US actor Dick Van Dyke, who co-starred with Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins as chimney sweep Bert, has once again defended his cockney accent in the movie 59 years later.
The 97-year-old, who took part in the US Masked Singer this season as Gnome, said that Disney Studios had sent him a coach to his house ahead of filming Mary Poppins.
"They had sent somebody called J. Pat O'Malley. He was an Irishman. He came to my house one day after dinner for a couple of hours, and he taught me about the English accent," the actor explained.
"His Cockney wasn't very good to start with. I couldn't understand that: Here I was, I was surrounded with actors who were all British, and nobody had ever said anything about my accent!
"I just did the best I could. But the British, they're still kidding me - like, "Um, what part of England were you supposed to be from, again?"
"The British have never let me off the hook to this day about my terrible Cockney accent!", joked Van Dyke.
