Veteran newsreader Jan Leeming, 83, takes swipe at current generation of TV anchors for their 'bad pronunciation, mumbled speech and heavy accents'

Daily Mail​

11 hours ago

She joined the BBC in 1990, a year after Margaret Thatcher got the keys to 10 Downing Street, and was one of a new wave of female news anchors.
But Jan Leeming, 83, has taken a swipe at the current generation of newsreaders, criticising their pronunciation, mumbled speech and heavy accents.
She wrote on X earlier this month: 'Am I just showing my age being so picky, but surely a national newsreader should be aware of correct pronunciation.
'Just heard "grievious" twice from an ITV newsreader. The word is grievous. The other is mischievious - it's mischievous - three syllables not four.
'We had spelling tests every week. I suppose today one doesn't have to bother. AI and predictive texting will do it all for you.
'You still have to speak with correct pronunciation and clarity. Have given up on mumbled speech and heavy accents and hope I'll get the gist eventually.
'"Ss" for the presenters and newsreaders who cannot pronounce fifth and sixth - even some of my favourites. Oh, don't forget February and jewellery.
'If you aren't taught and corrected, then you perpetuate the incorrect pronunciation. And the ubiquitous "like" used every few words by a large proportion of the young. It is lazy.'
Alongside her presenting, Ms Leeming has become equally well known for her financial troubles – she only appeared on I'm A Celebrity because she was 'flat broke' – and her cheating husbands.
Her post comes after crossbench peer Lord Jones, of Birmingham criticised BBC Olympics presenter Alex Scott for spoiling coverage of the 2020 Games with her accent.
'Enough! I can't stand it anymore!' he wrote on X. 'Alex Scott spoils a good presentational job on the BBC Olympics Team with her very noticeable inability to pronounce her "g"s at the end of a word.
'Can't someone give these people elocution lessons? I fear that it may be aped by youngsters along the lines of the use of the moronic interrogative originally caused by "Neighbours"; on behalf of the English Language ... Help!'
And two years ago, BBC newsreader Nick Owen pronounced Jay Z's name wrongly on an episode of Midlands Today, saying Jay Zed rather than Jay Zee.
Leeming's post attracted more than 236,000 hits, prompting her to write: 'Goodness Gracious Me (think Peter Sellars....)
'Can't believe it - 236K hits on my comments about incorrect pronunciation! Really did stir up a hornets' nest. At least I'm not alone. NIGHT NIGHT ALL.'
She even hinted at her dislike for deputy PM Angela Rayner, nicknamed Two Homes Rayner, who has a strong Mancunian accent.
Responding to a tweet which said: 'If it's good enough for the Dep PM - nucleer - then it must be okay,' she replied: 'Please don't go down that road. I could be locked up for my opinion of that person.'
Leeming, voted TV personality of the year after she presented the 1982 Eurovision Song Contest, sparked outrage last year after she complained she no longer got work because she was too 'old', spoke RP and didn't tick 'modern boxes'.
She later clarified on GB News that she didn't mean that she was too posh for TV. 'I'm not posh,' she said. 'I grew up in Southeast London - Woolwich. My father had had a wonderful education in India and he spoke beautifully.
'He sounded a little bit like Richard Burton. And when I started sort of, you know, "talking like that", he sent me to speech and drama lessons. Thank you very much, father, because I've earned my living.
'What this follower was saying was basically that he could understand me; I enunciate. I'm not against accents, not at all. In fact, some of them are very endearing.
'I mean, I love Eamonn Holmes, and you know Gloria Hunniford, when she started 40 odd years ago, had a very strong Northern Ireland accent and she moderated it.'