When the B.B.C. were about to broadcast excerpts from Euripides' Electra spoken by a Greek actress, they judged it advisable to warn listeners that ‘the modern Greek pronunciation of the ancient language is somewhat different from that prevailing elsewhere’ (Radio Times, 19 September 1952). Listening to that broadcast, I wondered how any man could find it in his heart to exchange for the exquisite delicacy of the native pronunciation of that most poetic of languages the clumsy makeshift which we call our ‘reformed’ pronunciation.