Richard Bacon was born and bred in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire but now makes his living as a media star in the nation's big smoke. He's been speaking to Nigel Bell about his Nottinghamshire accent and how it has helped, not hindered, his career. Where's your accent from? First of all, when I was growing up, I didn't think I had an accent but then I guess you have to have an accent. Everybody has an accent and you can tell when travelling south to Nottingham or north to South Yorkshire. Mansfield is somewhere in between the two. I'm still not sure how to describe it (the accent) because in Mansfield you are technically in Nottinghamshire but you're bordering Derbyshire and South Yorkshire so it's a mix of different accents. What defines it is more the types of words and phrases that people use. When did you first realise you had an accent? More when I moved away from Mansfield. When I moved to London I was surrounded by a variety of accents. You notice the way people say things such as bath and grass. Johnny Vaughan does a brilliant impression of my accent. Did yourÌýaccent influence your life growing up in Mansfield? Not especially. When I started college in Sheffield I began to notice differences in accents, but in terms of growing up it wasn't distinctive. It's fair to say the people I knocked around with had a slightly different one maybe due to my middle class upbringing but it was only very slight and I never felt the need to put on or exaggerate my accent to fit in with a particular crowd. Do you think your accent helped or hindered you in your career? I think it helped. At the moment having a regional accent in broadcasting is a good thing. I think northern accents are quite a gift, especially if you're a comedian. Take Peter Kaye, funny in his own right but he's funnier because of his accent. Bearing that in mind, does your accent change with the company you keep? I think now I probably do and I cringe when I do it. I wish I didn't, it's not a conscious thing, it's just adapting to my surroundings. It's particularly terrible when I go abroad. When you first moved out of Mansfield did other peoples words and phrases sound peculiar, and if so what? There are certain words and phrases that don't travel well. For instance the word cob, meaning bread roll. When I went to college in Sheffield I went to the canteen and I ordered a sausage cob which is obviously just a bread roll with a sausage in it. I said 'can I have a sausage cob' and they didn't really know what I was talking about. I was 16 or 17 and I'd never appreciated that there are some words that are specific to areas. So I asked for a sausage roll, meaning sausages in a bread roll but I got a sausage in pastry - not what I wanted. Do you ever drop midduck into conversation, and, if so how do people in London react? I think it's more likely I'd drop midduck into a conversation if I was talking to someone in Mansfield, just to impress them. I'm not sure if I've used it in the nation's capital. It would be interesting to watch people's reactions. It's a lovely endearing phrase, I like it very much... but I must say I haven't tried it out on anyone outside Mansfield. Have you managed to get your girlfriend speaking like a Mansfield lass? I think you pick up on how each other speak if you are in a long term relationship. I'm in a long term relationship with Connie who you may know from Blue Peter. She's originally from London and I like to think that occasionally she speaks Mansfield. Which accents do you love / hate? I love the romantic quality of the accents from the Republic of Ireland. I like the northern accents although I don't think I could ever date anyone with a Scouse accent. I secretly quite like the posh way of speaking but it's easiest of all to point out accents I don't like. The Birmingham accent I really don't like and the Welsh accent I think is a real irritant. Check out Richard Bacon's accent and listen to Nigel Bell's full audio interview with Mansfield's favourite son by clicking on the link found in the top right hand corner of this page. | 
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