Having lived in both countries I am interested in the phenomena where each side of the Atlantic only hears a compression of accents- broad brush, sometimes to the point of incredulity.
Examples- a woman in West Virginia was taliking about a British politician who had, to a skilled British ear, a slightly disreputable South London Car Dealer accent, but she was convinced that he spoke the same way as Prince Charles. Similalry, Brits will only hear a few broad accents- only one southern drawl- no distinction between deep south and southern and Texan, will not differentiate between Boston educated and gneral New England, will not recognise the differences between say, standard mid-western and California. American can usually pick out Liverpudlian (because of the Beatles?) but hear only a general northern versus southern accent generally.
There are a lot of things I, or another American of my imagination, might associate with an English not-lower-class accent —posh, toney, snotty, classy — but “smart” isn’t one of them. (To be clear, neither is “stupid.” Intelligence doesn’t enter into it.)
It isn’t just Americans who value foreigners based on their accents, by far. You get ‘regal’ or ‘posh’ (“Port side Out, Starboard Home”) - to a British ear - tones in Indian, Dutch, German, American (Baah-ston/Haa-vard), Canadian.
And LOTS of Brits change their accents when talking. Britain still has something of a class-based structure and you, subconsciously at least, are aware of that when talking with someone definitely not a part of yours.
Russell Brand asks a lot of questions but doesn’t give many answers, I grant you. To me he is similar to Spike Milligan in whimsey and debate. Not a big negative, philosophically.
Ditto. I don’t know anyone who thinks Cockney accents sound classy or intelligent. Only takes watching an episode or two of Eastenders to believe Cockney speakers sound classless and not overly bright.
While there are probably some Americans who think this, it is not my impression that a Cockney accent is commonly perceived as sounding classy or well-educated here.