Emma Thompson hits out at sloppy speaking

Actress Emma Thompson, fresh from writing a new film version of My Fair Lady, obviously has the plight of Cockney flower-girl Eliza Doolittle on her mind.

The 51-year-old Oscar-winning actress has cast herself in the role of irascible phonetics teacher Henry Higgins and decided that the nation needs elocution lessons.

Thompson told the Radio Times that people who did not speak 'proper' made her "insane".

"We have to reinvest, I think, in the idea of articulacy as a form of personal human freedom and power," she said.

"I went to give a talk at my old school and the girls were all doing their 'likes' and 'innits?' and 'it ain'ts', which drives me insane. I told them, 'Just don't do it. Because it makes you sound stupid and you're not stupid.'"

Thompson, who is best known to the younger generation for her role as Nanny McPhee, did tip her cap to youth culture, saying: "There is the necessity to have two languages - one that you use with your mates and the other that you need in any official capacity. Or you're going to sound like a knob."

Last month Thompson became embroiled in a row after declaring that Audrey Hepburn, who played Doolittle in the original film version of My Fair Lady, could not sing or act.

An Education star Carey Mulligan is being lined up to take over the role in Thompson's version of the play, based on Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw.

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