Five thousand people took part in a BBC survey about attitudes to voices¹. The most disliked English accents are Birmingham and Black Country. Out of 34 accents ranked for pleasantness, prestige and career progression, Birmingham's at the very bottom of the pile for each category with Black Country just above it. Liverpool, Glasgow and Asian accents aren't far behind. | Top Ten Least Pleasant Voices | 1 - Ian Paisley
2 - Billy Connolly
3 - Cilla Black
4 - Paul O'Grady
5 - Jasper Carrott
6 - Janet Street-Porter
7 - David Beckham
8 - The Queen
9 - Frank Skinner
10 - Tony Blair |
The survey asked people to rate famous people's voices. Jasper Carrott and Frank Skinner are in the top ten for the least pleasant. But people still find them hilarious. Strange. Also strange is that Billy Connolly and the Queen appear in both lists! Clearly, favourite accents are a very individual thing. Language evolution Dr Clive Upton, a linguistics expert from the University of Leeds, is leading a research project into regional dialects. He's working closely with the BBC Voices project. He hails originally from Shirley near Solihull so he certainly doesn't find the Midlands accent unpleasant: "Everybody knows Birmingham - they might just know the M6 or New Street station but everyone is familiar with it so feels they can comment on it. What are people evaluating it for? For friendliness, people would vote the Birmingham accent pretty hightly." | Top Ten Most Pleasant Voices | 1 - Sean Connery
2 - Trevor McDonald
3 - Terry Wogan
4 - Hugh Grant
5 - Moira Stuart
6 - The Queen
7 - Billy Connolly
8 - Ewan McGregor
9 - Joanna Lumley
10 - Pierce Brosnan |
Listen to the clip below to hear Dr Upton talking to Adrian Goldberg on the BBC WM Breakfast programme on Monday 17 January 2005:  Listen to Dr Upton
What do you think of your voice? While the rest of the UK's not keen on our accents, 21% of West Midlanders said they don't like their accent and 20% said they're not proud of it². 72% of us think we have at least a "moderately strong" accent with 4% saying it's "very strong". Interestingly 6% think they have no accent at all! (Standard English is still an accent, you know!) Would you change your voice if you could? 63% of West Midlands folk wish that they could (even just occasionally). Most of us want an ordinary (boring?) Standard English voice but some fancy Scottish or Southern Irish! Most of us - 81% - admit we change our voices depending on who we're talking to, especially to ensure we're understood or to fit in better. Get involved Voices is the largest ever celebration of the way the British Isles speaks today. We want you to share your thoughts on the way you talk in the Midlands. The online survey will ask you what naming words you use. For example, what do you call your mum? What words do you use for rain? Alleyway? Or even... the toilet?! Click here to find out more. Join the discussion about our Midlands accent. What's your opinion? Click the link below - it's easy to get involved, just type your comment into the box: ¹ - Survey by Greenfield Online; 5010 respondents; male:female ratio 49:51
² - 469 respondents were from the West Midlands | 
