Sir David Attenborough, Stephen Fry and Joanna Lumley have Britain’s favorite accents, research reveals

POSH accents are among the many nation’s favourites – with Sir David Attenborough, Stephen Fry and Joanna Lumley named probably the most cherished talkers.

Sir David Attenborough was named the ‘greatest voice’ by 28 per cent of the two,000 adults polled, in a yr that noticed the conservationist launch the hit Netflix documentary A Life on Our Planet.

Sir David Attenborough narrates British nature collection ‘Our Planet’Credit score: Getty Photos – Getty

Comic Stephen Fry’s smooth tones got here in second place (19 per cent), adopted by Joanna Lumley’s completely fabulous frequencies (18 per cent).

Different favourites embrace Sir Ian McKellen, Sir Trevor McDonald, and Dame Judi Dench.

Persevering with the luxurious sounding theme, a plummy tone was named because the accent individuals may take heed to for the longest, with the Queen’s English additionally the popular voice to listen to on the radio or TV.

Nonetheless, the Irish accent was named probably the most engaging, whereas the Birmingham twang gained the title for many boring.

The analysis was commissioned to launch Virgin Media’s new Virgin TV 360 platform, which is totally voice-activated.

It additionally discovered that greater than a 3rd admitted to talking in ‘tech tongue’ – placing on a extra ‘well-spoken’ accent when chatting with good units.

Nearly one in 5 additionally stated they might change their accent to impress a love curiosity, and one in 10 do that when chatting with work colleagues or their bosses.

And 14 per cent of Brits even change their regular voice tone when chatting to their pets.

Jennifer Smith, professor of sociolinguistics on the College of Glasgow, stated: “All of us have completely different ‘voices’ relying on who we’re speaking to and in what state of affairs.

“We’re fairly good at switching up the way in which we speak. For a few of us, this entails placing on a posher-sounding accent when chatting with somebody not from our speedy community.

“For instance a pupil altering how they communicate when speaking to a instructor.

“The newly coined time period, ‘tech tongue’, describes the voice we use when chatting with your units, similar to your Virgin TV distant.

“Whether or not we’re conscious we’re doing it or not, tech tongue tends to make us speak slower, or extra clearly, and even fairly posh.”

The research additionally discovered Brits make judgements based mostly on one another’s voices too, forming an impression of an individual’s character, how educated and the way reliable they’re – simply from their voice.

For voices of each sexes, having a shrill tone was voted probably the most irritating high quality (31 per cent) – extra so than being too loud (30 per cent), or nasal (26 per cent).

David Bouchier, chief TV & leisure officer at Virgin Media, stated: “From Cockney to Cornish and Geordie to Glaswegian, our new Virgin TV 360 voice-control characteristic can perceive a wealthy tapestry of accents and dialects to assist TV followers seek for their favorite content material.

“It’s clear from our analysis that the delicate variations in our voices can have vital results on how we’re perceived by the surface world, with many people altering up the way in which we communicate relying on who or what we’re speaking to – with the identical making use of to tech.

“Though it has change into the norm for many people to talk to units every single day, whether or not that’s our TV distant or good speaker, it’s attention-grabbing to see we’re nonetheless addressing them like strangers.”

Actor and comic Stephen Fry is the voice of a variety of audiobooks together with J.Okay .Rowlings Harry Potter collection Credit score: Getty – Contributor

Joanna Lumley, 74, gained 18 per cent of the vote and are available in third placeCredit score: Getty – Contributor