LOTR (in RP?) on the BBC

The Beeb (bless 'em) have just dusted off a 20 year old radio adaptation
of the entire LOTR trilogy and are broadcasting it in lots of weekly
installments. I think the programs can be heard on their website
(probably www.bbc.co.uk) too.

I happened to hear part of the first installment last weekend. Gandalf,
Bilbo, Frodo and the Sackville Bagginses sound like 1950's Oxford dons,
while the hobbit peasantry use standard BBC "mummerset" (stereotyped
country bumpkin accent) - Gaffer Gamgee sounds just like Joe Grundy.

Whereas I would anglicise "Sauron" as [sOron], the narrator seemed to
be saying [sAron], also Mordor [mO:dO], but one of the baddies seemed able
to put a bit of a roll into the [r]'s in Barad Dur, and did a [u] rather
than a [V] too I think.

Makes a good antidote to the Hollywood version anyway.

Keith

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