That picture of you at the 'Background' page. Roseberry topping. I 'ran' up that, twice, doing Hardmoors Roseberry Topping Half Marathon.... Still recovering...
It's interesting you should mention that, as I think the dubbing issue is the number one factor that trumps all others, regardless of formal qualifications. In Finland even most the kids' TV is subtitled BBC, so Finnish children get used to hearing British sounds from a very early age. It has the added bonus of it forcing them to learn to read in Finnish from a very early age as well. I know plenty of Russians with English degrees, and a lot of them tend to sound too polished - they speak with a very formal BBC accent, which sounds extremely forced and unnatural. Probably because their Soviet phonetics teachers never left the USSR, and had to rely on whatever films made it past the censors.
For a hill low in stature it's a hell of a pull to the summit. One of my many favourite places in Yorkshire. I've got 44 miles to go to complete the entire walk, but that's in "hop on hop off" mode. One day I'd like to try it all in one go, but I doubt I'll ever get permission from the "powers that be"!
Well, they do make you speak 'BBC English' to be fair, in schools, and even at university, where we were also 'graded' on our pronunciation, which had to be as close to Received Pronunciation as possible. That's a lot better than it was though, as universities used to teach 'the Queen's English', which nobody speaks, not even the Queen herself... I'm quite easy with local accents and adapt to things quite easily, but have always kind of resisted the RP at university, knowing that if I'd move to the UK, it would be somewhere up North rather than anywhere 'posh'.
I was lucky enough to be involved in a Football Tournament in the mid 60's. Ajax entered one of their Intermediate sides. As well as being impressed with their spoken English , the skills on the ball that those lads showed during that week was absolutely unbelievable. It was the period when Cruijff ( Cruyff) and others were just starting out so we shouldn't have been surprised and after that tournament I followed the Ajax first teams progress with some interest. They eventually went on to win 8 Eredivisie titles, 3 European Cups and the Intercontinental Cup and I've always wondered if any of those lads who played during that week went on to play for that famous old Clubs first team. Really glad you chose to follow Barnsley FC. It is truly a family Club with a loyal fan base and a proud history. Welcome on board Moblo and Runner.
Welcome to the Board Moblo and to following the Reds. I think you have made the right decision following BFC as although I'm biased I think you'll find that it's a proper club based in a proper community that welcomes all in a traditional Yorkshire manner. The people are friendly as we are told numerous times by people from all over the world either football related ,work or social . I know sometimes it doesn't feel like this reading some posts especially political etc but that's because we are passionate in our beliefs but we all come together at the end of the day under a red and white banner and that's what it's all about imo. We don't get mass coverage or anything like that but what we do have is incredible pride that's not born out of mass multi billionaire owners or millionaire footballers but in our communities and communities that share the same values across the globe. Your in for a rocky ride following us so hold tight and enjoy the ride.
Welcome you lovely people. Darfield hey? Following in the footsteps of Arjen De Zeeuw who my brother used to bother regularly when he lived there. If you'd met my brother you would realise the great sacrifice he made to improve Anglo-Dutch relations.
So we've got Dutch birds on here as well now, this could get interesting lol. Did you used to like Abba, ohh hang on they were Swedish weren't they.