JENNI MURRAY: I hid my Northern accent to get ahead in my career  – but by gum I wish I hadn’t

Growing up, I felt lucky to have a mother who recognised what a drawback my Yorkshire accent would be, that it could prevent me from enjoying success in whatever field I chose. It was her life’s work to prepare me to rise above my working-class roots.

She constantly lectured me about the way I must speak. Nicely was the word she used: ‘Not like those young ruffians you try to play with on the street.’

She sent me for elocution lessons, or speech and drama as I prefer to call it, from the age of five to 18. I loved it and could fully understand why it was important not to speak the kind of ‘Ee by gum’ Yorkshire dialect that might make me incomprehensible to others.

But when I read this week that young Olivia Cooke, the actress currently starring in the Game of Thrones prequel House of The Dragon, felt she had to get rid of her Northern accent in order to succeed, it made me think.

Did my generation of Northerners let down those who followed in our footsteps? Should we have stood our ground, showed pride in where we came from and insisted our accents did not indicate we were stupid or thick?

Should I have spoken in my original Yorkshire accent when I applied to the BBC in the 1970s? If I had, I doubt I would have been given the job which put me on the air.

But, all these decades on, surely things should have changed. Particularly considering broadcasters seem so keen to acknowledge that London is not the centre of the universe. The BBC often broadcasts from Salford, Channel 4 from Leeds — and yet it’s curious how many of the presenters in those regions stick with received pronunciation (RP).

Olivia Cooke is from Oldham, but has lived in the South for years. She has admitted that she’s ‘really sad’ about the fact that ‘I do put on a voice when I’m speaking to someone with a different upbringing to me. I’m proud of where I come from, but it was a source of embarrassment because I didn’t feel as intelligent as others… I do have a chip on my shoulder about being working class.’

Of course, it’s absolutely essential for an actress to be able to change the way she speaks. In performance, your voice and your accent are determined by the part you are to play and must range from American to Welsh to Scottish to hardcore Northern when necessary. But that should not be the case in conversation with friends, or, more importantly, people who might be in a position to hire you.

I have noticed that some accents seem to be less acceptable than others. Not only the Yorkshire of my youth and Olivia’s in Oldham on the other side of the Pennines but also Birmingham. A number of friends from Birmingham also complain of having learnt to ‘talk posh’ when they felt their career opportunities were being limited by being seen as ‘a thick Brummie’.

Irish, on the other hand, has never been seen as anything but lyrical and poetic. Terry Wogan is a prime example of someone whose accent made, rather than destroyed, him. Newcastle seems to be acceptable as long as it’s not too broad. Maybe the popularity of presenters Ant and Dec contributed to it being seen as the sound of the charming cheeky chappie.

Meanwhile, Sarah Smith, the BBC’s North America editor, has a perfectly acceptable Scottish accent which she makes no effort to disguise and Huw Edwards lasted for years as the BBC’s leading newsreader and commentator on big events with his soft Welsh lilt.

There have been times — and I can only put this down to Beatlemania — when Liverpool became the most envied accent and could be heard everywhere. But Yorkshire, Birmingham, Lancashire and Greater Manchester continue to be a rarity.

The BBC’s political editor, Chris Mason, gets away with the slightest hint of North Yorkshire. Sara Cox, from Bolton, has a mere soupcon of her natural speech patterns.

I’m ashamed to say I find it a bit of a shock when I hear Johny Pitts, with a very strong Sheffield accent, presenting Radio 4’s Open Book. He’s an excellent presenter with deep knowledge of the books he’s discussing and a highly intelligent interviewing style. Why then does it make me jump every time I hear my own natural accent jumping out of the radio? It can only be because it’s so rare.

It’s time these prejudices changed. The most depressing complaint Olivia Cooke made was how being working class is preventing too many young people from getting jobs as actors. She says it’s a really exclusive industry and points to the fact that the arts are not funded in state schools. It’s not just accents then. It’s missing out on drama classes which ‘help kids grow in confidence and feel accepted.’

I know my years of learning how to speak and perform in public, whether with my teacher Miss Firth or in drama at school, gave me the confidence to spend the majority of my adult life sitting in front of a microphone broadcasting to the nation.

Only one fear dominated those day-to-day performances: the word ‘bus’. I never wrote it into a script, terrified I would reveal my Yorkshireness by letting it slip out with a broad U sound.

It’s all ridiculous. We are a country of many accents, each as important as another. The only thing that matters is clarity, no matter the accent.

Looking back, I regret I didn’t have the courage to be the proud Yorkshire woman I am and let people hear my true voice. Maybe I would have paved the way for Olivia and her like.

Ab Fab to have them back 

Up to their old tricks: Jane Horrocks, Joanna Lumley, Jennifer Saunders and Julia Sawalha

Welcome back ladies for a new TV documentary celebrating Absolutely Fabulous with Jane Horrocks as Bubble, Joanna Lumley as Patsy, Jennifer Saunders as Edina and Julia Sawalha as Saffy.

Sadly no June Whitfield as Mum. she will be much missed. I’ll never forget watching the first episode prior to an interview with Jennifer — the one where Edina falls out of a taxi drunk after a night with Patsy.

There’s a full ashtray on her bedside table. My son Ed, then aged nine, fell off the sofa laughing and said ‘Blimey Mum did you and Sally [my closest friend] write this?’

I used to love the sun, now I dread it 

 After Michael Mosley’s tragic death, and several other tourists, we all have to be aware of the danger of heatstroke

I used to love the sun and would spend hours getting a tan covered in nothing but olive oil. No more.

After Michael Mosley’s tragic death — and several other tourists, who died while out in southern Europe’s ongoing heatwave — we all have to be aware of the danger of heatstroke. Only a couple of weeks ago, on a rare sunny day, I felt sick and faint at lunch. I was hot and the family diagnosed heatstroke.

It seems it can strike at any age and clearly not only in the burning heat of Greece. There’s a heatwave coming here next week. Take care.

A care home in Suffolk has asked residents or their families to state what forms of endearment they’re happy with. I would say a firm no to ‘darling’ or ‘sweetheart’. ‘Dear’, makes me feel ancient, but I wouldn’t have survived long in Yorkshire if I objected to ‘love’.