Page "Cockney" Paragraph 104

corruption without legitimate credentials, and is unworthy of being the speech of any person in the capital city of the Empire ".

On the other hand, however, there started rising at the same time cries in defence of Cockney as, for example the following one: " The London dialect is really, especially on the South side of the Thames, a perfectly legitimate and responsible child of the old kentish tongue the dialect of London North of the Thames has been shown to be one of the many varieties of the Midland or Mercian dialect, flavoured by the East Anglian variety of the same speech ".

Since then, the Cockney accent has been more accepted as an alternative form of the English Language rather than an ' inferior ' one ; in the 1950s the only accent to be heard on the BBC ( except in entertainment programmes such as Sooty ) was RP, whereas nowadays many different accents, including Cockney or ones heavily influenced by it, can be heard on the BBC.

In a survey of 2000 people conducted by Coolbrands in autumn 2008, Cockney was voted equal fourth coolest accent in Britain with 7 % of the votes, while The Queen's English was considered the coolest, with 20 % of the votes.

Brummie was voted least popular, receiving just 2 %.