A piece in today’s newspaper sheds light on a very telling and, in my opinion, somewhat sad modern phenomenon: that of a boom in elocution lessons, fuelled by job hunters who want to lose their ...

Many speakers felt that their regional accent showed them in a poor light and led to discrimination in the workplace. Photo: Pradeep Gaur/Mint How now brown cow! This jingle was made famous by ...

The Essex accent has long attracted ridicule and disapproval. But primary school teachers say it also has a damaging effect on children’s spelling and grammar. So they have introduced elocution ...

Speaking this week at what sounds like a bastion of received pronunciation – the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford, Surrey – Joan Bakewell confided that "someone at the BBC" had said her voice is ...

Traditional elocution lessons are making a comeback as jobseekers attempt to “soften” their regional accents and boost public speaking skills to get ahead in the workplace, according to research. The ...

Just in time to help me understand the 2004 political campaign and church scene, my son Micah presented me with Appleton’s School Readers Fifth Reader. Back in 1878-79, when it was published, ...