Patricia Routledge: 'There's a fashion to speak badly' | Theatre | The Guardian

Patricia Routledge: 'There's a fashion to speak badly' | Theatre | The Guardian

"'History!' says Patricia Routledge. She leans forward, her blue eyes button-bright; her beautifully modulated voice drops to a conspiratorial whisper. 'History! And character. Architecture! I always say,' she adds, 'that here [in Chichester], you've only got to dig a little hole to put a bulb in, and if you're not careful, you come across some Roman mosaic. Thrilling!'...

"'There's a fashion abroad generally to speak the language as badly as possible. I'm of a mind,' she adds, in tones that would make Mrs [Bucket] proud, 'to start a society for the reinstatement of the letter 't' and the banishment of the glottal stop.'"