Although English is the official national language in the UK, 275 separate languages are actually spoken in the nation's multicultural capital. It is perhaps surprising, then, that the acquisition of a second European language remains a low priority among most of the native population.

A stereotypical London accent is characterised by a dropped 'h' at the beginning of words, a glottal stop instead of 'tt' in the middle of words and the elongation of 'a' to 'i'.

Professor Higgins (Rex Harrison) famously tries to cure Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn) of this habit in the film 'My Fair Lady' (based on George Bernard Shaw's play 'Pygmalion'), by making her recite "The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain" and not "The rhine in Spine falls minely on the pline".

Cockney rhyming slang emerged in the 19th century as a means for East End residents to communicate without being understood by the police. Generally the last word of a short phrase would rhyme with the intended meaning but only the first word is used in slang to prevent unfamiliar ears from understanding what is being said.

So, for example, "butcher's hook" is abbreviated to the word "butchers" and is a commonly-used expression for someone wishing to "look" at something. In context, the entire phrase you might hear today is: "Let's have a butcher's at that".

Other examples are:

• "dog and bone" is abbreviated to "dog" and has the meaning "phone".
• "pork pies" is abbreviated to "porkies" and has the meaning "lies".
• "china plate" is abbreviated to "china" and has the meaning "mate".
• "trouble and strife' is abbreviated to "trouble" and has the meaning "Wife".

Perhaps the most famous example of modern rhyming slang is the immortalisation of the world-famous DJ, Pete Tong. The expression "It's all gone Pete Tong" means something has gone "Wrong".