Oh, I know. I do a fake British accent that makes Americans laugh (ask me about the Billy Idol concert I attended...), but I would never do it in front of someone from the UK! I know how off it would be to a native speaker. But I think if I worked with a dialect coach, like the actors do, I could manage. I would mess up things like "have got" instead of "have gotten" and say "on the street" instead of "in the street" regardless of how good my vowels sounded.

I think that Hugh Laurie is PERFECT with his American accent though - probably because there are so many American accents. And I though CZJ was terrific in Chicago - I would never have known she was not an American if I didn't already know it.

My thing is when people try to do a Southern American accent - it so often sounds terrible!

When I started learning English, I had no idea there were things like American and British English. I just knew that English was the name of the language people used in films. I was very excited as I was going to learn to speak the language of Hollywood. Actually, I reckon I had no idea what Hollywood was either.

My two cousins were taking English lessons at an American school. I knew very little English at the time but I really liked their nasal English as it was very much like the one in westerns. However life is tough and we can't get everything we want. I was attending lessons at the Anglo Institute that teaches BRITISH ENGLISH. My cousins would mock me. They didn't like the way  I pronounced certain words. For example: mistah, teachah, peetah for Peter.

There I was learning the wrong variety. Anyway, I soon came to terms with accent. I have a nice British accent of my own. I switch it a little sometimes although deep inside, it's TEACHAH.

You can learn the British accent although it's not the same as acquiring it from the beginning. There's something to it that transcends words. There's wit, a many other things, not just propah English.

Now, if I have to choose from the so vast list of local British accents, I prefer standard RP as the core. If you want to sound like a Cockney, go to London. RP as the basics will keep you in business.