Received Pronunciation

Thirdly, Shakespeare wouldn't have spoken in Received Pronunciation himself.

I was born in Manchester, England, and therefore sound nothing like the American stereotype of Brits gleaned from murder mysteries or “Downton Abbey” — upright, uptight speakers of clipped Received Pronunciation.

"In the interview with Harry, the same thing applies: the only point where I felt there was some Received Pronunciation creeping in was in the word 'roasting', where the vowel is central and not back."

He became instantly recognisable, not least because his Yorkshire accent was at odds with the Received Pronunciation that was the norm in the 1960s BBC.

In pursuing voice-over work, he had shed his northern accent in favor of the standard variant of British English known as “Received Pronunciation.”