I'm an actor, I'm going to start learning some accents just so I have them in my bag of tricks. I was going to start with a single British one, then move on to other countries/accents, then just keep learning more.

What would be a good general British one to start with? Is there a dialect that's used by the largest number of British people today? I'd like to learn one that's in use, so I hear that Standard British English (Received Pronunciation) would be a poor choice. I've heard strong Cockney, that seems pretty affected and uncommon, but what do I know. I've found dialect coach tapes on all kinds of British accents...Cockney, Liverpool, Yorkshire, Hampshire, Scottish, Welsh. Hmmm, what would/should James Bond speak, maybe I'll get cast as a spy one day? ;)

Interesting article on accents:
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclop...n-of-an-accent

Some dialect tapes:
http://www.paulmeier.com/
http://www.dialectaccentspecialists.com/learning.shtml
http://www.dialectresource.com/
http://www.theatrebooks.com/accents_dialects/
http://www.stageplays.com/browse-no-...gi?group=voice