Latest news with #KateAdie
Belfast Telegraph
27-04-2025
- General
- Belfast Telegraph
BBC veteran Kate Adie: ‘NI accent wasn't much-loved by viewers, and Paisley's voice in particular'
Former war correspondent Kate Adie has revealed that the Northern Irish dialect wasn't particularly popular in an old BBC list of the UK's most hated regional accents.
The Guardian
16-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
No bab, Brummies don't sound stupid – all the ignorant people who mock our accent do
It's curious, what escapes people's idea of rudeness. For instance: pointing out someone's weight is a unanimous no-go, but height – surely even more arbitrary – continues to be fair game. Ditto commenting derogatorily on where someone's from – at least, as long as it's Birmingham, England's second city and first punchline for jokes about idiotic accents and general urban bleakness. As an unusually tall woman who grew up in that much-maligned metropolis, I have direct experience of both, and can confirm that while they're equally annoying, the latter is much more pernicious. It is extraordinary what comes out of generally polite people's mouths when I tell them I'm from Birmingham – from hilarious faux condolences to variations on, 'Oh, I hear it's horrible.' By far the most common reaction, though, is a caricature echo – 'Biiirrrmmingum!' – the joke being that the accent is awful as well as the city (so, so funny!). All this, even though I never picked up the twang myself; not intentional, though I'm sure my lack of discernible Brummie accent has been protective, socially and professionally. When Kate Adie revealed the BBC's (unofficial and historic) league table of the country's least favourite accents, no one was surprised to see who came out worst – poor, picked-on Birmingham. Asked why he never used his native accent in reporting, Brummie journalist Michael Buerk apparently replied: 'I didn't want death threats.' And in a study from 2008, researchers found that people who spoke with a Birmingham accent were more likely to be perceived as stupid than those who didn't open their mouths at all. Yikes. Imagine if someone told you they were pregnant, and you said, 'Oh what a shame, I hate children.' Or that they were a singer, and you said, 'Music is so boring.' That unmediated negativity might sound ridiculous – but while I haven't lived in Birmingham since I was 18, in the intervening years I don't remember hearing one positive reaction after mentioning that I grew up there. Actually, that's not strictly true – sharing my Birmingham origins did serve me well once, at a house party where a trio of Old Etonians somehow materialised, as in a fever dream. When I told them where I was from, their concern for my presumable lifetime of Dickensian deprivation was delicious to behold. One of them said: 'Gosh, I hear it's frightfully urban.' To be clear, I don't expect anyone to reply 'Wow! I love Birmingham!' when I say I'm from there – just to respond with the nonchalance that any other answer would elicit. I doubt anyone from Norwich or Exeter has encountered the baffling hostility that someone from Birmingham grows used to, but maybe we should turn the tables so they know how it feels. Chichester? Oh, you poor thing! York? A tragedy! What's more, Brumphobia's bizarre brazenness is only amplified by the realisation that none of its sufferers seem to have actually visited. It's not that I'm encountering a parade of people who have travelled to my home town, been somehow traumatised and vowed never to return – on the contrary, they hate it blindly, with an astounding self-confidence normally reserved for bona fide bigots. It's almost funny, except when it isn't. When I first moved cities, the overwhelming anti-Birmingham sentiment led me to (briefly) fudge my own life story. Cast your mind back to the hell of freshers' week and maybe you can forgive me. Newly independent and navigating crippling social pressure, I alternated between claiming London, where I was born, or Sydney, where my mum is from, for my origins. Look, there's only so many 'Biiirrrmmingum's a teenager can take – but ultimately, neither cover story felt true, and I began to own my roots. Today, I declare them with relish, steeling myself for the inevitable 'Biiirrrmmingum!' bait. 'That's so funny, no one's ever said that before,' I reply, doing everything in my power to stop my eyes rolling out of my head. 'Ever been?' If you haven't, you should. Birmingham is great. The city is dynamic, diverse, open-hearted, and one of the friendliest places in the UK. We've apparently got more miles of canal than Venice, and everyone knows that what makes a canal beautiful is how long it is. And as for the accent, it's near enough Shakespeare's, for God's sake! Admittedly, 2025 is not our finest moment – the council is effectively bankrupt and the ongoing bin strike means the city is full of cat-sized rats – but it'll take more than that to sink the good ship Brum. Ironically, years of derision have made it impervious to outside criticism, and the accent will always feel like home to me. Its speakers don't sound stupid, but after years of fielding their jibes, I can confirm that the people who mock them certainly do. Pay them no mind, bab. Emily Watkins is a freelance writer based in London
Telegraph
12-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Secret BBC list identifies ‘Britain's most hated accent'
The BBC ranked the Birmingham accent the 'most hated' on a secret league table, a veteran war correspondent has revealed. Kate Adie said accents were 'one of the country's complex matters' and stressed that they 'vary hugely and how they are received varies hugely.' Speaking at an event marking the cataloguing of a vast archive of material documenting her life and career at the University of Sunderland, the 79-year-old added: 'Years and years ago, the BBC had an unofficial league table of the most liked and the most hated accents. 'The view was that some of them drove people nuts up and down the country.' Adie, one of the BBC's most popular war reporters, asked her audience to guess the most disliked accent. A chorus of 'Birmingham' followed. The 79-year-old explained: 'From one end of the country to another, it's Birmingham! Michael Buerk, who comes from Birmingham, was once asked why he didn't use the accent. He said, 'I didn't want death threats'.' However, she told the event that Geordie was generally well-liked. Previous research initiated by BBC News revealed that most newsreaders across the corporation, as well as ITV, Channel 4, and Sky, speak with received pronunciation (RP). University Challenge host Amol Rajan revealed the research in 2022 and challenged Tim Davie, the BBC's director-general, to correct an on-air 'accent bias.' At the time, Mr Davie said the statistical bias towards RP was 'not particularly [surprising].' RP was adopted as the BBC standard in 1922 and was once regarded as the most 'typically British' accent. However, it is now spoken by just 2 per cent of the population. Newsnight presenter Victoria Derbyshire said she was proud of her Lancashire accent but admitted she feared her voice was 'too Northern' to advance at the BBC. Adie, who was raised in Sunderland, admitted she never had a strong accent, nor did her parents, who adopted her as a baby. She also revealed dissertations could be written on news programme accents and recalled her days at BBC Radio Durham when a locally accented producer would read the bulletin. 'We got complaints from everywhere,' she added. Adie's career at the BBC spanned 34 years, during which time she covered conflicts from China to Libya, Kosovo to Kuwait. Some of her most significant assignments included reporting on the Iranian Embassy siege in May 1980 and the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre. After complaining about the growing preoccupation with television journalists' looks, she stepped down as the BBC's chief news correspondent in 2003. At the time, she said bosses were obsessed with 'cute faces and cute bottoms and nothing else in between.' Adie's archive includes more than 2,300 objects, including dozens of notebooks, video clips, tapes, letters, and photographs. It was donated to the University of Sunderland several years ago, but funding to catalogue the items properly only came last year. Speaking about her life's work being documented in her home city, Adie said: 'My life was shaped by my childhood in Sunderland, and I've wanted to show some of the very happy memories, starting at home in Tunstall Park and including two bomb fragments, embedded in our sideboard, which thankfully arrived two years before my appearance. 'A reporter does not usually have much time to collect souvenirs, so it's an eclectic collection, but I hope it represents the extraordinarily varied stories I've covered, from wars to royal garden parties.' Sir David Bell, vice chancellor of the University of Sunderland, said of Adie's collection: 'She [Kate Adie] is one of the most talented journalists and broadcasters of her generation and, as a native of Sunderland, her collection will be of interest both locally and further afield.'
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
BBC had unofficial league table of best and worst British accents, says top correspondent
The BBC had an 'unofficial league table' of British accents, in which Birmingham was ranked the worst, one of the broadcaster's most esteemed war correspondents has said. In remarks at a University of Sunderland event marking the opening of an archive of her work, Kate Adie – who now presents From Our Own Correspondent – said the BBC would receive widespread complaints over regional accents when she started her career. Ms Adie, who for years was one of the BBC's best-known journalists, said: 'It is one of this country's complex matters. Accents vary hugely and how they are received varies hugely. 'Years and years ago the BBC had an unofficial league table of the most liked and the most hated accents. 'The view was that some of them drove people nuts up and down the country. Geordie did pretty well. It's liked.' Confirming the answer given by the audience when asked to guess what the most disliked accent was, Ms Adie is reported by The Guardian to have said: 'From one end of the country to another, it's Birmingham. 'Michael Buerk, who comes from Birmingham, was once asked why he didn't use the accent. He said, 'I didn't want death threats'.' The veteran correspondent said that, when she started out as a station assistant at BBC Radio Durham, they would receive 'complaints from everywhere' if a locally-accented producer read the news bulletin. 'We got complaints from everywhere. The whole range of audience. They felt it wasn't right for news. It is a curious one,' she said. Ms Adie, aged 79, covered a host of conflicts while working as the BBC's chief news reporter between 1989 and 2003, having first joined the corporation as a radio technician and producer 20 years prior. Her first major break came covering the Iranian embassy siege in 1980, after which she went on to report from war zones around the world, including the Gulf War, the 1986 bombing of Libya, and the Bosnian war. During the Tiananmen Square massacre, Ms Adie was hit in the elbow by a bullet which is reported to have killed the man standing next to her, and was nicked by a bullet fired at point-blank range in Libya. She was awarded an OBE in 1993. The newly opened archive is reported to contain more than 2,300 items donated to the university, including Ms Adie's tapes, letters, photographs and the bullet which grazed her at Tiananmen Square. The Independent has approached the BBC for comment.
The Independent
12-04-2025
- General
- The Independent
BBC had unofficial league table of best and worst British accents, says top correspondent
The BBC had an 'unofficial league table' of British accents, in which Birmingham was ranked the worst, one of the broadcaster's most esteemed war correspondents has said. In remarks at a University of Sunderland event marking the opening of an archive of her work, Kate Adie – who now presents From Our Own Correspondent – said the BBC would receive widespread complaints over regional accents when she started her career. Ms Adie, who for years was one of the BBC's best-known journalists, said: 'It is one of this country's complex matters. Accents vary hugely and how they are received varies hugely. 'Years and years ago the BBC had an unofficial league table of the most liked and the most hated accents. 'The view was that some of them drove people nuts up and down the country. Geordie did pretty well. It's liked.' Confirming the answer given by the audience when asked to guess what the most disliked accent was, Ms Adie is reported by The Guardian to have said: 'From one end of the country to another, it's Birmingham. ' Michael Buerk, who comes from Birmingham, was once asked why he didn't use the accent. He said, 'I didn't want death threats'.' The veteran correspondent said that, when she started out as a station assistant at BBC Radio Durham, they would receive 'complaints from everywhere' if a locally-accented producer read the news bulletin. 'We got complaints from everywhere. The whole range of audience. They felt it wasn't right for news. It is a curious one,' she said. Ms Adie, aged 79, covered a host of conflicts while working as the BBC's chief news reporter between 1989 and 2003, having first joined the corporation as a radio technician and producer 20 years prior. Her first major break came covering the Iranian embassy siege in 1980, after which she went on to report from war zones around the world, including the Gulf War, the 1986 bombing of Libya, and the Bosnian war. During the Tiananmen Square massacre, Ms Adie was hit in the elbow by a bullet which is reported to have killed the man standing next to her, and was nicked by a bullet fired at point-blank range in Libya. She was awarded an OBE in 1993. The newly opened archive is reported to contain more than 2,300 items donated to the university, including Ms Adie's tapes, letters, photographs and the bullet which grazed her at Tiananmen Square.
