these two sounds for international breadth as distinct phonemes. They are also distinct from one another in most of Scotland and Ireland, in the northeast of England, and in the southeastern United States. Unlike some other varieties of English language in England, there is no h-dropping in words like head or horse. In hurried phrases such as "as hard as he could" h-dropping commonly applies to the word he. Unlike most Southern Hemisphere English accents, RP has not undergone the weak-vowel merger, meaning that pairs such as Lenin/Lennon are distinct. In traditional RP is an allophone of (it is used intervocalically, after , and sometimes even after , ). Spoken specimen The Journal of the International Phonetic Association regularly publishes "Illustrations of the IPA" which present an outline of the phonetics of a particular language or accent. It is usual to base the description on a recording of the traditional story of the North Wind and the Sun. There is an IPA illustration of British English (Received Pronunciation). The female speaker is described as having been born in 1953, and educated at Oxford University. To accompany the recording there are three transcriptions: orthographic, phonemic and allophonic. Phonemic Allophonic Orthographic The North Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger, when a traveller came along wrapped in a warm cloak. They agreed that the one who first succeeded in making the traveller take his cloak off should be considered stronger than the other. Then the North Wind blew as hard as he could, but the more he blew the more closely did the traveller fold his cloak around him, and at last the North Wind gave up the attempt. Then the Sun shone out warmly, and immediately the traveller took off his cloak. And so the North Wind was obliged to confess that the Sun was the stronger of the two. Notable speakers The following people have been described as RP speakers: The British Royal Family David Attenborough, broadcaster and naturalist David Cameron, former Prime Minister of the UK (2010–2016) Deborah Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, aristocrat and writer Judi Dench, actress Rupert Everett, actor Lady Antonia Fraser, author and historian Stephen Fry, actor and writer Christopher Hitchens, late author and journalist Boris Johnson, former Prime Minister of the UK (2019–2022) Vanessa Kirby, actress Joanna Lumley, actress Helen Mirren, actress Carey Mulligan, actress Jeremy Paxman, broadcaster and TV presenter Jacob