One of the most prized possessions of a Nigerian is the British accent. Hardly surprising, since Nigeria was once a colony of Britain and the nation’s official language is British English.

English is quite a fascinating language itself, comprising different forms and of course, accents. You’ve heard of Queen’s English and perhaps BBC English. This thread details how the latter, now a standard of English was invented.

See below:

Today we speak of "BBC English" as a standard form of the language, but this form had to be invented by a small team in the 1920s & 30s. 1/

— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) June 26, 2017

By June of 1936, things were getting out of hand, and the BBC's Director of Program Planning Lindsay Wellington urged: 22/ pic.twitter.com/vWAYWuBK2O

— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) June 26, 2017

Finally in January 1937, Chairman of the Governors R.C. Norman shut down the Sub-Committee on Words for good, arguing that: 23/ pic.twitter.com/8rNLaYvzI6

— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) June 26, 2017

Reactions:

They created the future

What a loss!

It's a massive roundabout in west London where the main arterial Western Avenue meets the North Circular Road. It retains theword 'Gyratory'

— Nick Godwin (@NickGodwinsport) June 27, 2017

Who says that?

Nothing like Queen’s English

There's a whole book on it 🙂 "Dictating to the Mob—The History of the BBC Advisory Committee on Spoken English" https://t.co/iYzkNuIZDq

— Gravid Beast (@gravbeast) June 27, 2017

Fascinating. Did George Orwell know about this committee, I wonder?

— Dr Francis Young (@DrFrancisYoung) June 27, 2017

Hahahaha