The end of the season

When it comes to fitting in at Ascot these days, your wallet matters more than your accent.

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Have standards slipped?
(Image credit: 2017 Getty Images)

In the musical My Fair Lady, phonetics expert Henry Higgins tries to teach cockney flower-seller Eliza Doolittle (memorably played by Audrey Hepburn in the 1968 film version) how to pass herself off as a duchess. Introduced to the nobility at Ascot, she initially does well, before lapsing into her original accent during a race. A modern-day Doolittle would have no such problems Ascot is now the preserve "of ladies in stripper heels and diamante-flecked dresses, drinking, snogging, cavorting", says Katie Glass in The Sunday Times.

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