It's no suprise the BBC sounds like that, they make an effort to get people who speak RP English (like The Queen). Talk shows tend to have more regional accents now however.
I live in Derbyshire, which is a rather rural part of England and has one of the oldest (and oddest) accents. Speaking Queen's English will get you funny looks around these parts. I know that from personal experience (apparently I sound 'a bit posh').
England's a small country, but we have plenty of variation in accents.
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