1976: COCKNEY accents | Word of Mouth | Voice of the People | BBC Archive

Introduced by Melvyn Bragg, Word of Mouth traces the pattern of speech in Britain.
Cockney Lives OK focuses on the familiar working-class accent synonymous with London's East End, charting the origin of some common cockney phrases and discussing some of the preconceptions about people who use them. With more and more East End residents relocating to the Essex commuter belt, and a new generation of multicultural, multilingual Londoners growing up in the area, what does the future hold for the Cockney dialect?
Originally broadcast 12 August, 1976
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[@HonestSonics]

The young lad speaking at 9:20, this is basically the genesis of MLE caught on film. How he says 'they're more themselves', with a 'D' overriding the 'Th' - a Caribbean influence. But in the next sentence at 9:23 it's a strong cockney 'aatspoken'. You can literally hear the influences starting to mix together to form what we have today in London. It's a fascinating document.

[@kcuhc84]

yep, he ain't avin a Turkish

[@ajs41]

I know it makes me sound like a young fogey, but I really dislike MLE.

[@MrDaveyboy125]

"Deh more demselves" Early MLE.

[@CrimeVid]

Yes but that intruding 'D' always used to be a "V" "vemselves"

[@rustledjammies8769]

You can still hear his accent in London including in younger people, at least more refined. A mixture of MLE and Cockney. It's beautiful to hear but rare unfortunately.

[@DianeOfori]

I’m from the East end and sadly cockney is a rare accent in London with so many different accents. When you hear cockney you have to turn around to see who talking to marvel, it’s lovely to hear.

[@butterflymoon6368]

I feel like I hear it a lot but not in the east end. When I was younger I heard people use it in NW London. I know 'bow bells' and all of that but it's the same accent.

[@thomaswillans4085]

I heard an older gentleman in Manor House grumbling about the weather being 'taters' a few weeks ago!

[@mauriceosullivan6832]

@@butterflymoon6368 mockneys

[@johngilmore697]

Cockney' Sonja, is an area in London where criminals live.

[@poacherjack2741]

That's right, I'm from Stratford and to hear a cockney in East london is very rare now days.still a few of us old ones left though!..God bless

[@danielnewton5867]

My grandad was a cockney. I loved his accent. He used to say phrases like, turn it up, sharpish, it’s a buns. The slang was funny. Cockneys were such nice people.

[@2000guineas]

Were???? They are basically exctint because of the Asian communtiy in East London

[@beth38368]

My grandad was from Canning Town ❤ loved him to bits

[@CARLIN4737]

yah wanna buy a kettle? Why you ad it orf?

[@biegebythesea6775]

They weren't nice people. I'm sure some of them were but some were racist and misogynistic.

[@biegebythesea6775]

​@@2000guineasthat's not the fault of the Asian community, it's the fault of racists and the government. If you come here and you're told your kids can never be English, you're now creating a new ghetto and separating people. If you wanted to still hear cockney, the racists should have passed it on.

[@fatfreddyscoat7564]

Back in the day when the local pub was the heart of an actual community and everyone knew each other. Nowadays? London is full of strangers who don’t want to talk to anybody and who’ve got neighbours they’ve never said hello to.

[@brianbadonde8700]

@@ashleyhyne7027 it's complete fantasy, way to many English people but if they portrayed it the way it really was that would be acknowledging reality, which is a big no no nowadays

[@KingpinTBM]

Bitching about it does nothing...

[@southlondon86]

I wish we could go back to the good old days of Jimmy Savile and Gary Glitter 😢. When Britain was Britain and everyone knew each other.

[@FHIPrincePeter]

@@southlondon86 Not like now with the Asian Grooming Gangs.

[@Edgel-in6bs]

@@ashleyhyne7027 anywhere on social media, you're never far away from a far right cretin, are you?

[@Highland_Moo]

I’m from the Scottish highlands and my grandparents met when they did national service in the RAF. My grandad was from a wee village here on the Isle of Skye and my nanna was from the East End of London. Anytime I hear that accent it reminds me of her - I love it!

[@victorian-dad]

Good for you mate. I love the Sweatys! Especially The Blue Noses!

[@RenegadeSound]

@@victorian-dad I'm London too fella , my Scotts mates don't appreciate that particular rhyming slang to put it mildly .

[@MrAlistar99]

Lol i follow a similar pattern😅

[@victorian-dad]

My Scots mates don't give a monkeys, it's only banter!

[@WirmerFlagge]

bbc promoting the diversity which is destroying the cockney

[@navillus15]

Del Boy was well out of his manor driving past Whitechapel Station 2:33

[@halcyon289]

Not 'arf !

[@east_londonlad8988]

He was on his way to Brick Lane to flog some hooky Sarees to Bengali women

[@rojaktar3509]

​@@east_londonlad8988and now Bethnal green has morphed into a somewhat cleaner Brick lane. I wouldn't live in either borough-and I'm bangla

[@Laura-sg6ss]

Loooll

[@Laura-sg6ss]

​@@rojaktar3509 lol okay...

[@butterflymoon6368]

Really love the bit from 7:54 as a black londoner. Really interesting.

[@DarkAngel2512]

I love hearing older black ppl with cockney accents. I dont really rate the hard MLE accent. The 90s London accent black kids spoke was alright. I grew up with that but when it for Stormzy-accent I viewed those individuals as try-hards and chavvy. Now those kids grow up speaking it naturally but it seemed put on back then. But I grew up outside London so..

[@antonioveritas]

Seeing this made me realise how language gradually changes over time. For example, I used to say "wotcha" for "hello". Just realised that I haven't said "wotcha" to anyone for years!

[@kyfaydfsoab]

i live overseas now and people in london sound completely different now

[@RenegadeSound]

@@kyfaydfsoab That they do fella

[@Jmcinally94]

I had a similar thing recently with "mind how you go" when you're hanging up the phone. Phrases like that are just falling by the wayside I think. It's why the Catchphrase reboot is shite 😂

[@annalishagoring]

I used to say wotcha a lot when I was young. Now it's been replaced by hi or hiya

[@wiseonwords]

@@annalishagoring - When I was a lad back in Stockwell, I never said hi or hiya; I only ever said "Wotcha" when I greeted people in informal situations.

[@Paulco67]

That copper who sussed out the criminal was quite pleased with himself 😂

[@tomthomassony8607]

In the 1980s, I could tell which part of London someone came from; South London, North West, East and down in Kent.

[@tomthomassony8607]

@@ashleyhyne7027 All areas named in my comment had distinguishable and different London accents - you melt.

[@tomthomassony8607]

@Joe mamma I could also tell the difference between Ghanaian, Nigerian (West African) and Kenyan (East African) accents.

[@DarkAngel2512]

Even up until recently. Particularly if theyre older like late 30s or early 40s upwards

[@markfarnon6742]

@tomthomassony8607 nice comment, it's interesting stuff. I'm from the north but used to work in London in the late 80's, I enjoyed the subtle differences in peoples accents around London but couldn't tell which part they were from! Btw, is it still possible for you to tell where they come from today?

[@herb2078]

@@markfarnon6742the cockney accent is gone mate in London anyway. Just a generic roadman accent. But ye back in the day you could tell the difference for sure

[@ravenhill_the_cryptic_of_1968]

my aunts and uncles are proper cockneys, still alive and living in Essex now.

[@really8930]

Language evolves. It’s constant. Even the BBC no longer have BBC accents.

[@abstraqtphilosophy7357]

Many languages have evolved to sht

[@abstraqtphilosophy7357]

Many accents today are horrble compared to accents before the 21st century.

[@really8930]

@@abstraqtphilosophy7357 go on… elaborate.

[@jeffmorse645]

I live in California and when I was young in the 1980s I had a friend who's family lived in SE London - Penge, Sydenham, Crystal Palace. Her parents and brothers spoke with a very similar accent to the people in this video. She spoke with a more standard London accent since she worked in an office in "The City". Her parents laughed and said she fancied herself a cut above the rest of her family. But yeah, when I hear that accent I think of that welcoming, friendly family I met when I was in England. Makes me smile.

[@hellfirepictures]

If you're in LA I'll hook you up with my mum - she grew up in Sydenham and still has the accent to a degree 😄

[@jeffmorse645]

@@hellfirepictures Aww.. that's a really nice thought! I live in Florida now though. I'm sure you're mum is great!

[@samrowbotham8914]

She was not a Cockney,

[@Mr223P]

You have to travel out to Essex and East Anglia now to hear this accent lol language is always changing and evolving as it absorbs the new sounds and influences around it. Fantastic little slice of a London that has migrated to large extent...

[@StennMathis]

Yep Born in Barking, lived all up and down the C2C and round about (Leytonstone Chigwell Forest Gate Romford Hackney), family from Bethnal Green to Dagenham and yeah I agree most cockney accents are out in Essex now (I grew up seeing East End and Essex as cousins not just on accent but because of the people)...But the world is always changing so...Nothing that can be done about that. The East End (and Essex) have a rich and vibrant history and a ton load of great people and always will

[@mohammedshah-alommiah8748]

@@StennMathis how was barking back in the day I live their now but born in Whitechapel

[@mohammedshah-alommiah8748]

@Falk and romanis but they not white too?

[@mohammedshah-alommiah8748]

@Falk are so gypsy got it 😁

[@StennMathis]

@Falk half of London is black and asian, ok...Yet Russians own 1/3rd of London, Chinese own another 3rd and arabs own another 3rd with help from the British government...

[@LabRat6619]

I heard a cockney accent the other day in London when in the street somewhere. It was so unusual it was lovely to hear the traditional London tongue.

[@geoffwood6044]

There are still a few of us left, having to repeat yourself to some people sometimes as they've not a scooby what ya saying, kinda sad how times have changed, too much of a wrong attitude today, diversity is a great thing but I don't see this "multicuralism" has actually benefited many of us either, I know many people of many walks of life, I allow them into my space because they have a certain character and charm, something the "East enders" have lost over the years. Still, I wouldn't live anywhere else but in East London, even know.

[@geoffwood6044]

@109 Countries wiping out the whites in Europe to be replaced with "neg roids and eurasians, as they are easier to control", not sure the POC community would accept being seen as cattle, who knows, depends on whether you believe the Dews are out for global control, today, whilst we are seeing mass illegal immigration (and even legal migration) throughout the Western world, the Kalergi plan seems to be in fruition, but then we have Schwabb wanting this exact same thing, in his ideal world, every human has equal rights across the board, however, with this "equal rights for all" sounds fair, it would lead to massive division of societies, virtual signalling will cause confusion which leads to anger, "they" know that a divided soceity will always make their job of control (and manipulation) all the more easier, but hey, that's all just propaganda, right? ;)

[@BusterCapInYoAss]

Probably visiting from Essex lol

[@Sam-gw5pl]

It’s now either Eastern European, black or Pakistani

[@geoffwood6044]

@@Sam-gw5pl careful there Sam, some fool may take that as rac ism and instead of facts.

[@tachikomakusanagi3744]

I love how the guy describes the codewords for how they fence stolen goods in the pub and everyone starts shooshing him - and still they broadcast it on the BBC!

[@hellfirepictures]

It wasn't code. It was common use language. Everyone in East/SE London would have known what they were talking about... It was more the fact he was making it clear that they sometimes handled stolen goods that was the issue - he wasn't revealing secrets by discussing the language used.

[@sarahbrennan1342]

Yer man with the brown coat … is the image of Arthur Daley 😂😊

[@spidyman8853]

It's Arfur Daley

[@starwood213]

I'm an Aussie but grew up loving the Sweeney and the Minder. This clip reminds me of those shows. Really interesting.

[@danrobinson572]

Your absolutely right great show

[@resnonverba137]

@@danrobinson572 You're...

[@zoehancock]

The guy in the flat cap was so like Arthur Daley!

[@CARLIN4737]

More so Minder as Arthur always used London patter not so much cockney but London talk, Lucozades=spades etc. black guy.

[@blipblip88]

My aunt and Unc were Cockneys and they'd end every sentence with "Ya?" or "Innit?" I loved other little phrases like "Let's be havin ya.", "Bob's yer uncle", or talking about family, they'd refer to "Our Terry, or our Cindy". On a cold day it would be "Come in lad, luv, and have a cuppa." People on the street that were being shunned were "Sent to Coventry". "Crikey, look wots the cat dragged in! Ha ha! Nice bit of kit yer wearin, wher'd ya nick it from, then, eh?" But mostly what I remember was how warm they were, never put on airs, always welcomed in the elderly neighbor ladies for Sunday tea, or Christmas pudding. A good loving family, they were.

[@DarkAngel2512]

Really? I thought innit came from black Londoners. Never heard it until mid-late 90s when I began hanging around with them.

[@notknown6605]

Not cockney at all 😂

[@blipblip88]

Go on! I bet you are!@@notknown6605

[@tonelemoan]

I would have been six years old when this was filmed. We lived near the Rotherhithe tunnel entrance and I went to St Marys and St Michael's school on Commercial Road. This voices are so cosy to me. Though the language you would have heard on the street was changing rapidly our parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts all spoke like this. I moved out of London in my 20s but not before my German wife had picked up enough Cockney to shape her version of spoken English. Give me half an hour back in the city and a couple of pints and you'll hear me rapidly devolve my accent to late 20th century Cockney. You never lose it really.

[@chrisbayes2972]

"I don't think being a cockney is a handicap" - Great quote from another lovely piece of social history.

[@hellfirepictures]

Unfortunately, they were wrong. It is a massive handicap to anyone that wants to be more than a tradesman. Perception matters - it's why we'll never have a PM with a cockney/brum/scouser/farmer etc accent.

[@c6q3a24]

@@hellfirepictures That really is truly disgusting. Sounds reminiscent of the Indian caste system.

[@ead630]

@@hellfirepictures That's interesting to me as an American, because we've had some variety in the accents of our presidents

[@AstoranSolaire]

​@@c6q3a24 What a totally sensible and reasonable comparison. Let's be real, if you sound like a country bumpkin nobody is ever electing you to a position of power.

[@tshandy1]

I am an American, and I loved this video. The people. The place. The unique English. Truly a marvelous people, and it makes me a little sad to think a lot of this culture has died out since this video was made.

[@joshuataylor3550]

Culture never dies it only evolves. The world has never stood still, grow up.

[@tshandy1]

@@joshuataylor3550 - Tell that to all the native American tribes that were wiped out after the arrival of a foreign people. Wise up.

[@AD-kv9kj]

@@tshandy1 And where has clinging to ancient culture worked? China? After thousands of years of cultural isolation, they all still just shop at the same corporate chain stores and supermarkets and live in run-down concrete tower blocks of expensive flats... Trying to cling to decaying culture never works either. And by far the biggest cause of rapid decay of culture in modern times is big business.

[@tshandy1]

@@AD-kv9kj - Are you okay with whites colonizing remote countries? Those whites surely bring cultural diversity with them, so why not, right?

[@zivkovicable]

@@tshandy1 Working classLondoners weren't conquered, slaughtered & killed off by disease. They were offered better social housing (subsidised by the state) and moved willingly to the outer suburbs surrounding counties. Isn't socialism great! I say that as a direct descendent.

[@AdzyRJT]

My mums family all came from the deptford/Greenwich area, so south of the river and not true cockneys but almost the same accent. This video made me sad remembering my grandparents and uncles and all that has been lost. I miss this England.

[@AmbH777]

Same about missing it...I moved abroad six years ago and it hit me recently that the UK doesn't feel like home anymore and I suppose that's more about the fact it's not the same country it was when I was growing up so I don't feel any attachment to it. When I see stuff like this it makes me nostalgic.

[@NaturalNat111]

Love the cockney accent 💚💚 I’m a cockney so may be slightly biased 😂 born in Mile End in the 80s and moved out to Essex in the 00’s, lots of cockneys out my way now, keep it going 🥳💚

[@CrimeVid]

Although this is ‘76 it still misses the point that there is a different accent within cockney for every area, a guy from Rotherhithe sounds completely different to a man from Poplar.

[@Mute040404]

Absolutely.

[@EPICFAILKING1]

Man, I'd LOVE to be in that pub right now. Better times for sure.

[@SuperCholdi]

5:36 Jack Dash sounds exactly like Alan Ford. I wish I was a cockney, it would be great. I'd go about the place doing people up like kippers, with my cockney powers.

[@AnonymousJ99]

Looks a bit like him too

[@whyshouldwecare3267]

Do you know what greenacre means, my pedigree chum?

[@Dan-nw6rk]

Put a lead on her Turkish

[@dajvebikinus861]

🤣👏 underrated comment

[@lingolarker9318]

Nowadays ye’ll only hear Lord Sour saying it on t’Apprentice or sumfink😆. Done up like a kipper…

[@hilaryepstein6013]

Thank you for another little gem from the BBC archive. Those men were a dying breed. I don't suppose there are many (if any) true Cockneys left in Bethnal Green. The houses are worth a fortune now and probably lived in by the bankers who work in Docklands.

[@dannyward673]

Nah there’s still a good few living in the manor old n young ones. But it is declining rapidly

[@dannyward673]

@Jack Warner 😂😂

[@hilaryepstein6013]

@Jack Warner 😊

[@anthonycullen]

@@dannyward673 them richards were nice

[@tvrtvr6984]

It wasnt bankers that displaced these people, mass immigration did. The bankers are displacing the new comers.

[@maurice8607]

I was born in the London hospital in 63 and lived for my first 30 years in the Bethnal Green end of Vallance Road. Happy days.

[@mickplectrum5986]

Beffnal Green!

[@maurice8607]

As a footnote, me and my mates spent many hours kicking a ball about over Weavers Fields. Anyone remember the adventure playground not far from Oxford House?

[@johnspencer6777]

Isn't vallance road where the krays lived?

[@farleymarly2575]

I remember growing up in the early 80s in hackney and my father was a propa cockney. But he came here in the early 70s from pakistan. He would say stuff which would go straight over my head. And hackney was proper diverse back in the 80s/90s. You had the Bengalis move into brick lane and the Jewish communities moving on. Stamford hill became the new Jewish residence which is the same till this day. You had a lot of afro/carabinan people in hackney. Lots of Turkish people around stoke Newington and green lanes etc. And a lot of indigenous white British people of course and we all went to school and my group of friends would play football in the hackney marshes and it was like an international team with vietnamese white black etc. I went to a school called homerton boys/ homerton house and I never faced any racism growing up. Because it was so diverse back then in the east end because you were seen as working class commoner and the ethnic people were literally thrown into the poor parts of London which have now become expensive, only when I used to leave the east end go to some plush areas you would see a more traditional London and they had proper clean English and felt like fish out of water because you was the only ethnic person there and poor to be honest. I remember going up north to Manchester for the first time in the late 90s and everyone was calling me cockney. Also growing up I remember the street language changing from cockney to a more slang which had carabinan twang cockney and mixture of American culture that became the new street language. Back then if you weren't from the ghetto estates no one could actually understand what you was saying until the internet made alot of street language possible to understand. Now London has had alot of people out from the sticks moved in top jobs well groomed I mean hackney seen as a middle class area and me growing up here thinking my house price will never go up lol. Now everyone speaks like some champagne socialist middle class English. Very soft spoken tidy and clean. I drive a cab at the moment I pick up a customer they straight away say was you born here? How was London when you was young you have a very east end accent. I may have the accent but not the terminology my dad used to doh I remember him buying fruits and vegs as a kid and he would talk to people down the street and in shops he would say something in cockney slang and I used to look at my brother like what did he just say? I think if you go more towards Essex Basildon Chelmsford you still get that old school cockney. In London it's very gentrified I found it difficult finding a job as most people in top firms nowadays prefer that clean well spoken English compared to cockney which has always been seen as the commoners working class English.

[@stover14]

Now its far from diverse, the indigenous brits some of whom have been in East London for centuries have all but dissappeared

[@farleymarly2575]

@@stover14 well not really I don't long how long it's been that you been to the east end gentrification taken over mate. I was chatting to a school teacher who I grew up with and she was telling me when we were young the class room used to be 30% white now it's 80% white. You see London becoming middle class and you need alot of dosh to live there.

[@stover14]

@@farleymarly2575 Nonsense, ethnic brits are like 43% of the population in London and the east end is one of the hardest hit in terms of white flight. There is a good documentary on the last of the Cockney's which addresses this very reality.

[@farleymarly2575]

@@stover14 ok cool whatever you think mate

[@stover14]

@@farleymarly2575 lol what a cop out I prove you wrong so that's your response?

[@tixie1895]

This reminds of my great grandparents and grandparents ☺️ My great grandad was the potman at the blind beggar, all my family come from East London. I was born in the Royal London to the sound of the bow bells at 11pm on a Sunday in 1982. I still use certain words and phrases now and so do my parents and siblings. My husband just thinks Chas and Dave being a man of Kent 😬

[@themistermillson]

7 mins in the fella has turned into Bricktop (Alan Ford) from Snatch. Bless him, we need to keep the accent going.

[@MultimediaIreland]

I love imitating this accent, it's so friendly. I'm just like one of those managers in the last section. I love this accent, but my mother was from central London tho.

[@davidburgess189]

God bless BBC Archive. These videos are so special ❤

[@zamiadams4343]

I'm a Scotsman from Glasgow (Glaswegian) and have lived in London for most of my life and absolutely love the cockney accent and London overall for it's culture heritage and customs, long may it live.

[@AaaSWE]

Always found this accent amazing.

[@JC-il6ps]

Absolutely fascinating.

[@tonysplattery]

That guy who really, really looks like Arfur Daley - wow....uncanny

[@bonafidelore]

Born and raised in 84 east london right near the Docks. Yes i am cockney and proud. And i still talk like that, maybe not as strong or thick but its there. And if the lads get together yeah we may go full cockney for old times sake.

[@Hellserch]

I grew up in the 1970’s, by the newly installed Bow flyover. It wasn’t all laughs but I got a chuckle out of this.

[@iandougall7169]

I'm from Tyneside and the last time I was in London about 3 years ago, I noticed most accents were French. I actually spoke to a Cockney when I asked a passerby for directions. It was lovely to hear a real cockney accent and I think he enjoyed hearing my Geordie accent!

[@Headloss]

French? More like Bengali, Indian, Nigerian, Polish, Romanian, Lithuanian, Brazilian....

[@peteradaniel]

@@Headloss in central London it’s mostly yanks and west European tourists. On the outskirts there are a lot of immigrant communities which easily assimilate and transform.

[@friendgray1]

No one ever enjoys hearing a Geordie accent

[@paulmcdonough1093]

they all sound the same in north east accents i am a scouser the most unique accent in uk and brutal sounding to

[@freshwaterspaceman7194]

Similar experience to when I was in New York, I heard more French and Russian than anything else!

[@Stand663]

It’s strange growing up in London all the kids spoke in cockney. It was the immigrant parents who barely spoke English. Kids don’t see colour or differences. They just see their mates.

[@westminsterwatcher5152]

I do love BBC Archive!

[@JulieWallis1963]

My parents still enjoy a cuppa Rosie with a slice of holy. Told us (my brother and I) to shut the Rory, there’s a George. Moaned when it was taters in the winter. It’s 2022, they still speak like that.

[@davidmccann9811]

I still say 'taters' for cold weather and 'porkies' for lies.

[@garryleeks4848]

Apples and pears

[@eugenewall6620]

I can say cockney is still alive and well in places like Watford and Bushey, St. Albans and Bricketwood.

[@RebDeb64]

I lived in those areas in the 90s and I definitely hear elements of this in the people that grew up here. I also have older relatives who speak very cockney, and they were the kids of parents who'd been evacuated out of the East End during the war - so makes sense they took the accents with them.

[@Khayyam-vg9fw]

London overspill, rather than the real accents of these places.

[@wilhelmhesse1348]

Reminds me of classic old British tv series like Minder, The Professionals and Prospects

[@Alusnovalotus]

Are you being served.

[@wilhelmhesse1348]

@@Alusnovalotus ... Fools and Horses, Porridge, Falwty Towers 🤣

[@londonparticulars2968]

Brilliant this, fantastic post.

[@v.a.993]

When I listen to Squeeze's song Cool for Cats, I hear a very clear Cockney accent, singing, really talking, the lead vocal.

[@MsSamanthaTKO]

Being difficult they’re from south east London therefore they ain’t cockneys 🤣

[@bushwhackeddos.2703]

@@MsSamanthaTKO most Eastenders ain’t cockneys either,

[@alisonl6723]

Love south london accent

[@trebsscan9644]

@@MsSamanthaTKO you had cockneys in Woolwich and Plumstead... U ever go woolwich market in the 70s or were u not around

[@LondonGooner]

The one with the cap is a spit for Arthur daley

[@Heaven-dy9lj]

This is lovely. The kind of diversity that should have been kept and respected.

[@clairefitzpatrick7183]

Growing up in the Eastend having friends from all different countries was great. I feel like my own children have missed out.

[@Heaven-dy9lj]

@@clairefitzpatrick7183 yeah felt my kids missed out too. Took them on holiday to various countries, you know to see other cultures and nationalities.

[@danielmoran9902]

You're so right. It's a shame we're branded intolerant or racist when we say so.

[@stvincents2007]

You’re having a laugh.Look what diversity done.

[@TB.....]

@Mark Hepworth How about many folk not being able to actually communicate because they don't speak the same language. There's one for you Einstein.

[@turbosnail159]

Loved the cockney builders ducking and diving mixed with the Irish builder's very well

[@gutz323]

The youngsters have lost this accent know a days. They all speak Jahfaken or Roadman. I live in a seaside town in Essex and the kids even try to speak like it too. You can understand inner-city kids speaking like that, being brought up around different ethnic minorities and picking up accents, but kids living in the countryside are just impersonating the London kids because they think it's cool.

[@AnonymousJ99]

If you're on about Southend I know what you mean. Half of the kids will speak Jahfaken or roadman which is influenced by the immigration and the other half speak the modern cockney. It depends what school you go to I think.

[@gutz323]

@@AnonymousJ99I'm in my mid 40's, I've seen my friends kids speak with normal Essex accents up until the age of 12 or 13, then as soon as they go to high-school they end up talking like the innercity London kids do in about 6 months after starting school. The funny thing is, there is no innercity kids that go to the schools, they just all think its cool to talk the way they do, Lol! I think it's embarrassing to hear. Like I said, I can understand the kids that go to multicultural schools in the city talking that way, but kids that live 50 miles from the city, that go to a school which probably has 95% white kids as students ending up changing their accent on purpose is absolutely hilarious, and I'm pretty sure things like that never happened when I went to the same local schools they do. Obviously we picked up slang words that was fashionable at the time like all youths do, but totally changing your accent is daft in my opinion. (I dont live in southend by the way, but i live in a similar town a bit further north up the coast)

[@AnonymousJ99]

@@gutz323 Yeah I’ve seen the same. Some schools have heavily populated Polish, Middle Eastern and African children which affect this accent. My close mate talks like that after going to a school with a large immigration rate. Where as I went to a school that didn’t and our accents are different.

[@davidmccann9811]

I'm a Londoner that once lived in Sevenoaks (Kent) and many of the kids spoke with a Jahfaken accent there too. They talked the talk about being from the 'streets' and living in the 'hood', but in truth most of them grew up in rural Sevenoaks and their mummy or daddy were architects or lawyers. 😂🤣

[@gutz323]

@@davidmccann9811 lol! That's about right. There is nothing wrong with being working, middle, or upper class, as well as being black, white, brown, yellow or purple, (or whatever) but why people try to be anything other than what they are, or how they was born, baffles me. You should be proud of who ever you are, or whatever situation you are born with, and you should do the best with whatever you have got, or whoever you are.

[@AB-kx4nc]

Good stuff,could tell that plod was a merchant banker though

[@orbtastic]

The guy moaning about kids using alright and y'see at the end of sentences doesn't even realise he's saying y'know all the time, at the end of his sentences.

[@gordondenilson2666]

that's right

[@dewino]

I thought he was moaning about the fact that they no longer speak proper cockney and the only part they still speak is the add-ons like y'know and y'see.

[@FFM0594]

Hilarious, innit?

[@AnonymousJ99]

Closest thing you can find to this would be going to a pub in Basildon or Southend maybe. Lots of my mates have parents that are from the east end.

[@kawaiilotus]

Go Waltham Abbey, lots still there comparatively!

[@AnonymousJ99]

@@kawaiilotus Yeah I heard a lot of the east enders moved out to Harlow as well so that doesn't surprise me about Waltham Abbey. I'll give it a visit never been.

[@bushwhackeddos.2703]

Or you could just come to what was always the stoutest area of London, Bermondsey, there are still a good few of us knocking about.

[@AnonymousJ99]

@@bushwhackeddos.2703 I would love to, can't imagine it would be anywhere near as good as it used to be.

[@tapiwanyakabau4058]

This is so fascinating

[@paulgilson2347]

Definitely moved into Essex, my old dear's a true cockney, as was her old man and they went to Basildon, then Wickford and we're pretty much all still here roundabouts. Like people have said London has evolved into something else now but the lingo still exists, it's just mixed in with posher Essex accents.

[@Relay300]

The young man at 09:08 nails it. Thanks for this great upload

[@habromanic8684]

The cockney accents, and all the different variations, are great to hear. But also as a younger viewer I'm amazed to hear the BBC presenter speaking so posh! Of course, they have to speak "correctly" and do today, but it's interesting how that has changed to in 46-odd years...

[@paddy1437]

our history. love it ❤

[@Twiceonasunday]

“Character is formed in industry….” Well, the industry is gone.

[@mikeb2575]

1:38 looks like Arthur Daley

[@richardmullins1883]

7:22 Bricktop

[@anth1111]

A proper Cockney drops his aitches at ' Ackney and picks 'em up at the 'H'angel !!

[@alicetickle]

This is lovely

[@West.Ham1964]

7:00 a very familiar view from the top of Latham House, Stepney looking down on the British prince pub and Bromley Street.

[@simonyip5978]

I'm going to look on Google Earth to see how the same area looks today.

[@JulieWallis1963]

“They say hello grandfather ‘ow har you” 😁

[@danrobinson572]

Awesome 👏 video

[@alexsyriopoulos915]

My stepdad’s from Battersea and he speaks proper cockney; always like listening to him talk 😅

[@FFM0594]

No, he doesn't. cockney is East London (Born within the sound of the Bow bells). Your stepdad speaks with a London accent.

[@alexsyriopoulos915]

@@FFM0594 I’m aware of the geographic dimensions of cockney, but it’s more than just the accent with him; uses a fair bit of rhyming slang for someone outside of East

[@garryleeks4848]

Most cockneys moved to Essex, great people 👍

[@sinbin001]

Class. Born and bred in London. Remember my dad talking cockney rhyming slang and now I teach my dustbin lids cos it can't die out.

[@JulieWallis1963]

If you call them “dustbin lids” you *don’t* speak rhyming slang!

[@sinbin001]

@@JulieWallis1963 okay .tin lids if you want .

[@natalieanna6083]

Good for you! Love the old school cockney, not the slang they speak nowadays. They all sound like they went to special school!

[@holeephuc007]

Saucepans, get it right.

[@sinbin001]

@@holeephuc007 you are aware there are more than one way to say kids. Tin lids is also used.🤫

[@pauloconnor5101]

Brilliant 👏

[@SW-kr9fl]

Love the old school cockney accent. Very rare nowadays

[@inkedbhudda85]

Just saw del boys dad reg in the pub i love it,jack dash sounds like brick top from lock stock 💯👌

[@sabatino1977]

Are you avin’ a Turkish? 😉

[@Jer0867]

1:35 It's Arthur Daley!

[@colindasilva2442]

I am not from london but lived there 11 years and loved the cockney accent , dont let it die out ❤

[@SolracFS]

Amazing thanks

[@jacquelineloaring2438]

I speak with a South London accent, it never held me back I was a receptionist for a Architects Office in London.

[@ajs41]

Can you have a cockney accent if you live in south London?

[@KENNYPAUL2]

Can anyone tell the difference between an east end accent and a north London one for example?

[@davedogge2280]

1:35 That's Arthur Daley's bruvva !

[@ethelmini]

Twirls? If that was rhyming slang I'd have thought "twirls & jigs"- cigs. I suppose you "twirl" (turn) a key in a lock, so it could be roughly descriptive.

[@stevecarter8810]

0:59 he screws up putting the aitches back in when 'taking posh': " 'ello grandfather 'ow h-are you?"

[@PeterSteelesWombat]

Born in the east end of London back in the 1970s my Dad and I have what we call "saff lundun" accents, that guy at 10:00, that's how my Dad sounds. My mum and nan on my mum's side were both well spoken, they made me take elocution lessons as a kid to stop me sounding like my Dad, my mum hated me copying my Dad's rough London accent as she said it would hold me back! I now have the ability to switch it on and off, I can talk like an east end barrow boy or use a home counties RP accent. My daughter is well spoken as my wife never allowed me to swear or talk roughly around the house when my daughter was young, I don't think she heard me swear until she was about 12 years old so she only really heard my "posh work voice" most of the time but as she got older I relaxed it and started talking more like my Dad.

[@whitelines3097]

Sadly this is now gone, I am a 70 year old cockney and the last of my tribe

[@alecgurney9305]

Salute to you sir. Britain is not looking good

[@kramrollin69]

You're not the last ol son, we just all moved to Australia!.

[@Mmm2567]

there's some of us in our 20's born and bred near the Bow Bells and we're trying our best to carry on the cockney DNA, we're the real dying breed

[@tjm3900]

Note the Graffiti on the shop wall "George Davis is innocent OK" immediately followed by the copper explaining the expression 'marking somebody's card' this must have been filmed in 76 ?

[@tjm3900]

Ah I see that now, I'd just clicked and watched the video :-) For those that don't know G. Davis did not do the crime, but was far from innocent .

[@anthonycullen]

@@tjm3900 Right fitted up by berti smalls dirty wrong un

[@claymor8241]

As a young northerner visiting London in the 70s, probably for football, it was a very ‘London’ thing to see that painted on the wall of Lord’s cricket ground (iirc). As much as Big Ben or the guards on duty, or the Soho peep shows.

[@Mr.WishmoreFromEssex]

@@claymor8241 Those campaigners also dug up the pitch at Headingley I’m sure you will remember.

[@kpec3]

So charming!

[@samrowbotham8914]

I am a Cockney I teach in prep schools at the start of this video there is a reference to West Ham, that area is nowhere near the East end of London. I come from the Nile in Hoxton.

[@Steven_Rowe]

Buck and Hickman I remember it well, it as very close to the Whitechapel bell foundry. They sold all manner of nuts, bolts and tools I worked in the Whitechapel bell foundry on off as my dad was a bell hanger.

[@fattypark]

Happy to say they're still going as a company.

[@Steven_Rowe]

@@fattypark They used to send me around there to get nuts and bolts and Allsorts of stuff. The bell foundry was interesting I virtually knew it almost as early as I could remember things. Sadly no longer a bell foundry. My dad did some interesting jobs the most famous being the hanging of Now bells at St Mary le Now in Cheapside which is of course what makes you a cockney. That was in December 1961

[@matt.willoughby]

I'm sure your dad was a lovely man

[@evieblessed]

The good old days. Anyone saying I'm looking back with rose-tinted specs probably wasn't there.

[@charlesadeoye1404]

its always the same saying for everyone when they get older mate. You dont need to defend yourself

[@northernstarr]

I'm Yorkshire but me pa is a cockney, so we used to grow up around his slang and rhyming slang. Good times

[@fasthracing]

1:35 is Arthur Daly for real!

[@MarkBrennan]

For the most part, cockney has morphed into an estuary accent. Growing up in East London in the 60s & 70s, I remember older people speaking in cockney accents but they didn't necessarily 'drop their aitches' or pronounce th as f.

[@fasthracing]

What with a Syrian, Bangladesh twang?

[@peteradaniel]

That’s because most eastenders moved out to Essex and Kent.

[@kawaiilotus]

@@peteradaniel ironically morphing with the local way of talking and replacing it with another thing itself!

[@jshaers96]

It's a great pity because the estuary accent sounds so brutal and ugly compared to the cockney, which has a charm all of its own.

[@LTFC1964]

I feel for the young girl at the end. The way she thought that her accent would hold her back in life. So sad that she is made to feel that way. My daughter speaks very cockney as her child minder was from Hackney originally. She too feels that she wished she was not so cockney but I have always told her to never change the way you act or speak for other people. Be who you are.

[@RETSAERETEP]

Talking is to communicare and if your accent hinders that in needs to be modified when needed. When I moved from SE London to Notingham in 1974 most people had problems with mine and my wifes accents. When I returned to London for a visit a couple of years later a cousin said to me "stone me Pete y don arf speak posh"

[@kingrobert1st]

Didn't hold Amy Winehouse back. R.I.P.

[@deborahwarren6710]

I grew up on that very estate, just over the other side of the street in the film. The Teachers in Hainault high school in 1977 made me feel worthless too. I remember being told i was only fit for the dole. I moved far away, but people always judged me by my accent. I used to try to hide it, i don’t any more I’m proud of who i am now. A posh accent don’t make you smart !

[@sweetestaphrodite]

@@RETSAERETEP there are two ways a person can react to their accent not being local. Either they quieten down and make it easier for others, or their accent becomes more patriotic and they stick to their guns. No in between, in my opinion

[@aboolaylaa1984]

Accents, the mocking-of, and the emulation-of, have long served us well as far back as I can remember! Great Ice-Breakers!

[@IslandlifeIoW]

Filmed in the Elbow Room last year.

[@jacobmiller5834]

Love the british accents and manner of speaking.

[@ethelmini]

2:32 There goes Del Boy.

[@galesito1733]

Fantastic video. Was that Del Boy's van at 2:32?

[@damonlevine]

SCOOTERISTS TAKE NOTE: Very nice Lambretta sighting at 2:36!

[@thomaswillans4085]

A valuable social document! Mustard.

[@spockboy]

Britain in 1976, watching The Sweeney, Doctor Who (Tom Baker), and Space 1999 with my Grandpa.

[@kramrollin69]

And The Professionals, The Goodies, Monty Python, Danny La Rue shows, Dick Emery, The Two Ronnies, Love thy Neighbour, On the Busses, Doctor in the House, Please Sir, etc etc etc etc.

[@davidwalker7001]

Anyone notice at 2.33, Del Boy actually drives by

[@jonwita]

Well said 👍🏼☀️ 9:14