A diagnosis for Bolger
Bronwyn Fox knows where she is from but has no idea where her accent originated.
The Invercargill woman believes she has foreign accent syndrome – a rare condition believed to be caused by damage to the part of the brain that controls speech.
Fewer than 100 people in the world have been officially documented as suffering from the syndrome, which leaves them speaking with an alien accent.
In the case of Mrs Fox, it is a mixture of Welsh, Scottish and North London accents.
Jim Bolger was famous for subconsciously adopting the accent of whichever foreign leader he was speaking to. Maybe this is the reason why – he had “foreign accent syndrome” 🙂