Queen's English succumbs to draw of the drawl

Hollywood send-up Tropic Thunder is worth seeing just to figure out how Robert Downey Jr. (from New York) earned an Oscar nomination by playing a foreigner (Australian) pretending to be something else (African-American).

Downey's was one of many hilarious performances but among them was one that wasn't. "Please allow me ta intra-doos maa-self," thundered the American drawl on one of the movie's 23 old pop tracks. "Aam a maaan of wealth and taste."

The singer, you may know, was Sir Mick Jagger, who comes from Dartford near Saff London and is as much American as Jackie Chan. In fact, "Rubber Lips" has earned fame and fortune for singing like an American for nearly half a century. A man of wealth, sure. But taste? If the idea offends Jagger or his fans, I must say I have no sympathy for the devil.