accents
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The other morning I saw an interesting news item about what Shakespeare’s original audiences heard when they watched his plays or heard his sonnets. The two gentlemen concerned in the news item were British linguist David Crystal) and his actor son Ben Crystal. I gather that David and Ben have been entertaining us with this…
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What were our medieval kings’ voices like….?
accents, Alice Perrers, Azincourt, Battle of Bosworth, definitions, Edward III, Edward IV, Edward the Black Prince, Edward V, George Duke of Clarence, Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI, Henry VII, Henry VIII, Jane Shore, language, minority kings, monarchs, Phillippa of Hainault, promiscuity, Richard II, Richard III, Stanleys, Thomas Lynom, WydevillesToday I once again heard Henry VIII described as Bluff King Hal. Well, this is usually said almost affectionately, which the Henry VIII we all know does not warrant. He was a monster. I think his voice was probably stentorian. Eventually he was downright nasty and needed to be approached with an excessively long bargepole.…
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I have often wondered what Richard’s voice sounded like. Did he have a low or high tone to his voice, was it rich, nasal, reedy, soft? What was his accent like? Would it be like a Midlands accent, as has been proposed, or would there be hints of Yorkshire? Did he have a good singing…
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Back in 2013, Dr Philip Shaw of Leicester University gave a demonstration of how Richard might have spoken, putting into the spoken word two of Richard’s personal letters. He concluded that from Richard’s spelling, he would have sounded as if he came from the West Midlands – Dudley, Birmingham, Ludlow, or thereabouts. This sample of…
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This article lists a few errors in two current popular drama series but its criticisms are not as authoritative as they may seem. On “Victoria”, it quotes Professor Jane Ridley, who is a leading expert on that monarch and is a descendant of one of England’s first married bishops, and A.N. Wilson on several points. However,…
The New Murrey and Blue blog 