The trouble is with detecting accents with the younger people of the South today is a lot of them tend to talk the same "Innit"

I don't think I can Joe, but having said that, I have an auntie and uncle who live in Watford. I think I can pick their accents out   Thing is, my auntie was born a Geordie 

I can detect South London easy peasey ................North london pretty good at that ................the East London, Essex, Kent are a bit too similar - I know it when I hear it but .......it's hard to define!

But Joe, I get accused of being a Geordie all of the time, BUT I live in Geordie land now, and the Geordies accuse me of being a posh bird.  

*neither is true*

Cinds......seeing you put that in print, A few years ago, when I worked in admin for Morrisons (the grocers) I had a Canadian on the phone one day who thought I was Scots. I really don't have anything against the Scots but it just shows how ignorant we all can be I guess 

I cant tell where in london the accent comes from but I can tell its london.  I think down here in the south I often thing people have london accents that dont at all. They dont really have accents down here, unless they is FARRRRRMARS.

I grew up in Hull and had a very strong accent. I moved to south Lincolnshire when I was 12, and lost count of the times people asked me if I was from Liverpool.    I think northern accents must have sounded all the same to them  

I don't think we think about it to much GJ, apart from the obvious "Cockney" "Essex" "Street"...

I can tell Sunderland from anywhere else but that's about it re the others you've mentioned

In America people think I am Australian.

I know Ducky! I've said in other threads that it's ok I guess, but to get it that far out beggars belief  

I come from Enfield, Middlesex - approximately 8 -10 miles from central London but have friends from Southend-on-Sea - 40 miles away who i consider to have a stronger London accent than myself.

Hull people say Turst (Toast) and Hurm (home) .............a strange and unique accent IMO. Not easily confused for anywhere else in the land!

Im always getting complimented on my lovely lilting Irish accent down here ever so proud of it I am ..... and they ask me "where in Ireland are you from" and i reply Glasgow

See.......It's crazy innit! 

totally, I even heard my boss say to someone "shes scottish" and someone asked "where abouts " and he said "newcastle I think"

I have been know to mix up my Irish with my Scots.  I'm crap with accents! Not just recognising them.... but also deciphering them. 

I once worked in a shop and a man with a very strong Scottish accent came in and asked me a question. I had to get him to repeat himself four times....and then pass him on to someone else.   

And they say there's no North South divide   

LOL Ducky, I have had that happen to me a few times.  and Nuts, I actually think my boss thinks anywhere bast the newbury bypass is 'upnorth' a country all of its own

Although I have to say, im not great on different regions of england but I can tell the strong accents.

 Shiney Raa  

I used to drop me dad off there all the time to go to his masonic lodge.

I'm from Clydebank originally.

I have been mistaken for an Australian and an Aberdonian.....and you think Hull to Liverpool is bad?

ohh, a bankie!  

I went to live in Washington DC when I was 25, how many times I got asked if I was Australian is beyond belief.  Although that's nothing compared to being accused of being Chinese when I went on holiday to Egypt. 

Just out of interest - how would Leeds or Wakefield (for instance) people say Toast or Home?

I couldn't even begin to tell where people come from based on their accents. I usually just ask them

So do I Joe, so do I. Lovely lovely Lecs.

As to the accents; I was born & raised in Teddington, spent 3 years as a teen in Dorset, and since then have lived in North London.

Not to go all 'Enery ''iggins but it used to be fairly easy to tell which part of London or the 'burbs people were from as they all had separate distinct identities and accents to match.

Now London and the surrounds just seem like one huge metropolis. Shame really

I originate in Sunderland and can place all the NE accents, but I've been in the sarf for yonks now and can only differentiate between Essex, and the rest of Lahndon