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SPEAKY BLINDER

I’ve lived near Birmingham all my life — but I woke up from a splitting headache with a Geordie accent

Verity Went suspects she is suffering from foreign accent syndrome

A BRUMMIE woke up from a blinding headache — with a Geordie accent.

Migraine sufferer Verity Went, 26, is baffled by the change as she has visited the North East only once when she was 13.

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Migraine sufferer Verity Went is set to see a neurologist after waking up with a Geordie accent, as she suspects she has foreign accent syndromeCredit: Kennedy News and Media

She explained: “I’d been awake for a couple of hours and could see my vision going and knew I was going to have a migraine. It was probably one of the worst I’ve had.

“When I woke up my speech was quite slurred but I’m used to that when I get paralysis — then when it came back it went straight to a Geordie accent.

“My mam works at a doctor’s and I messaged her saying ‘I sound different’.

“I got in straight away and looked at my mam to start talking and felt so embarrassed.

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“As I started talking, the doctor’s eyes and mouth were wide open. She genuinely couldn’t believe it.”

Verity grew up and has lived all her life near Birmingham — the setting for BBC series Peaky Blinders — and a childhood caravan holiday was her only taste of the North East.

She has functional neurological disorder and thinks this and the migraine may have altered the part of her brain that affects speech.

She is set to see a neurologist and suspects she has foreign accent syndrome — a condition where the way you talk changes.

But Verity of Penkridge, Staffs, admitted: “I’ve fully accepted this accent now.”

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A view of The Tyne Bridge in Newcastle — but a childhood caravan holiday was Verity's only taste of the North EastCredit: Getty
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