Whats the most northerly town in England where they still speak with a palpably southern accent?
Actually Bill, you can find distinct regional variations in accents in travelling a handful of MILES in the UK, I kid you not! You only get to notice when you move a few miles and get to a new town, as I did when growing up… Basingstoke in Hampshire is a London over-spill town, but if you drive just 8 miles west, you get to Overton, and ancient country village… Distinctly more rural accents, which really stand out if the locals go to Basingstoke! The young would be mocked as “Faaaaarmers” by the “Townies”, so the youth of Overton would generally fell happier and fit in more by travelling west, again just about 7 miles, to Andover. Andover is a smaller town than Basingstoke, but the local accent is even broader! To this day, I can hear a few words, and tell someone is from that area… Going in the other direction, the big city near to Basingstoke is Reading (pronounced “Redding”) where the accent tends to be even more clipped, more like West-London. Don’t forget the East-End of Lon
