is a Londoner by birth, even those who are not East Enders.

Audrey Hepburn is obviously linked with true Cockney Eliza Doolittle who sold her violets from the steps of another church - St Paul at Covent Garden (now known as the actors' church). Reading about her on the net I see she was actually born in Belgium before WW2 and as a young girl had to escape from the Germans when they invaded in 1940. In the film Audrey had to diss her "posh" accent to be coached in a Cockney accent to play the part of Eliza and in the film had to diss her Cockney accent to be coached in a "posh" accent to enable her to attend the Ascot races...until she forgot herself with "gaw ahn...shift yer bloomin' aahrse!" at top volume.
Pash   Wed Jan 10, 2007 7:15 pm GMT
Hitchcock was born in 1899 in Leytonstone, East London into a Cockney Catholic family.

http://neurophilosophy.wordpress.com/2006/10/17/the-psychology-of-alfred-hitchcock/
Lazar   Wed Jan 10, 2007 8:04 pm GMT
M56, how is Michael Caine not a Cockney? According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Caine , he was born to working-class parents in Rotherhithe, South East London; and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockney says that Rotherhithe was one of the neighborhoods where the Bow Bells could historically be heard.
Damian in Edinburgh   Wed Jan 10, 2007 11:26 pm GMT
I think that Rotherhithe is only just across the River Thames from the area where Bow Bells are located. My guess is that with a north wind blowing especially the bells could be heard, at least technically. Nowadays the din of the city traffic would make it impossible anyway.
Damian in Edinburgh   Thu Jan 11, 2007 7:56 pm GMT
So Becks is taking his (not really but pretty close - more East London Estuary) "Cockney" accent with him to join Los Angeles Galaxy FC! At a total payout to the bloke of c.$260million over 5 years I hope the Americans won't expect him to diss his accent for an up-market Califonia type one. Somehow I don't think that will wash with Becks, and Posh is too posh to change hers. It won't go down to well with his adoring fans back home over here. For some strange reason she doesn't seem to have so many adoring fans..........
George   Thu Jan 11, 2007 9:22 pm GMT
<<I hope the Americans won't expect him to diss his accent for an up-market Califonia type one.>>

I don't know about the rest of America but I doubt that we Angelenos will be expecting Becks and Posh to ditch their accents since most of us speak with "foreign" accents anyway. Our mayor's a Chicano from the barrios of East LA and our governor is some guy from Austria, after all!
Damian in Edinburgh   Thu Jan 11, 2007 9:32 pm GMT
Great! Congratulations on being such an admirably diverse community and I hope you all integrate top rate! Oh - and I hope you all understand Beck's mumblings better than the majority of Scots do! And watch out for Posh - she'll clear out all your fashion stores before you've hardly put up the "Open" sign.