Does anyone know if Geoffrey played Catweazle as a South Yorkshire native. He is from Leeds originally but pronouncing water to rhymne with batter I believe is a Sheffield vernacular. People still use the terms thee and thy as well but sadly not thou.

Craig

Town/City Sheffield

Country UK

Hi Craig,
Not sure about which part of Yorkshire, but definately from his home area - and very nice it is too! (and I'm a Southerner!!)

Speaking as another West Yorkshire 'native', I seem to remember Geoffrey saying that after listening to the 'rushes' for the first series, he wasn't satisfied with the traditional 'old man' voice that he had used and asked if he could do it with a northern accent, but not specifically Yorkshire. He is certainly a native of Leeds, but also lived for some time both in East Yorkshire and North Yorkshire. I think that he and the production team tried to find something that would most likely approximate the kind of 'Anglo-Saxon'-type English that might have been spoken in Catweazle's time. It's a good thing that they had to re-record the first episode in any case, as something had gone amiss with the recording equipment. I think much of the really old Yorkshire dialect has died out, particularly among the younger generation, and I don't recall hearing anyone saying "watter" for water nowadays, but I often hear the words "book", "look", etc. pronounced as Catweazle says them. An interesting point!

Town/City Shipley, West Yorkshire

Country England

Coming from Lancashire as I do and working on a Farm from a young boy "watter" was always used when anyone was taking about Water, it was also the normal way to say "watter" in most East Lancashire Towns.

Town/City BLACKBURN

Country UK

Also used was "thee" and "thy" but alas not many people use the Old Lancashire dialect anymore.
But I do now and then when I let my guard down as Carol well knows, when I hear "who" "what" I know I`m starting to talk in my East Lancashire accent.
Sadly most ascents are being lost,I think the reason being that people have the means to talk to anyone in the U.K.
But back only 40 years the only time you would hear someone talk in a different accent was If your family could afford to go on a holiday.

Town/City BLACKBURN

Country UK