Essex – LONDON TALKS

‘Could be better, could be worse’

Ron is a churchwarden in a small village near Upminster in Essex together with Frank. Ron’s parents were from the East End, spoke with an East End accent, and Ron also spent his formative years in Hackney. However, when his family moved to Upminster in the 1950s, his accent changed, ‘because in those days thereContinue reading “‘Could be better, could be worse’”

East End memories from Essex

Last week, I spoke to husband and wife Richard and Janice in Colchester, Essex. Janice was born and raised in Tower Hamlets and remembers a blissful childhood there. When she was eleven, her family moved to Loughton, Essex, where teachers gave her a hard time for her Cockney accent. Now she would call her ownContinue reading “East End memories from Essex”