I need to know if there is a famous british jew with many voice clips online(i n

Question:I am playing Fagin(from Oliver) in a play and i would like the voice of British Jew to bring to the play. In the original novel Fagin is called "the jew". I would like a little less cockney(not saying there is much) in there then the movie.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I am playing Fagin(from Oliver) in a play and i would like the voice of British Jew to bring to the play. In the original novel Fagin is called "the jew". I would like a little less cockney(not saying there is much) in there then the movie.

How about Ronald Pickup. He does quite a good one.

Sacha Baron Cohen?
George Michael?
Amy Winehouse?

Malcolm McLaren was certainly Faginesque.

You could browse through the very helpful Wikipedia "List of British Jews" --
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Bri...

Calling Fagin "the jew" is not necessarily a description of his religious or ethnic heritage, but is a rather typical English stereotype for anyone who is perceived as a disreputable, grasping and moneygrubbing thief.

Whether Fagin is actually "jewish" is irrelevant. Even if he was of "jewish heritage", he would have still been a product of the London slums and its underworld, and thus adopted the slang and speech style used by them, whether cockney or some other lower class dialect.

"Cockneys" are traditionally a small subset of people born within hearing of the bells of the Church of St Mary-le-Bow, in a poorer section of London. Thus,Cockney may be an appropriate dialect for a low bred Londoner, regardless of his ethnicity.

Does an "English Jew" speaks British English different than any other Englishman? They would all speak British English or in some form of English dialect, regardless.

In any case I would not stress the assumed "jewishness" of Fagin, lest you run into stereotyping: Fagin is not at all like Shylock, Shakespeare's archetypal English Jew.

"Cliff notes" has a good description of the complexity of Fagin's character without feeling the necessity of dwelling on his assumed heritage:

"Fagin, the mastermind among the criminals, is as ugly in appearance as he is repulsive in disposition, but he is not a one-dimensional figure. In Fagin, Dickens has attempted to portray a character who displays some of the complexities of normal human nature. When incensed, the old man may give way to savage rage, but on ordinary occasions he indulges in a mocking, sometimes sarcastic humor that earns him the nickname of 'the merry old gentleman'. This very fact is in itself an example of sardonic humor, of which Dickens is a master."