The BBC News Style Guide

[Molly]

Might come in handy:

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/15751/The-BBC-News-Style-Guide?term=english-reported-thought

[Mister Micawber]

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From the intro:

The BBC is listened to throughout the world and should be a beacon of correct English. (Bold mine)

Scary!
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Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's

[Molly]

All beacon and eggs. Depends what they mean by correct English.

[Stew.t.]

Hey Dandies and their fancies

An alternative view of the Beeb, what ho;

"One solution, arrived at in the 1920s, was BBC radio. For the first time in British history it became possible for one pronunciation of English and one style of speaking to be defined as `good' or `proper' English. The BBC willingly took on the role under the great Lord Reith and `BBC English' became virtually interchangeable with `The Queen's English'. The emphasis was more on pronunciation but correct grammar was presumed and the Reithian BBC is largely responsible for the snobbish obsession, mainly centred in the middle classes, on how one speaks, rather than on what one says. This era ended in the 1990s, a victim of the advance of the democratic principle in British life. BBC Radio now revels in the use of regional accents, immigrant voices, slang and `grammatical diversity' in an attempt to gain new audiences among the young. (BBC Television gave up the battle long ago and accepts its role as a purveyor of middle-brow culture with large doses of American purchases.)" James Munson
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Please meet Stewart Tunncilff

[Molly]

We still have to figure out what the Beeb mean/s by "correct" here: