Whilst many Good Morning Britain and longtime This Morning viewers might know Richard Madeley for his slightly-posh and TV-ready accent, they might be surprised to hear that his original accent is a lot different.
The 68 year old made an appearance on This Morning – which he presented from 1988 to 2002 – on Wednesday, 15 May, where he spoke to new host Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard about his new novel, Father’s Day.
During the chat, Ben questioned Richard on his real accent, as the latter swiftly switched into it – revealing that he is originally from Romford, Essex.
Ben said: “Your TV accent is actually a persona – you’re actually a bit more estuarial, a bit more like me. You’re an Essex boy.”
Reverting to his real accent, Richard said: “Well, basically, I was born in Romford, Essex, right?
“And I’m not putting this [accent] on, I’m slipping into this, like if I spoke French, I could speak French.
“So this is how I spoke. This is my natural speaking voice.
“But my dad was a public schoolboy, and he dropped ‘hs’ and he hated the East London Essex accent, so at home I spoke like this [TV accent], but if I spoke like this at school, I’d get beaten up. So at school, I spoke like that [Essex accent].”
He then said he used his original accent when working on a big East London newspaper, joking that if he didn’t he’d “get beaten up again”.
Concluding, he said: “So yeah, that is just my natural [accent].”
As Richard appeared on This Morning to talk about his book, a number of images of him and his wife, Judy Finnigan, flashed up on the screen, as well as some snaps of him with their children, daughter Chloe Madeley, and son Jack.
Chloe Madeley’s baby daughter, Bohdi, who she shares with ex-husband, James Haskell, could also be seen sitting in a high chair in Dubai as Richard joked that she looked like she could be about to present the news.
Chloe, 36, is currently enjoying a holiday in the United Arab Emirates with her little one, as it appears they made the trip alone.
The fitness fan posted a snap of herself in a hotel gym, as she revealed she had put Bohdi into a kids’ club for a few hours, captioning the post: “Kids clubs AM I RIGHT.
“Single parents, do NOT holiday without, Mkay?!”
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