Routes of English: A Better Class of Language (Series 2, Programme 3)
Melvyn Bragg Audio Book

By your vowels, your station shall be known'.

How accents and social class are entwined. For at least 400 years, the way we speak has been one of the fundamental measures by which we've judged our fellow men on the scale of social acceptability. To so many, 'talking proper' matters, and 'rough talk is not quality talk'. But such attitudes are beginning to change.