Tom Hollander as Dylan Thomas

The London prejudice against Welsh accents you mention, Jess, doesn't seem to have applied further north. I worked in four FE colleges in the Midlands, East Anglia and Manchester. Three of them had Welsh principals.

Jess, I take your point - but I don't think many North Wales kids would want to go off to work in Cardiff, either...

Thank you suebaily, explains why I have never been able to connect their accent with, for example, a county most unusual accent

My two sons, in their childhood, didn't acquire any specific regional accent because we moved several times, finishing up in the South Manchester/North Cheshire area. I could describe their accent as 'classless', or non-specific, though definitely English.

Anniebach I'm not familiar with Watford but there was something called a 'classless' accent that predominated in the commuter belt areas around London.

Yup ana but there are lots of jobs in Cardiff that require fluent Welsh and in the north where I am you could not get a job in the public sector without it (unless you have a very special skill, like A and E consultant)
And why, anyway, would you want your kids going off to work in England?

Why do aspiring parents send their children to Welsh language schools, Jess? Being fluent in Welsh is only going to be an advantage in the Welsh job market.

In the middle of the 20th Century Welsh parents who wanted their children to "get on" scraped together the money for elocution lessons. This was to make sure their children did not sound "common".
Thomas, Burton and Hopkins were all taught to shed their south wales accents.
Also my mother (who went right to the top of the exam system in elocution) and her cousin who went on to become a professor of literature. And I would seriously doubt that if cousin (who is 90 this year) had come with a broad Swansea accent she would have risen so successfully in her career in English universities.
Even 20 years ago a friend (with a Swansea accent) was turned down for a job as head of maths in a London school. When he rang the head to ask why they had chosen not to appoint any of the interviewees, he was told that his accent would not go down well with the parents. So right up to the end of the 20th C we see that prejudice against the Welsh accent was alive and well in the south of England.
Welsh accents are much more acceptable these days - even being allowed to read the BBC news! The aspiring parents in Wales these days send their children to Welsh language schools.

I know I'm not alone in finding Thomas's 'poetry reading voice' really annoying! It's not his natural tone at all. I must also say that much of his poetry is not to my taste. Of course the nation's number one vilanelle, 'Do Not Go Gentle', is superb.

Under Milk Wood has been with me since it was first broadcast in the BBC Third Programme - I sequestered myself in our kitchen, where there was an extension speaker from the big old wireless in the 'front room'. No light, other than the glow from the little coke boiler we had in those days - and I was transported! Such word magic and music... Meantime the rest of the family were watching television in the dining room.

I still love it.

I know you didn't!

I didn't mean to imply that all Edinburgers spoke Morningside, any more than all Glaswegians speak Kelvinside.

Not all Edinburgers speak Morningside, and the reaction of most of them when they hear it is the same as yours, Anno. Also, a Morningside accent and a fur coat were often associated with queue-jumping (in the days when you waited in a real shop to be served by a real person).

Soutra 'you'll have had your tea?' [said in genteel Morningside accent.]

Must watch Tom Hollander as DT as soon as I get the time, it's sure to be good.My favourite poem ever is Poem In October by DT, and I have always enjoyed Under Milk Wood.Saw this performed years ago at the theatre in Plymouth[1978 or thereabouts] and Bernard Bresslaw was the narrator surprisingly.

We need Rab C. Nesbit to come and give his opinion on accents.

And what is wrong with Morningside? Where sex is what your coal is delivered in?

suebaily, do tell me please, I have cousins born and brought up in Watford, what accent do you think they have from that area? I have no need to swear posh, I can swear in Welsh, such freedom lol

annodomini, one City with different accents, that is unusual isn't it? Cardiff is our capital and they don't have a Welsh accent of any kind

A strong accent from almost anywhere can be hard to understand even for other Scots. One day at CAB I took a call from a Fifer. A good thing it was me because none of the rest of the volunteers could possibly have understood him. What I cannot abide - and forgive me, any Edinburghers present - is the supremely affected Morningside accent! Kelvinside accent in Glasgow is almost as bad!

Now I'm a East Londoner but am mistaken for an Essex girl - the accent is quite different and different again from my parents who were both cockneys. Husband is posh boy from North London - swears with a very suave accent and not often.

Just so annodomini, and it's the same in N Ireland , we say Scots, Irish Welsh accents but not English accent, do you think it's size of the countries? or the Celt thing ?

I have difficulty understanding one Scots accent but don't know which part of the country it's spoken , have only visited Dumfries and Galloway, found the accent there gentle

We have a plethora of Scots accents too, Anniebach. A strong Aberdeen one is almost unintelligible to the uninitiated (me) the accent of my native Ayrshire can be quite whiney. We were not encouraged to use it in our household. I think the most pleasant accent is that of a native Gaelic speaker speaking English.

petallus, the South is much softer isn't it , I am such a mixture, born and raised in the Merthyr valley with one half of the family from North Wales , a Welsh mongrel lol. I quite enjoyed the BBC production of Milkwood - spotting who was in it, Tom Jones was captain Cat, I will say no more on that, Charlotte Church was very good, I was surprised. Sheen was first voice , impossible for anyone after Burton isn't it? First time I have heard one village with so many different accents lol . I love Milkwood , such use of the English language and typically Welsh, why use five words when you can use fifteen

Anniebach the best Welsh accent is the South Wales one IMHO.

It's okay, I found it. The Guardian critic did not seem very impressed but I'll probably give it a go. I loved Under Milk Wood.

Which channel was it on?