<P> On a rainy night in Edwardian London , opera patrons are waiting under the arches of Covent Garden for cabs . Eliza Doolittle , a Cockney flower girl , runs into a young man called Freddy . She admonishes him for spilling her bunches of violets in the mud , but she cheers up after selling one to an older gentleman . She then flies into an angry outburst when a man copying down her speech is pointed out to her . The man explains that he studies phonetics and can identify anyone 's origin by their accent . He laments Eliza 's dreadful speech , asking why so many English people do n't speak properly and explaining his theory that this is what truly separates social classes , rather than looks or money ( `` Why Ca n't the English ? '' ) . He declares that in six months he could turn Eliza into a lady by teaching her to speak properly . The older gentleman introduces himself as Colonel Pickering , a linguist who has studied Indian dialects . The phoneticist introduces himself as Henry Higgins , and , as they both have always wanted to meet each other , Higgins invites Pickering to stay at his home in London . He distractedly throws his change into Eliza 's basket , and she and her friends wonder what it would be like to live a comfortable , proper life ( `` Would n't It Be Loverly ? '' ) . </P>
<P> On a rainy night in Edwardian London , opera patrons are waiting under the arches of Covent Garden for cabs . Eliza Doolittle , a Cockney flower girl , runs into a young man called Freddy . She admonishes him for spilling her bunches of violets in the mud , but she cheers up after selling one to an older gentleman . She then flies into an angry outburst when a man copying down her speech is pointed out to her . The man explains that he studies phonetics and can identify anyone 's origin by their accent . He laments Eliza 's dreadful speech , asking why so many English people do n't speak properly and explaining his theory that this is what truly separates social classes , rather than looks or money ( `` Why Ca n't the English ? '' ) . He declares that in six months he could turn Eliza into a lady by teaching her to speak properly . The older gentleman introduces himself as Colonel Pickering , a linguist who has studied Indian dialects . The phoneticist introduces himself as Henry Higgins , and , as they both have always wanted to meet each other , Higgins invites Pickering to stay at his home in London . He distractedly throws his change into Eliza 's basket , and she and her friends wonder what it would be like to live a comfortable , proper life ( `` Would n't It Be Loverly ? '' ) . </P>
who was watching eliza in the opening scene
who was watching eliza in the opening scene
Henry Higgins
Henry Higgins