In his blog no. 387 Jack Windsor Lewis drops the name of former BBC announcer Patricia Hughes, about whom he writes: "[she] was noted for the elegance of her (old-fashioned) speech."
She joined the BBC as a secretary in 1944. In 1946 she became an announcer on the General Overseas Service, later on the Home Service, Light Programme and Third Programme. She left the BBC in 1962 to look after her family, but returned in 1969. She was allocated to the Radio 3 team where she stayed until she retired in 1983.
Here's a short sound clip for you to enjoy:
There will be a follow-up blog entry!
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See also Jack Windsor Lewis's blog entry no. 389 with comments on Patricia Hughes's pronunciation.
Serious nostalgia!
ReplyDeleteQuite apart from the (today, of course, quite markedly old-fashioned) pronunciation features which this clip features so well, the recording is also a reminder of the "calm and measured tones" in which radio news used to be delivered -- something which seems to be very rare these days outside of German public radio, where by and large news bulletins are still read in what is (to me, at least) a timelessly clear and pleasingly unhurried and unpersonalized style.
ReplyDeleteListening to German radio news bulletins is like reading a beautifully produced, clear black-on-white text -- as opposed to the aural equivalent of purple-on-red print in a jazzy font that you get from so many other countries' news broadcasters.