A plum in your mouth - Andrew Taylor

By putting our differences and snobberies under a microscope, this book explains many facts about us as a nation, exploring the development of language and our behaviour.

Did you know that the court of Richard II spoke in broad Yorkshire? Why don't we speak like we did 40 years ago? Why is one perceived to be richer, taller - and more attractive - if one speaks the Queen's English? A Plum in Your Mouth takes an astonishing look at accents and the volumes they speak.

Whether you're a Cockney Sparrow or a Scouser, this is a book you cannot afford to miss.

Do you ever suffer from an ``ell of an 'eadache'? Do you live in a 'nice hice'? Do you think of the word `probably' as two syllables? Wherever you come from, however you sound, whether you like it or not, you have an accent. You cannot afford to ignore it for a second more.

Outrageously funny but astonishingly informative, Sunday Times columnist Andrew Taylor leads you through the history of British accents and how they developed, answering such age-old questions as why grandparents will always disapprove of the way we speak and debunking such myths as that Glaswegian developed because of badly fitting false teeth.

From Liverpool to London, from Glasgow to Galway, from the West End to the East End, our accent say more about us than our football shirts or a business cards. It's time to discover what it's saying!