In sound recordings of British English from the first part of the last century wecan hear some speakers whose pronunciation of the letter r, in words such asring, bread and around,sounded just like a /w/. We know, too, from literary texts, that it goes backfurther. This article is about another, newer, pronunciation of /r/ in BritishEnglish, close to /w/, but distinct from it, that has increased in frequency andprominence in the last decade. In it, the lips are less pursed than for a /w/and you sense there is less muscular tension than for what we might call the‘traditional’ /r/ of speakers of standard English. Inambiguous contexts it could still cause confusion, as betweenreal and wheel, or crack andquack. It may occur less in Scottish, Welsh and Irishaccents than in ones from England.