Former BBC newsreader Jan Leeming says she no longer gets work because of received pronunciation accent

Former BBC newsreader Jan Leeming has suggested she no longer gets work because of her received pronunciation accent.

The broadcaster joked that she doesn’t “tick modern boxes” on account of her voice and that the English language was “being mangled” on television.

In a recent tweet, responding to a follower who said she'd be a good fit for voiceover roles, the ex-journalist wrote: "Thank you but you are a lone voice and I am small fry. I'm old, speak RP English and don't tick the PC boxes. Have given up even trying."

Leeming said that that the decline of well-spoken speech was "gathering pace", adding: "[I] totally accept accents unless they are so pronounced the speaker is unintelligible to the masses outside their region."

She said that in her day, newsreaders and presenters "were not paid the stratospheric sums they get today and definitely weren't allowed to do anything commercial".

She added: "Very different today eg Lineker," alongside an angry face emoji.

Leeming served as a newsreader for BBC News from 1980 to 1987, after earlier stints with Granada Television in Manchester.

She released her autobiography in 2003 and participated in "I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!" in 2006.

It comes after Amol Rajan, who has completed his first year of presenting University Challenge, promised to change the way he pronounces the letter H after complaints that he was doing it wrongly.

Rajan, 40, writing before Monday night's broadcast of the quiz final, said that he was giving in after a lifetime of unease over whether to say "haitch" or "aitch".

"All my life I've pronounced it 'haitch', dimly aware that I was getting it 'wrong'," he wrote in a blog post for the BBC about seven things he learnt since taking over University Challenge from Jeremy Paxman.

"Everyone I grew up with says 'haitch'. My mates say 'haitch'. But, dear reader, I'm here to tell you: it's 'aitch'.

"This matters a lot to a lot of people, which is fair enough."

He said that in the next series, which will be broadcast in the summer, he would begin using "aitch" despite the Oxford English Dictionary's declaration that "haitch" is a commonly used variant.