Linguists who study accents and dialect are fond of relaying the folk tale that the true Cockney must be born "within the sound of Bow Bells" (that is, the bells of St Mary-Le-Bow church in Cheapside).
If this is taken as literally true, it does mean that no Cockneys worthy of the name were born after 1941, when the bells were destroyed in the Blitz. New bells were restored to the church twenty years later, but this 78 is something of a curiosity for the fact that you can now hear those very bells before the Germans silenced them and their rather curious history (see St Mary-le-Bow: A Short History).
Download the recording: Bow Bells: Queens; Whittingdon Chimes (The Ancient Order of College Youths)
1 comment:
Nice sound of these bells! My grandmother was born in 1886 within the sound of Bow Bells, so now we have had the chance to hear what they sound like. Thanks.
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