The participants were asked to describe how they spoke in their own words.
How do you describe your accent: "Slight Northern peculiar to the Furness district of Lancashire."
Have there been other influences on the way you speak: "Up to age nine Barrow, then Lancashire. To Coventry 1935. Grammar School. Aged 18 Royal Air Force for four years. Now accept public speaking engagements."
Do you have skills in languages other than English?: Yes
Other languages: Italian
Coventry has an accent of its own, it's peculiar to itself. It's not Leicestershire, its not Bed'orth even, erm it's not it's certainly not Brummie. So we are in an island really, of erm, non-accent if you like. It's a very drab, no no no drab's not the right word, but not distinctive, and yet you can talk to a person and detect him as a Coventry person, for the little mannerisms they say like erm "buz" instead of a bus, "s'nice now", er these are all little Coventry sayings.
