Im doing a performance for my drama class within the next week and my character is one of a prostitute in East London, 1888. I'm having alot of trouble with the accent, mostly due to the fact that I am a New Zealander who is not accustomed to hearing or speaking like an East Londoner. Is there anybody who can give me any tips about how to pronounce my vowels and consonants as an East Londoner would?
East Londoner Accent
Antipodean accents largely decend from Victorian London accents, so you've already got a strong start. In fact, there are greater similarities between Aus and NZ accents and London accents, than between London accents and the North of England. Long "a"s are used in London on the same words as in NZ bahth, glahss, chahnce, dahnce etc. "U" sounds have a sound more similar to an "a" sound so "cup" sounds more like "cap", but that is again closer to NZ accents than other English pronunciations.
If The Bill's shown there, that would another one to listen to.
If The Bill's shown there, that would another one to listen to.
LOL haha yep my mother loved Coronation and the Bill here in New Zealand.
Talena - programme times
Prime Channel - Eastenders Weekdays 7:30pm
Prime Channel - The Bill Wednesdays 8:30pm
The channel 'UKTV' has the programmes unsure of the times
LOL the reason I know this because my mother at times call me and tells me to record them for her because she is coming home late.
Talena - programme times
Prime Channel - Eastenders Weekdays 7:30pm
Prime Channel - The Bill Wednesdays 8:30pm
The channel 'UKTV' has the programmes unsure of the times
LOL the reason I know this because my mother at times call me and tells me to record them for her because she is coming home late.
A prostitute in East London? In 1888? Not a good time...or place......a very nasty character around those foggy streets at that time......he carried this horrible looking black Gladstone bag around with him. He was reputed to have a very "posh" accent but the poor proddies he met all spoke pure Cockney.....
Talena...I suggest you obtain a CD of the film "My Fair Lady" or walk around Hackney or Stepney.......IN BROAD DAYLIGHT and with a friend or friends.
Thank goodness London no longer has fogs.....not too sure about suspicious looking guys carrying weird little bags though....
Talena...I suggest you obtain a CD of the film "My Fair Lady" or walk around Hackney or Stepney.......IN BROAD DAYLIGHT and with a friend or friends.
Thank goodness London no longer has fogs.....not too sure about suspicious looking guys carrying weird little bags though....
"Im doing a performance for my drama class within the next week and my character is one of a prostitute in East London, 1888"
You'll have to watch out for Jack the Ripper.
You'll have to watch out for Jack the Ripper.
Dear Adam....the Beast of Bolton......indirectly, I already mentioned Jack!
Och!...can you believe it.....
Och!...can you believe it.....
Didn't Jack the Ripper kill prostitutes in London's East End in 1888?
I think he did.
I think he did.
"Thank goodness London no longer has fogs"
Does it not? Not even in winter?
Does it not? Not even in winter?
<"Thank goodness London no longer has fogs" >
LOL yep Adam its true no more fog its now replaced with smog.
LOL yep Adam its true no more fog its now replaced with smog.
**Does it not? Not even in winter?**
It's the nature of pollution that has changed - not only in London but everywhere else. If you check relative websites you will see that air pollution in cities at one time was caused by industrial output - nearly all of it smoke pollution. Domestic pollution was the same as all homes emitted smoke into the atmosphere from coal fires, the only form of heating back then.
With the right weather conditions - high pressure systems with no wind and inversions occurred (ie the smoke became trapped over cities) then normal fog became mixed with the smoke pollution and ground visibility was reduced to just a metre or two or even nil visibility at times. These conditions were common in winter and the London fogs became famous and sometimes hung over the city for days on end, and in the worst of them traffic was brought to a standstill or just a crawling pace. The air was noxious and ordinary "white" fog became acrid yellowish/brownish smog. The Victorians called them "London Particulars" and it was in such conditions that Jack the Ripper went oou and about in the fog shrouded streets of 1888 London.
The last such smog London experienced was in December 1952, and 4,000 people died from respiratory problems. Traffic was at a halt but buses still tried to maintain their schedules but with a man carrying a flare walking in front of the bus to guide the driver! Just imagine that! A less serious but still dense smog occurred in December 1962, and that was the very last time London (or anywhere else in industrial Britain) had to endure such polluted fogs.
Now everybody has central heating systems, and any open fires are retained mostly for "traditional atmosphere" such as in pubs and in older homes which still have such fireplaces/hearths etc but the fuel is strictly controlled un the terms of the 1956 Clean Air Act. Coal has been replaced by smokeless fuel and/or things such as logs of wood.
So it's true to say that London no longer has fogs anything like those of the past. Any fogs over London are the normal moisture laden types which are really just vapour mists in comparison with the old "London Particulars" or "pea-soupers". Even those are becoming rarer because of a more mobile type of climate brought about by global warming and climate change.
From the 1960s onwards as the air became cleaner and all the older main public/commercial buildings in London were literally "cleaned up" by such things as high pressure water jets which is why they are now gleaming white in the sunshine (when it is sunny) and not black as before.
A new type of smog has taken over though......still smog, as Ren says......but one that is caused by pollution from huge levels of vehicular traffic and not smoke pollution as in the past.
It's the nature of pollution that has changed - not only in London but everywhere else. If you check relative websites you will see that air pollution in cities at one time was caused by industrial output - nearly all of it smoke pollution. Domestic pollution was the same as all homes emitted smoke into the atmosphere from coal fires, the only form of heating back then.
With the right weather conditions - high pressure systems with no wind and inversions occurred (ie the smoke became trapped over cities) then normal fog became mixed with the smoke pollution and ground visibility was reduced to just a metre or two or even nil visibility at times. These conditions were common in winter and the London fogs became famous and sometimes hung over the city for days on end, and in the worst of them traffic was brought to a standstill or just a crawling pace. The air was noxious and ordinary "white" fog became acrid yellowish/brownish smog. The Victorians called them "London Particulars" and it was in such conditions that Jack the Ripper went oou and about in the fog shrouded streets of 1888 London.
The last such smog London experienced was in December 1952, and 4,000 people died from respiratory problems. Traffic was at a halt but buses still tried to maintain their schedules but with a man carrying a flare walking in front of the bus to guide the driver! Just imagine that! A less serious but still dense smog occurred in December 1962, and that was the very last time London (or anywhere else in industrial Britain) had to endure such polluted fogs.
Now everybody has central heating systems, and any open fires are retained mostly for "traditional atmosphere" such as in pubs and in older homes which still have such fireplaces/hearths etc but the fuel is strictly controlled un the terms of the 1956 Clean Air Act. Coal has been replaced by smokeless fuel and/or things such as logs of wood.
So it's true to say that London no longer has fogs anything like those of the past. Any fogs over London are the normal moisture laden types which are really just vapour mists in comparison with the old "London Particulars" or "pea-soupers". Even those are becoming rarer because of a more mobile type of climate brought about by global warming and climate change.
From the 1960s onwards as the air became cleaner and all the older main public/commercial buildings in London were literally "cleaned up" by such things as high pressure water jets which is why they are now gleaming white in the sunshine (when it is sunny) and not black as before.
A new type of smog has taken over though......still smog, as Ren says......but one that is caused by pollution from huge levels of vehicular traffic and not smoke pollution as in the past.
Lol yeah I know alllll about Jack The Ripper, thats what my play was inspired by. My prostitute is one of his victims.... Hehehe, I have a morbid facination with Jack and his Gladstone Bag. He must be the most elusive serial killer of all time. Such a mystery, I loves it!!!
And thanks for the comments all. Cheers, really helped actually ;)
And thanks for the comments all. Cheers, really helped actually ;)