"So.............."

[teamsaint]

Preferably without regional accents - bring back those clipped sonorities that we had when the higher classes did the broadcasting.

well quite. Who needs yobs like CBH and Katie Derham with their estuary engerlish all over the hallowed airwaves?

[Beef Oven!]

well quite. Who needs yobs like CBH and Katie Derham with their estuary engerlish all over the hallowed airwaves?

Yeah, and Brummie accents are the worstest. And that bloke who wanted to be John Peel when he grew up, forgot his name.

[jean]

Heaney is responding to the 'Hwæt!' which starts Beowulf. It probably means 'pay attention' or 'Lo!', or 'Listen...'

Much like initial so, then.

And very persistent - there are lots of examples in Shakespeare.

(A later generation moved the what to the end of the sentence.)

[Flosshilde]

that bloke who wanted to be John Peel when he grew up, forgot his name.

John Peel?

[Beef Oven!]

John Peel?

A DJ with the BBC.

[teamsaint]

A DJ with the BBC.

Kid Jensen?

[Beef Oven!]

Kid Jensen?

[french frank]

Of course. I just think we prefer to hear broadcasters and public figures using the standard version.

Out of interest, do any national BBC television newsreaders have a regional accent (especially English regions, not 'devolved nations')?

[Gordon]

Out of interest, do any national BBC television newsreaders have a regional accent (especially English regions, not 'devolved nations')?

Huw Edwards?

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

Martine Croxall?

[Flosshilde]

Huw Edwards?

Isn't he Welsh?

[Richard Tarleton]

Out of interest, do any national BBC television newsreaders have a regional accent (especially English regions, not 'devolved nations')?

A couple of Norn Ireland ones...Maxine Mawhinney, Annita McVeigh...

[Serial_Apologist]

Back in the early 1980s Bristol BBC had a newsreader of surname Brown (I forget his first name)*, who had a very nice local accent. Either they got rid of him or he was retired, and thenceforth it was back to RP accents.

[Honoured Guest]

It's a bit patronising (and wrong!) to call Huw Edwards a "newsreader". Nowadays, almost all BBC television news is presented by journalists who interview and speak off-script, in addition to reading news items. The only BBC pure newsreading I can think of is in short headline bulletins, like at the top and tail of Sunday mornings' Andrew Marr Show. That regular newsreader, Naga Munchetty, does indeed have an English regional accent (London).

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I'd much prefer a newsreader to speak RP than to have token patronising regional accents.

The likes of Steph McGovern almost require subtitles for me to understand, and I'm a patriotic northerner.