I was proudly told, by an Oxford-educated descendant of a settler from the First Fleet, that according to a recent survey Australians speak no less than 282 languages in their homes.
By the end of his life, Tillson Harrison could speak no less than six different languages, had participated in seven wars and, although this was not discovered for several years after his death, was married to four women at the same time.
This was not a statement of policy, but it spoke no less clearly to the millions of Commonwealth citizens: the queen would stand by them, regardless of race, ethnicity or nationality.
He introduced to Americans and argued for the French auteur theory, which holds that a great director speaks through his films no less than a novelist speaks through his books.
The actors speak English with thick Russian accents (with varying success), and when Deema and Meela joke about how hard it is to learn silly phrases — while speaking perfect English, no less — any lingering suspension of disbelief dissipates.
Mr. Sarris played a major role in introducing Americans to European auteur theory, the idea that a great director speaks through his films no less than a master novelist speaks through his books.
Photograph: Buda Mendes/Getty Images 7.47pm BST Asmir Begovic speaks Facebook Twitter Pinterest No less a luminary than Bosnia-Herzegovina goalkeeper Asmir Begovic joined Nat Coombs to preview tonight's match for the Guardian World Cup show.
The Solid South speaks less and less for America and more and more for itself alone.
But the proposition gets much much more difficult when you try to take on issues that are less well known in the English speaking world, but matter no less to the lives of those they affected.
Then on a variety of fronts – from the ambitious graphic novel or history Maus, which uses the language of comics to speak of no less grave a theme than the Holocaust, to the scabrous reinvention of the Beano that is Viz – comics suddenly became OK for adults.
