From Russia with Love (1963) || From Rewatch with Love Ep02

[@JayBlancVideos]

Romani conclude disputes by... having a court system called the Kris. The community regularly appointed members of the Kris, and they settled disputes after hearing arguments or representation from the sides involved. The court also had to balance community cohesion with individual rights, a concept called 'kintala' which literally means 'the balance'. If the Kris found someone to be 'out of balance' in the dispute, then fines or community service could be levied. (The absolute worst punishment a Kris could deliver would be to declare someone no longer Romani.)

[@loadingreadyrun]

Thanks for the insight!

[@user-zp4ge3yp2o]

Incorrect, they WRASTLE!

[@AStupidNewHandle]

I've never actually watched a James Bond movie but I'll be damned if I miss an episode of this podcast.

[@bertiewooles3093]

I have never seen many of the early ones so I'm watching along

[@ronaldkantelberg]

Maybe this is your chance to watch them.

[@matthewmorgan7103]

I have been listening to the BBC radio versions.

[@ThomasWright_]

@@matthewmorgan7103 that sounds fun

[@ThomasWright_]

there great movies

[@ThatGuyW3s]

Seriously my dudes, an hour and a half is a solid length for this series. All the production trivia and the plot review and the discussion is super interesting, this series is so packed with information and content that I don't want you to cut anything.

[@loadingreadyrun]

Glad you think so!! They get a little longer in the next few, but we’re AIMING for a listenable 90mins 😄

[@ThatGuyW3s]

@@loadingreadyrun Aces. Looking forward to Thunderball which is probably my personal no 1 Connery Bond movie.

[@loadingreadyrun]

...oh no 😅

[@ThatGuyW3s]

@@loadingreadyrun Don't worry, you're not going to kill my childhood I promise

[@sankethbhaskar4236]

🤣

[@ahmedolmez7958]

The mosque scene was shot in Hagia Sophia. It was a cathedral for nearly a millennia, then a mosque for nearly half a millennia, then a museum for nearly a century and it is now a mosque again. It was a museum at the time the movie was shot, but Hagia Sophia was also the main inspiration for all the domed mosques in Turkey, so it's easy to mix it up with a mosque.

[@mikemoritzgamer]

The movie specifically calls it The Santa Sofia Mosque, so them calling it "a mosque" is understandable.

[@Winterpandacookies]

I love hearing Graham talk about shows and movies cause you can really hear the producer side of him come out.

[@merkury06]

Pedro should have gotten an Oscar for his role as Karim Bey. He was funny and fierce at the same time. Totally believable in his role. I had no idea he was ill throughout his performance. Also, Russia with Love is my favorite Bond movie. Second is Daniel Craig's Casino Royale. It gets debatable after that. Great review and great series guys I look forward to watching the rest.

[@christhornycroft3686]

Nobody had better chemistry with Connery until Harrison Ford and maybe Christopher Lambert.

[@robvangessel3766]

Remember, guys, in 50 years from now what WE think is cool technology will be a big laugh. We always gotta watch and appreciate stuff in the context of the time it was made. Like we would a history lesson.

[@JoaoPessoa86]

hell the cell phones in "The Matrix" were laughable after only a decade

[@Thewingkongexchange]

I thought I was quite well-up on Bond stuff, but was completely blindsided by 'O.K. Connery'! Thanks for bringing it to my attention!

[@7TC7]

I love all the weird production facts that are coming up in these. Especially the redubbing of characters is very interesting to me, as it's a part that would have been completely lost to my personal experience - as I watched them all in German where they are all dubbed over anyways.

[@embyrr922]

The existence of this podcast brings so much joy to my life. I love how much you guys clearly love these movies, and get warm fuzzies remembering watching them with my dad.

[@isaachernandez282]

This is my absolute favorite Bond flick. I absolutely love this podcast. Excellent job gentlemen and to all involved behind the scenes

[@bgclo]

FYI 36:00, one 1963 gold sovereign is currently worth £450 to £600 (depending on who's selling it). Quite an appreciation I'd guess. If you reverse calc it using the inflation adjuster assuming £500 today, each coin is something close to £20 in 1963, so the case has £1,000? (Not sure this works like that.)

[@zanemagers7465]

Just ran through the first 19 films for the first time since I was a kid, I also watched all the Being James Bond Countdown to 25. Now here I am! Loving these so far 😁 great evaluations!

[@PlebNC]

Yay! The little tank is now a flare gun! What will next week's be? Gold bullion? A little laser death trap? Odd job's hat?

[@foxmcleod64]

I hold that the Bond vs Grant fight aboard the Orient Express is one of the best fight scenes in cinema history.

[@spyboy1964]

Yes it's one of the most influential fight scenes in cinema history

[@MonsterTeegs]

I just now finished watching this film for the first time ever and I thought that scene was exceedingly fantastic, even by today's standards!

[@SamnissArandeen]

You could recreate that entire scene blow for blow, shot for shot, in a John Wick movie and have it fit right in.

[@TurbosTantrums]

The thing with gold Sovereigns is that they're a known weight of pure gold, so they can be taken anywhere and spent or converted to cash without any audit trail. They're the 60s-British version of the Bearer Bonds that are the McGuffin in so many 80s films.

[@user-oh8vh3yi1p]

Great podcast. The insights into production are exactly what I was hoping for. One note: 1:28:00. Graham says Bond was British, whereas Connery was Scottish. I suspect what he meant was Bond was English, whereas Connery was Scottish. No shade, it is easy to misspeak on this stuff, but I think it’s worth noting that Scots are British. If ever they want to renounce it, of course, I’m sure we could find space for them in Ireland. Union of craic, lads, let’s go.

[@goodwin315vids]

Just gonna tack on despite it being 4 months later, bond himself wasn’t English. The character has a Scottish father and Swiss mother.

[@NorthRainProductions]

Just found y'all through this episode. I live next to St. George Utah, Snow Canyon killed John Wayne is a local story. I'm a third generation downwinder from the tests. Fun times.

[@BigHenFor]

Robert Shaw as Grant was a great actor, and Lotte Lenya, the German actor and singer made famous by her performances of the songs of Kurt Weill, her first husband were great additions to this film. Rosa Klebb was frightening in my youth.

[@razorkiller2004]

great stuff. Pulled out my Blu-Ray collection and am watching along with the podcast episodes. My significant other hasn't seen most of the Bond films so tonight will be From Russia with Love.

[@dvknig252]

Also, I don't think it was mentioned, the first use of the 007 theme, which is no longer used in the modern films unfortunately.

[@deltoran11]

Having never seen these older Bond movies before, it's so cool to hear you guys talk about all the editing and script-writing and production challenges they went through

[@mxg75]

A sovereign is a gold coin with a pound. Being gold, it was more useful internationally than paper notes. At face value, £50 in 1963 is worth £1054 in 2020, equivalent to $1315 US or $1782 Canadian, though the coins are probably worth more for their gold content or collectors value today.

[@BigBendLane]

From what I’ve seen online a full sovereign is worth about £310 in today’s money which amounts to about £155,000 for the full case of them

[@BigBendLane]

Oh they mentioned what I said I probably should’ve just kept listening lol

[@ManDragonA0]

Something else to keep in mind is that at the time of the film, the Gold Exchange Standard was still in effect, and the price of gold was fixed to the U.S. dollar (at $35 per ounce). So gold was much less valuable then than it is today, where now the metal value is much higher than the face value of the coins. So when comparing relative values, it's best to convert to $US at 1960 rates, and then convert that to current $US values.

[@BigHenFor]

A sovereign is a gold coin with a face value of £1 Sterling, and is a legacy from the time Great Britain was on the Gold Standard, actually backing the value of Sterling with gold bullion lodged in the Bank of England from 1817. During that time it was more convenient to use coins than notes when trading overseas because of their indestructability and ease of exchange. Britain's Imperial economic power made Sterling the first global reserve currency, so sovereigns were used everywhere where payment was needed in gold. Small and portable, anyone needing to move large amounts of money discreetly could carry sovereigns. Modern day peppers still recommend having a stash of bullion coins for the very same reasons. Sovereigns were no longer used in Britain as currency after World War I, but was still in demand as a bullion coin elsewhere. Nowadays, that's it's purpose except for the few inserted into jewellery.

[@BigHenFor]

@@ManDragonA0 Britain came off the gold standard in 1931, and so did the US in 1933 for domestic purposes. So at the time of the film, the value of a sovereign was dependent on the gold content, and the demand for the sovereign itself. As a coin, it is made from gold alloyed with a fixed percentage of copper and other metals. So they are easy to value. Portability, high value, ease of exchange, and untraceability would make them a choice for illegal currency movements.

[@AsEverEllesandra]

I'm really excited to see how the props on the right continue to change

[@Grimpo96]

Absolutely love this series, father is a big Bond fan and we don’t have all the movies. So, hearing a podcast about them while I work is a huge plus to me.

[@Rathclav]

Great to have you doing this new series. I deeply enjoy the old Bond films and while I keep meaning to rewatch them, this is a fantastic visit and you both make for great entertainment and provide fun ideas. Keep up the good work team!

[@scottrichmond3333]

37:32- Goldeneye, where Q goes through a whole rundown on Bond's car- only to have the car go pretty much unused

[@JoaoPessoa86]

I think that was partly caused by the deal with BMW involving them using a Z3 but it only being a concept model at time of filming

[@MaximePoirier]

I love this podcast so much! I'm a big fan of James Bond since always! I watched your content for your Pre-pre Magic Release but now it is more fantastic that you're doing this!

[@pandasrevenge1600]

I haven’t seen enough of bond movies and have definitely not looked into them this far. I can’t miss an episode. It’s so good.

[@dev9mm]

Maurice Binder did not do these opening title graphics. Robert Brownjohn did these, and the next, Goldfinger. Binder would return for Thunderball.

[@durge12]

i am all about the prop on the table next to matt changing with each edition of this podcast (going from dragon tank to flare gun). whilst some props that'll appear are obvious (a certain hat to appear in the next one perhaps?) im looking forward to seeing what they pick for the future installments

[@ewhac]

41:00: I'm rather fond of this write-up of _The Conqueror_ by Keith Allison on Teleport City: teleport-city.com/2014/02/07/the-conqueror/ He describes Wayne's performance in this role as, "Duke Manchu," and writes of Armendariz's performance, "[He] puts in a wonderful performance as Temujin’s blood brother, Jamuga. He seems to be one of the only members of the cast that understands how to act in an epic." 56:44: Here ya go -- the MST3K screening of _Operation Double 007_ : kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z2Wwl6CkbNuBask (You forgot to mention he's also an expert lip reader.)

[@rhvette]

Fun fact, you can buy Bond’s packable sniper rifle. It’s the Henry AR-7 Survival Rifle. Fun little plinker, though not really a sniper rifle by even the greatest stretch of the word.

[@alangiles1213]

Love this episode. So glad I found you guys, and this podcast! Enjoying every minute.

[@AngelKitsuneVixen]

I did not enjoy the Bond movies, but I’ll be damned if I miss Matt and Graham be passionate about something in podcast form.

[@---we1ok]

Same as their Wrestling and Marvel podcasts. I'll listen to the LRR crew be passionate about just about anything. Hell, they could review the Manitoba phonebook and it'd probably be entertaining.

[@lehrdircks4470]

I'm assuming that the "Manitoba Phone Book" is a raunchy sex act

[@keithbrown8490]

Maurice Binder do not do the opening credits for this movie or for Goldfinger . He did not come back until Thunderball and did them all till until Licence to Kill. I believe Robert Brownjohn did Russia and Goldfinger.

[@jdonvance]

51:00 The other important thing that happens here is that the musical cue "007" makes its grand debut. It's sort of the recurring secondary theme behind "The James Bond Theme" like "The Plot" is to "Mission: Impossible". [That came from memory. It could be "Mr. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang" for as good as my memory is worth.]

[@joshuagorsuch8153]

A Gold sovereign weighs about 7grams. So the 50 coins would only weigh about 350g.

[@Classicgreeen]

You guys did great job with all movies. I've heard other bond podcasts and you guys did great job. You should've done other rankings - Villains, allies, bond, bond girls etc just saying.

[@sankethbhaskar4236]

The whole dubbing thing just gives the vibe that they were really bent on having 'perfect' women in the films and selling that to the audience

[@JoaoPessoa86]

considering all of Bianchi's interviews are in Italian, I think in her case, like Gert Frobe's, it really was about her command of the language.

[@giveaquestion9683]

You guys look dashing! this is very entertaining. An episode on austin powers/parodies could be very fun in this format.

[@dvknig252]

Needless to say, these are awesome and really enjoying them :)

[@grauekatze]

Ah, was so excited for the next episode. Well done G and Matt!

[@Xondar11223344]

Earlier in the movie, Bond check's the agent's case and finds a gun, so when he acts eager to open the case and Grant falls for his bluff and does it for him, he has the upper hand the entire time. Either grant falls for his bluff and gets a face full of gas, or Grant calls his bluff and makes Bond open the case, then Bond has a gun. It's a really great moment. BTW, I'm loving the podcast. I saw the Goldeneye episode so I went back to watch the other episodes from the beginning. I grew up watching all the James Bond movies, we would rent them on tape or watch them whenever they were on TV. Currently me and my wife are doing a rewatch (for me) and a first time watch (for her).

[@sashaburrow6186]

Memory is a bit fuzzy (Its been an age since I read the books) but I seem to recall this story happens in the books BEFORE Dr No, as BOND gets stabbed by Kleb with the shoe blade and poisoned and is only saved cos someone knows CPR and he is sent to Jamaica to recover?

[@LobsterSpecial]

Best Bond movie right here IMHO

[@Chopkinsca]

I'll have to watch this whole series now. It's like watching the films from a second viewpoint. Not sure if I'm just dumb when it comes to understanding movies, but this podcast/video cleared up a lot of things in this movie.

[@VAB0L0]

Wow, I'm surprised at how late in production the movie came together! Really digging this series, great work Matt and Graham!

[@hoytdmartin]

This series finally got me to watch FRWL last week in anticipation of this episode.

[@ImYourHuckleberry_29]

Nice pod. Just wish you'd spent more time on the fight details. Its the best Bond fight scene of all time.

[@diogocatalano9557]

The best Bond movie ever.

[@ellaser93]

I am so freaking glad that Graham brought up Double 007. It's one of my favorite episodes of MST3K.

[@PeterHaderlein]

These are great, please keep doing them.

[@williamh0809]

RIP Barbara Jefford 1930-2020

[@grahamgreene779]

If curious, one can hear Eunice Gayson's voice as she sounded in her scenes with Connery playing Sylvia Trench if one searches: "Dr. No Official Trailer #1". It will also say Sean Connery movie (1962). There wasn't an audio problem on set capturing her lines and I think she sounds really quite good. My guess is this was just a thing that producers typically did back then, trying to match a female look with a more appropriate (sexier?) voice. It's still frequently done with commercials, too be fair.

[@spideylover4105]

I saw an interview of Sean Connery when he was promoting Never Say Never Again and he said this was his favorite bond movie as in his opinion it was the most faithful to the source material with an emphasis on spycraft before going over the top with gadgets and evil lairs.

[@Happymali10]

It's the same helicopter miss evil uses to fly to the henchmen-spa. And also, those are some MASSIVE fireballs for a grenade.

[@GGCrono]

You guys could do a podcast about watching various types of paint dry and I'd probably still tune in. Thankfully, this is slightly more interesting.

[@jschrab66]

Loving this series already! It has just started and I'm already wondering if it could continue after the Bond movies? The 60s-Spy movie genre is a pretty deep pool.

[@Mxradio414]

Lotte Lenya is so iconic as Rosa Klebb. She also first sung "Pirate Jenny", that highly influential Kurt Weil and Bertoldt Brecht song that went on to influence the likes of Nina Simone and Alan Moore and I think that's really neat too.

[@Mxradio414]

*Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht whoops

[@BigBendLane]

Most engines in the 60’s had generators instead of alternators to recharge the electrical system and generators had open arcs which could ignite gas vapors. This might just be a tall tale but it could explain why they cut off the engines in the bay full of gas.

[@Chatty_Protagonist]

Haven't listened yet, but this is my person favorite Jame Bond

[@thewonderdoc2999]

I really enjoy this podcast. I haven‘t seen all Bond films and some I‘ve seen so long ago. I also really hope you‘ll do an episode on Austin Powers as a whole(dont know if you mentioned it in episode 1).

[@williamh0809]

Would an expensive hotel room in Venice have what looks like a lino floor?

[@captainwre]

Love this podcast so much, I bought the James Bond Collection on Bluray, Forgot how good/terrible they really are!

[@DavidBrown-xm8ou]

Gogol is a General, not a Colonel. He's M's Russian counterpart, and M is an Admiral.

[@johnpotts8308]

Given the Books have a different order from the films, the line "Working on an old case" would make more sense as the novel proceeds from "Diamonds are Forever", where the love interest was Tiffany Case (though in the novel, Bond makes it clear they'd split up between novels). Of course, Tiffany would probably been even more annoyed at being referred to as "An old Case"!

[@fanboy2015]

Maurice Binder did not do the opening for this film. It was Robert Brownjohn. Brownjohn also did Goldfinger. Binder came back for Thunderball.

[@xveers]

A gold sovereign is about 8 grams of gold (ballpark). After converting that into troy ounces and then on into USD value, those 50 Gold Sovereigns are in the ballpark of about $455 USD at the time. If that amount was run through inflation, it'd have about $3800 USD buying power today. However it's also worth noting that the international price of gold at around that time was only about 36-38 USD per troy ounce (compared to about $1780 USD at time of posting). So there's probably something that's been lost in the translation since the movie was made.

[@ManDragonA0]

The Gold Exchange Standard in effect at the time fixed the price of gold to $35 (U.S.) per troy ounce. Once the price of gold was allowed to float (1976 ?) those coins worth changed considerably.

[@mewr11]

I've got to say, this series title is great for everything except for this exact episode, where it looks really strange.

[@jamesadamsfl]

The star of "O.K. Connery" sounds like Buckaroo Bonzai before Buckaroo Bonzai was a thing!

[@BigHenFor]

The closing Gold Price in 1962 was just over 35 USD per troy ounce. There are 0.2354 troy ounces of gold in a sovereign. So, the value of a sovereign would be about 8.24 USD or in scrap value then. The value of £1 sterling at that time was 2.80 USD so each sovereign was worth 2.94 GBP in 1962, worth 64.69 GBP in 2019 or 86.24 USD.

[@michaelkeenan2307]

4:30 Ken Adam will return in GOLDFINGER

[@CmdrUD87]

Another entertaining episode! I know this is sort of unrelated, but can we get another show like this for Star Treck with Graham and either Paul or Ian whenever the next movie of that franchise comes out? Just asking because I think that would be a lot of fun

[@christopherbooth9682]

A gold sovereign is 7.92 grams of 23 carat gold. Although the 'official' value is meant to be £1 Sterling, in reality it's a bullion coin whose value is directly pegged to that of gold. Don't know what one was worth in 1963, but now they're about £350 ($500) each. Pointless trivia: British fighter pilots flying in the Gulf War and Afghanistan / Iraq wars were given gold sovereigns to carry on missions, so if they were shot down behind enemy lines and captured, they could barter or bribe their way to freedom.

[@DeltaDemon1]

That thing about "The Conqueror" is somewhat of a myth. It turns out that the percentage of people who got cancer on that shoot is almost identical to the national average. So there may not be any relationship between that shoot and the deaths from cancer. It's a little bit like Tutankamen's curse (almost certainly spelled that incorrectly and I'm too lazy to check i up..."curse" is so difficult to spell correctly).

[@mwgary]

For what it’s worth, a gold Sovereign’s actual face value is one pound sterling. However, its real value is considerably higher.

[@Happymali10]

Look up "California Doubling" for that "any number of places"-bit.

[@hfar_in_the_sky]

Man, that The Conquer story is messed up! :(

[@yakkers221b2]

Good to know that this was almost The Snowman

[@Doodlesthegreat]

I think part of the reason it holds together as well as it did was that this movie is one of the closest ones to the book. Aside from the change in overarching antagonist and a couple of character building shots on the SPECTRE yacht and in Istanbul, the only major scenes not in the book involve everything between Grant being killed and arrival in Venice. SPECTRE's motives tend to be more capitalistic than political. They were simply going to sell the Lektor back to Russia for phat lewts. The desire to keep Russia from being an antagonist in case the Cold War ends was a good example of being forward thinking. However, the next two films have no issue at all with making _China_ a scapegoat, which bit them in the ass 'round about 1972. Only Nixxon could go, after all...

[@shadowscribe]

I'm looking forward to when they introduce super henchmen. I'm super pleased the Bond girl is actually involved in the story.

[@Treblaine]

Maybe he found the captain's hat in the flower truck and that was his clue to go to the dock.

[@1SaG]

Assuming this is the same 1 GBP Gold Sovereign I found on the web (there are other sizes/denominations), each coin would weigh 7.98 grams (7.32g of which are pure gold), meaning 50 of them would weigh 399 grams - which isn't that much weight to be lugging around.

[@robvangessel3766]

I'm surprised by occasional knocks against Dr. No. Apart from introducing us to Connery's vivid presence, scenes like Bond sitting there placing his Walther on the table as the assassin enters the room, nonchalantly lighting his cigarette, and then casually killing the guy is a classic. "That's a Smith & Wesson and you've had your six." This site is really bringing the geek out of me! Blame it on 6 months of lockdown. I'm just beginning to realize I actually used to have a life.

[@philmilman478]

I am surprised you did not call out the LGBT+ reference, Klebb's interview with Tatiana ends with them sat on the edge of a bed. It is the 60s so it always the bad guys that have this 'deviance'.

[@Ansemrp]

These guys really didn't even mention Lisa Guiraut's gypsy dancing scene? She was beautiful in this film.

[@JoaoPessoa86]

Tatiana is one of the few Bond women who isn't introduced with her meeting Bond. I think she's the only Connery era girl with that distinction

[@forge23]

FYI: A "gold sovereign" is a pure gold coin, they are worth almost 500usd each (depending on which year/version) so 50 of them would be about $25,000 by today's gold prices, and they weigh about as much as any small coin, so quite easy to hide.

[@classiccomedycinemaprogram1640]

A gold soverign contains 7.32 grams of gold so 50 of them at today's prices would be 15,148 pounds or $21,010

[@kholui]

Scots are British too - geographically, even if some don't identify as such politically. Britain is an Island, divided between 3 nations: England, Scotland and Wales - which, together with Northern Ireland, currently form a political union, the UK. Scottish, British and European are not mutually exclusive labels. Just as you can be both Texan and American.

[@JoaoPessoa86]

except, at least in my experience, Scots are not fond of being called British

[@MrDalevich]

The mask at the beginning makes such a strange sound when it is peeled off. It haunts me to this day.

[@MrPooleish]

I always misremember Anti-Bond Training/Train Murder as Thunderball. Like, every single time.

[@jillpole]

What is going on with the names in this one? Cleb? Smursh? Sounds like Nsburg up in here.

[@ladsworld]

Here's a reupload of the MST episode for O.K. Connery that Graham mentions: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z2Wwl6CkbNuBask (Please support the official release and all that but MST reuploads stay on KZbin for so long that I don't think Shout Factory actually cares. Besides, circulating tapes is harder when nobody has VCRs anymore.)

[@dvknig252]

Is it me or do they not mention the fact Robert Shaw is in this film?

[@kyleolson8977]

"The Conqueror" Cancer story is myth. It's not that the facts you had about the production or the number of cancer deaths were wrong (which I would assume is one reason why the story continues), but the myth is that it's an unusual number. As Wikipedia notes: ".. about 220 cast and crew who filmed in a 1956 movie, The Conqueror, on location near St. George, Utah, ninety-one had come down with cancer, and 50 had died of cancer. ... Of these, forty-six had died of cancer by 1980. ..This places the cancer mortality rate for the 220 primary cast and crew quite near the expected average." Consider that the idea that "The Conqueror" was responsible for cancer deaths comes from the repudiable medical journal "People Magazine". The slight increase is well within the margin of error, not statistically significant. The fact that the leads died of cancer also makes the idea seem appealing as our brains are always looking for "post hoc ergo propter hoc" connections, but this is three people, not statistically significant.

[@durge12]

my god, how was this 5 months ago. time truly has no meaning in the year known only as 2020

[@QHarefield]

Graham, I am sorry to say that you appear to have contracted a rare 'R' virus : it works by taking the letter R from one word where it belongs, and transposing it to another where it does not. In your case the infection is evident when you say Konsteen and Eunice Grayson. I do not know how transmissible it is but Matt should definitely keep his distance.

[@SplatterInker]

Not sure his Scottish ancestry was just a tip of the cap to Connery. Ian Fleming also had Scottish ancestry (it's in the name!!) And I believe he was educated up there for a while??? Also not sure Felming was anti Connery because of his nationality so much as his obvious Scottish accent. I.e. he wasn't supposed to be Scottish but have Scottish ancestry.