Speak to me pretty

BROADCASTERS used to be English and male, either deliciously plummy like the actor David Niven or, like broadcaster Reginald Bosanquet (below), deliciously out to lunch. Now, they all seem to be females, who whisper with satinlike sensuality. They are great broadcasters, yes, but why are so many from Scotland and so few from Birmingham?

As Scotland’s population is so much smaller than the Midlands, shouldn’t we redress the regional imbalance with an infusion of the Black Country’s finest? They have nasal twangs that play on the ear like a bassoon in a rusty can, so youthful, so exhilarating, so now—such broadcasters would invigorate us rather than soothe. Rupert Ponsonby, Oxfordshire