Peter Sellers does various English accents

[@cliffovski]

I am a Londoner, and the amount of London accents Sellers identifies and pulls off perfectly is fascinating. If I recall rightly theres 5/6 London accents here, varying between hard cockney and the more posh London accents and lots in-between. Kudos to your powers of observation and impersonation Mr Sellers.

[@GhostWatching]

What a wonderfully talented man peter sellers was. Thankyou so much for this excellent posting.

[@VTAH236]

Today I learned that someone on the set of Dr Strangelove was filming on an iPhone.

[@ianpurdie2235]

Back in 1963? Incredible - I hope they took out a patent.

[@crunchie101]

That was brilliant. Flawless

[@joedragon3707]

Peter Sellers with an image of the Big Board from Dr.Strangelove reflecting in the glass of that phone booth (I think).Always brilliant.His accents in that movie were superb as was his performance (s) in general in it.

[@Adaptation986]

Back when the movie was made, actors used to film "fake" interviews where they would answer scripted questions by themselves, and then the film was sent to a news station to have the questions filmed. This clip is from the "extras" section in the special edition and the anniversary edition of Dr. Strangelove. There is also an interview like this with George C. Scott

[@marimanila]

Flawless Peter Sellers...

[@DMEB]

i love this!!! thank you so much!!

[@juancarlosgonzalezjr]

His initial American Bronx accent sounded like a perfect imitation of Kubrick’s voice.

[@Thoogah]

this chap is just brilliant

[@rogeralsop3479]

Marvellous!

[@jackrabbitslims9]

peter sellers is a genius

[@discotec]

Peter Sellers was one of the best, and to came from radio to film.... Pity hes gone:(

[@csvtom]

@Marcoshary 1) Cockney. 2) General London accent. 3) Estuary English accent (intellectual lol?). You might here this in parts of Kent and Essex, maybe Surrey, sounded quite Kentish. 4) Pimply guy (?) Frank Spencer! 5) Posh (Cosmo!) sort of London accent 6) Maybe a Greek or Jewish London accent, 7) Edinbro' "Morningside Accent" 8) Glasgow 9) West Country (but as someone pointed out John Arlott was from Hampshire, and has accent has a kind of rural South East feel (with a bit of a burr).

[@jacktheripoff1888]

You will find this on the special edition DVD. It was a simulated interview style clip used for a commercial style trailer in '63.

[@Lieu3C4]

The sweep of accents, the idea of succession by geography of psychology of population demographics, is certainly an important one Mr.Sellers here vocates.

[@Applebaum]

He was sooo talented lol I love his pimply London accent. He is displaying various english accents *of that era* The London accents have changed slightly since then because of many factors, one of the factors is immigration and the huge influx of Jamaicans in the years after WW2 certain South London accent has been heavilly influenced by Jamaican tonality as well as actual dialect, 'innit tho', 'you get mee dough' its ever changing so interesting

[@kyleashley]

Legendary!!, thanks for posting!! Go the GOONS!!!

[@jimrock63]

i those days interviews were shot as a split screen where the person being interviewed would answer questions asked through a phone and an interviewer was filmed later and added to the split screen . copy and paste 'Dr. Strangelove - Original Split-Screen Interview' to the you tube search bar.

[@jhfh3112]

Interestingly, the reason why the rhotic West Country accents are closer to Ameican accents is because of Bristol's history as a renaissance through Victorian sea-trading city. Many exploratory sailors spoke with the same working-class Bristolian that gives us the modern stereotypical "Pirate" accent.

[@ruthy5555]

very good!

[@TravelerKM]

Brilliant.

[@chrisconil]

what a great talent and yet a shy man, like all actors hiding behind a cloak, is that true!

[@alna1287]

This looks like it was on the set of Dr. Strangelove. Great video.

[@partygirl209]

he's talented!!

[@reviewsvoiceontube]

Unleashed Genius

[@bartonim]

Great stuff! He could just breathe and make me laugh. Wherever you are, Peter, I hope you're having the last laugh. The world you left was probably slightly better than what we have now, and we have nobody like you!

[@loverbite1]

great!

[@chiichai0cho]

Brilliant! :)

[@clarkanorak]

ha ha. john arlott! I remember his wonderful cricket commentary

[@333222777888]

I'm English. That was amazing! Very very impressed.

[@ikvsabre]

"People really don't know accents outside of their own countries. " Very true. I'm in the US, but I've watched a lot of British TV, and my wife lived in Oxfordshire for a few years, so I've learned some of the differences. My favorite is the Geordie accent. To your point though, someone on YT was criticizing an American that thought Scouse was Scottish, so I asked the guy if he could tell the difference between an Tennessee accent and and Alabama accent. We're all equally clueless! :-)

[@MisterGraduation]

Well, if Ireland had its way, it wouldn't be called "The British Isles" either lol. A lot of Irish feel that even though it's a geographical reference, it has political implications too.

[@masterhiggins92]

hes so good at all regional accents i live in australia and our accents mish mash of cockney,irish,scottish and northener accents so we find it much easier than americans to notice the differences in the accents

[@MEpianist]

i would really love to see a documentary about RP and the various UK accents, I can hardly make out the difference between north and south, although I recognize Karl's Manc accent.

[@Tostig68]

Being a Londoner, he is pretty good at the different London voices in the first half, and he gets the difference between Glasgow and Edinburgh correct. His Cornish is only ballpark but I am sure he could do great West Country ones if he tried. Americans - we have many, many accents in these isles, not just the posh upper class one you always do when you try to sound British!

[@m3lisha]

aha whoaa that's so good!

[@mu301nh]

its amazing how he morphs between each accent, listen carefully

[@achromatic1]

this is fucking amazing

[@qloudz]

err.. a lot! theres so many that are native to certain area's which allow us to tell straight away where that person is from (or there-abouts).

[@hamiltonjsh]

master!

[@oisinallen]

He missed out scouse! Still, that was very good.

[@adventussaxonum]

@csvtom - BOTH Arlott and Sellers were from Hampshire. That county , although not far from London, has a distinctly West Country-type accent. Winchester WAS the capital of Wessex. Portsmouth seems to be the exception - sounds increasingly "Mockney"

[@mayhemrw]

Very good Peter Sellers! Er, A note to all Americans: I've put together a map of accents in the UK I've experienced. I've found there are a lot.

[@XMARINEmax]

The most important issue is that the listener understands us clearly and that the grammar is correct. Whether British, American, Australian, Irish, South African, New Zealand, Canadian etc etc -it's not what you feel comfortable with.

[@timmay301]

@LOCOMOTIONNUMBER1 the difference in my view is that sellers is timeless

[@tyzwain]

Funny...real funny.

[@Iritscen]

There's still a recognizable Midwest accent, and there's more than one Southern accent. And the New Yorker accent lives on, too.

[@liamwitdre]

@Chuichupachichi Well i live in Newcastle, England and to be honest if you heard me you wouldn't believe i was English, there are probably over 100 different English accents alone, then there's different accents in scotland but they don't vary as much as ours.

[@xWHITExEAGLEx]

@liamwitdre They do, you just don't hear it, I'm Scottish and I can distinguish around about 3 English ones, Queen's (posh), Northern and Cockney.

[@ratioveritas9983]

London and American ones spot on. Birmingham and Scottish ones way fleeting

[@tkeely4777]

He was a talent that was taken too soon.

[@BOT101st]

@jaylias Aye true chap! We hampshires do have a west country twang but i think we pronounciate some words a bit more :D

[@ellbennet]

It's an old video! If you can't "distiguish" what Peter is saying then listen more carefully because I can and English is my second language. 5 stars well deserved!

[@AppalachianCryptidDoge]

The God of character actors.

[@MEpianist]

There are slight regional pronunciations in the US, but I think in general we all sound the same, after years of MTV and Hollywood. The only distinctly American sounds left are Southern drawls and urban Black dialects. I think its great that the UK still has a rich diversity of accents -- makes it all the better when Steve takes the mick out of Karl Pilkington...

[@tomsega]

The second accent, "pimply individual", has completely died out. Never heard it before - only in Monty Python sketches, really.

[@tikkih]

Brilliant! Although i didnt think cornish was as good as the rest

[@falstaffswims]

The Americanish accent at the end was the last nail in the coffin... I've died laughing.

[@Monsunamii]

and you're proud of coming from east finchley!! :P lol Barnet ftw!

[@mattbellamymate]

quality

[@Uberaoshi]

I am looking for a video on all English speaking accent s, Scottish english, irish english,Australian, New Zealand, American English(Minnesota, West coast, west coast surfer, east coast, and southern), Canadian/Minnesota, sometimes those Aussies and NZs sound like brits. is their a distinct Welsh accent? And how the hell did us Yanks ended up talking differently from England English?

[@ahhhbisto]

It's Terry Tibbs !!!! - Wooden Ladders Talk To Me !!!!

[@heybabbess]

AHHGH! don't call Peter Sellers an idiot! that was great.

[@HeadlightMorningGlow]

I'd say there's definitely a distinct Welsh accent though - youtube 'Gavin & Stacey' - although, on saying that, if you're having trouble distinguishing Aussies from us Brits, I don't know whether you'll be able to hear the differences. TBH, I usually can't tell Canadian people apart from Americans, and have difficulty telling some European accents apart (apart from the obvious ones - French, German etc) so I think you tend to be more sensitive to accents if they're from your country.

[@tripleovertime99]

I'm pretty sure he isn't talking to anyone. This had to have been filmed during Dr. Strangelove, and in the phone scenes that are in the movie he didn't have anyone on the other side (the phone probably wasn't even operational).

[@neilmulhollandcouk]

He does a 'Jean Brodie' Edinburgh accent, not an English accent (whatever that is). This is exactly how Edinburgh public school kids speak, or at least how they spoke when Sellers did this skit. It's spot on, as is his wee bit of Glaswegian which is very impressive.

[@kigawman]

I wish I could talk like that.

[@globalkevolution]

As many as there are people! He misses out lots of the best ones, though: Brummie, Geordie, Scouse, Bristolian, Manx, Dorset, Yorkshire, Teeside, Lancastrian, Highland Scots and all the Welsh and Ulster accents...

[@csvtom]

Hasn't he got a Morningside Edinburgh accent? I am an Englisher so I'm not sure of these things. His London accents were good, one of them sounded more like a Essex/Kent accent. Maybe Bromley or something.

[@tomsega]

The 'pimply individual' accent must have disappeared about 30 years ago.. I've only ever heard it in Monty Python

[@MatsJn]

Given that he also does an American accent at the end, the title refers to accents in the English language and not to accents from England.

[@angstmonkey1]

Wish i could melt between each that well

[@Tostig68]

You don't believe in an afterlife? No, "could if he tried" is shorthand for 'could have if he had tried' here, old boy, no misunderstanding intended.

[@jonnylawrence3818]

Where does the gekko come from?

[@JuanJohnson]

Dude is so good. I struggle to do just a generic British accent!

[@ShadSimm]

JuanJohnson no such thing as a British accent. What a fuckin ridiculous thing tae say...

[@MALIKYMAY1]

he was born in portsmouth (woop woop) do people from pompey have an accent anyone? coz im from there and i was wonderin

[@imheadinhome]

or Chicago and Minnesota

[@jab3785]

Too bad he didn't a few more. He was really on a roll.

[@hnek]

And then there's Bluebottle!!

[@Marcoshary]

Can anyone tell me what exactly accents he´s doing? Thanks

[@plantagenant]

A Bristol accent is quite like the ones at the end...a "west country" accent. I don't know how many accents there are but he didn't do any of the Northern English accents.."Geordie" is very hard to imitate

[@AVANHALEN21]

If you ask me to play myself, I will not know what to do. I do not know who or what I am.

[@batlin]

@Chuichupachichi There's a lot of different Irish accents too - usually when people think there is just one "Irish" sound, it turns out that nobody here actually speaks like that. Most of the stage Irish accents you hear in (American) films is funny but completely wrong :)

[@csvtom]

@adventussaxonum yeah. Well the rhotic has declined the further East in the country you go. I suppose Portsmouth is a big city, like Brighton where there's a definite London influence.

[@Dangoku59]

I will never say Americans can't do English accents again. That was genius!

[@rogerlangridge5772]

Peter Sellars was English!

[@ianfindlay865]

No surprise there , dumbo! Sellers was not American.

[@ricarleite]

Was his filmed at the Dr Strangelove set??? What is this???

[@tyzwain]

British accents, he does english and scottish. They're British.

[@nahojgrooc]

Oooh I dunno- there is this funny little bloke drinks in my local who talks like that still.

[@falstaffswims]

Oh, and if I've actually called myself an "intellectual" somewhere, please let me know where, so I can remove it. I must have been typing in my sleep.

[@Triplesod]

@Chuichupachichi Not going to happen, mate. The UK has the most accents per square mile in the World. If you go 15 miles out of any city in any direction, you will hear almost 15 noticably different accents:-) Hollywood only really shows one, though, which is the posh, South East butler type, occasionally, you might hear a Cockney type a generic Scots accent or an "Oim from Oirland, me" accent. Keep trying though, I'll give you a test in 40 years time ;-)

[@sallyversace]

the first one he does sounds like the guys from Oasis

[@twoeggcups]

Where?

[@MrMusicMunky]

Was that accent at 1:25 Cleveland from Family Guy?

[@Auntkekebaby]

He was a genius. I would have been a stalker.

[@MrJimmyboy1972]

@tubelover64 lets hear them then.

[@Tracer9GTRider8]

i just wish it was a little bit louder :(

[@JackWarren2]

and obviously there'd be no better judge on the issue than a 14 year old american girl

[@333222777888]

And a lot of Irish people want to be part of The British Isles too... that's politics.

[@BOT101st]

He forgot the hampshire accent! A mix of posh and farmer!! :P But still bloody good stuff, rip to mr sellers :(