UKH

So a new Art History program with Andrew Marr. Why not an art historian ffs. Like getting a pop star to host a program about the Cosmos. Then the DM runs with 'Can you identify these 10 paintings?' feature and one of them is by Van Gough!!! I really despair at times.

Oh I got all 10. Easy really but then I did teach art.

I would once have said it was  at least phonetically correct  but my Dutch friends were quick to put me right ( as they are about most things).

I flew KLM once and asked a hostess whether it was pronounced goff or go. She made a guttural sound which sounded like neither...

Darren’s brother, member of the Barnsley School, naive realism. Call yourself an art expert!

I got 7/10

It was quite harrowing trawling through The Mail to find the quiz!

Here's a direct link to save anyone else the trauma...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-8392419/Only-six-cent-adults-ide...

Yup. If I had to spell it phonetically I would say Van Hoch with a dirty sounding H before the o.

(By the way i've spent the last forty odd years mispronouncing Degas......)

Have you been decommissioning air con units?

No I've been rhyming it with a famous US gambling resort!

You should have asked her how to pronounce the full name of her airline!

CB

A bloke goes into a bar in Arles and sees Vincent Van Gogh sitting at the bar. He goes up to him and says, "Hello Vincent, I haven't seen you for ages. Can I get you a beer?"

"No thanks, I've got one 'ere".

Van Gough is the name of at least one vehicle rental company in England! 

With "ou" you can go almost anywhere, so one of them is bound to be right!

"thought" is not too far away...

Ha!

Which would also explain the funny look from the librarian when you were making enquiries about The Count of Monte Cristo 

Here's a music one which really puzzles me. Is the famous composer pronounced SchuBERT or SchuMANN?

I thought both had the emphasis on the first syllable and a quick  audiogoogle seems to confirm it.

Safest for a Brit is to say Van (rhymes with one) Gog (rhymes with cog). Similarly Gullit is beter than Hullit. 

You have Ronald Koeman (Dutch footballer, national coach) and Nellie Cooman (Dutch sprinter) always made me laugh that British commentators pronounced them the opposite of how it is in Dutch. They could clearly pronounce the names, just the wrong way round.

Sorry! I was making a daft joke about Schumann and Schubert being the same person. I was not even being original as it was based on a story Humphrey Littleton or somebody told years ago on Radio 4 years ago about an American failing to understand they were two different people.

To be fair Andrew Marr has written two excellent books on modern UK History (linked to the TV shows but better).

An interesting life!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Marr