The University hosted popular historian and Suffolk dialect expert Charlie Haylock's last talk about his work with Ralph Fiennes and the cast of the Netflix film The Dig before Charlie's retirement at Christmas.

University of Suffolk Honorary Graduate Charlie entertained a sell-out audience in The Hold as he took a look behind the scenes, detailing the extreme lengths Ralph Fiennes went to not only to play archaeologist Basil Brown but to actually become him as well.

The film, based on the novel of the same name, tells the story of the famous Sutton Hoo burial ship and the people involved in its discovery.

Introduced by Dr Amanda Hodgkinson, Director of the University's Suffolk Centre for Culture and Heritage, Charlie shared how what at first looked like a potential “scam” email from The Dig’s producer turned out to be genuine — quickly followed by a phone call from Ralph Fiennes himself.

Ralph went on to immerse himself in the Suffolk dialect as he and Charlie went to great lengths to avoid any of the cast sounding like West Country pirates.

Charlie's talk also included his famous dialect tour of the British Isles, showing how different positioning of the lips, tongue and mouth contribute to vastly different sounds.

Charlie is author of In a Manner of Speaking and Sloightly on th' Huh!, an affectionate look at Suffolk.

For those who missed Charlie and The Dig, you can listen to the lecture below.