The English Language and the Spoken Word
With a long and successful career in television, radio and theatre which has made him a household name, Nicholas Parsons is best known today for his long-standing position as host of the comedy radio game show Just A Minute. Nicholas is also famous as the long-term host of Sale of the Century, a show whose audience peaked at over 21 million viewers (a record for an ITV game show)*.
The English language is one of the richest and most colourful in the world, having been derived from many sources, and it has been exported to become the first language in many other countries where it is spoken with standard pronunciation and only subtle variations over a large area. This occurs in the United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa and is the first language in India and other countries in that sub-continent. This is in contrast to the British Isles, where in a very small geographical area the pronunciation of our language varies tremendously. The way they speak in Glasgow is hugely different to Cardiff or Liverpool or Birmingham. In this country you can travel 100 miles and find people using our language in quite a different way. These dialect variations are most attractive and it would be sad if they disappeared and we all spoke a kind of Englese. With the advent of easy travel, and the influence of the mass medium of television it is beginning to happen.
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