[The question was by all accounts an innocuous one but it caused rather more hemming and hawing than was at all justified.]

Well... ah, I suppose you could say so, I've lived in London longer than anywhere else, as far as time is concerned - more years, that is - consecutively, you know. I've never spoken differently, even since the beginning, which... er, can I get you some tea?

[He was twisting a ring he was wearing around his pinkie, a nervous gesture, like he'd been caught out in a lie.]