RP is the instantly recognisable ‘typically British" accent which does not give any clues about where the speaker comes from regionally however can give away a lot about a person’s education or social class. The dialect spoken by people is Standard English. RP was chosen in 1922 to represent the BBC and become the ‘BBC accent’ because it was deemed more easily understood by Britons as well as foreign people, it would also reduce any alienation that may occur if a regional accent was used. I believe this is fair because I think RP is the most recognisable of British accents and is very clear and pronounced and it certainly stands out amongst the American accent in American films! It’s surprising that although RP is the most obviously British that only 2% of the population actually speak it, which is weird considering most people relate British accents to RP. For example in American programmes when people put on an English accent they do sway it more towards that of RP. However, evidence showed that RP has died out over time and local accents have become more prominent which I suppose is inevitable. Also nowadays RP is related to social class and education which I think is similar to the Birmingham accent issue as it’s not really fair to make judgements on people by the way that they speak. Personally, I have a positive attitude towards RP as I think it sounds ‘proper’ and intelligent, I believe it would be nice if it was an accent spoken more widely in Britain.:):)
I find your comments about American perceptions of English as RP interesting - worth looking at the sort of roles RP English speakers tend to get in Hollywood movies! Note that RP is a relatively recent accent, compared to the regional variation which has been in our language since the earliest times. It has never been used by a large proportion of the population and has always been a marker of social class and education. (You could look up the story of RP to find out how the invention and spread of the railways in Britain helped the establishment of RP as a high-status class accent.) Also you'll find it has not died out - it is still spoken by many people, although (as you found) many younger users seem to be adapting their RP towards Estuary.
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