Page "Received Pronunciation" Paragraph 18

In the 19th century, there were still British prime ministers who spoke with some regional features, such as William Ewart Gladstone.

From the 1970s onwards, attitudes towards Received Pronunciation have been changing slowly.

The BBC's use of announcers with strong regional accents, such as Yorkshire-born Wilfred Pickles, during the Second World War ( in order to distinguish BBC broadcasts from German propaganda ) is an earlier example of the use of non-RP accents.