Johnny English (character)

[[Image: 2003 2011 2018 2024 |270px|center]]
Character information
Full name:	Johnny English
Alias:	Gunther 002 Wing Commander Peter Adams Juliet Echo Basil Golightly
Title/rank:	Agent Sir His Majesty (temporarily)
Nationality:	British
Occupation:	Intelligence operative, geography teacher, King, junior RN officer (early script).
Affiliation:	British government, MI7
Status:	Alive
Behind the scenes
Role:	Main protagonist
Portrayed By:	Rowan Atkinson
Film(s):	Johnny English Johnny English Reborn Johnny English Strikes Again Johnny English 4

"He knows no fear. He knows no danger. He knows nothing."

― Tagline

Sir Johnny English is a fictional MI7 intelligence operative who serves as the titular protagonist of the Johnny English franchise. He appears in the films Johnny English (2003), Johnny English Reborn (2011) and Johnny English Strikes Again (2018). He was portrayed by famous British actor, comedian and screenwriter Rowan Atkinson, who also played Baron de Witt in a deleted scene from the first film.

He will return in Johnny English 4, coming soon.

Biography

Johnny English was born on 21 October 1956.

In 1997, he became a special agent for MI7, code-identified as 057M-I7.

At some point, he was airdropped into the Kalahari Desert with only a toothbrush and a packet of sherbet lemons. Despite his shortage of equipment, he managed to find his way to Bulawayo before Ramadan. Johnny English was also accidentally crowned King of England.

The Hacker Conspiracy

MI7 Agent Exposure and Forest Mission

"Well, you'd better get someone on it and find me some answers."
"Yes, but that's the problem. We don't have any agents left. They've all been outed."
"So bring back an old one!"

― The Prime Minister and Pegasus

The evening of 7 May 2018, MI7 was hacked, exposing the identities of all its active agents. At the Prime Minister's insistence, Pegasus recalled a number of former agents, including Johnny English, to take on the mission of tracking down the hacker and eliminating the security threat. The deadline for completion would be less than a week later when the UK hosted the G12 Summit.

That same night, Johnny English engaged in secret agent simulations with a number of his students. Baggaley served as the target of Ibadulla's team and was eventually flushed into a mantrap. English complimented the rueful boy on his improvements in concealment and camouflage. As Ibadulla and the others surrounded the hole, English congratulated them on the trap, awarding the group six house points. Deciding that they needed to get back to Grantham before the matron noticed, English assured his students that there weren't any more booby traps left, falling into one which he then insisted was the last one. The next day was the final one in the term and after several classes, English received a letter summoning him back to MI7 for reactivation. He therefore proceeded to London.

Back at MI7

"Man's a divot of the first order. Someone should put him out of his misery."
"Along with whoever furnished this room."

― Agents Seven and Nine on Johnny English

Personality

Though English sees himself as an accomplished agent, this doesn't really become true until the end of the first film. Johnny is highly charismatic, comical, good-hearted and confident, but he is also highly imbecilic and clumsy. He does not seem to think twice before jumping into action, often failing to implement some sort of plan. He does not tend to regret or even think about what he has done wrong until the consequences are dire. In 2006, he was head of security at President Chambal 's inauguration. He was distracted from his duties by Madeleine, a seductive woman who was paid by Vortex to distract him while the president was assassinated. This resulted in him being stripped of his knighthood and his exile to Tibet for rehab/retraining.

Abilities

English speaks several languages besides his native English, most notably Mandarin, although his problematic fluency often leads to him mistranslating in an understandable, yet hilarious manner. He has also used phrases in French, German, Spanish, Russian and Japanese. Although he is proficient in none of them.

Deleted Scenes

Johnny English (2003)

• At Agent One's funeral, as part of security, Johnny stops the Foreign Secretary's car. When a male aide sitting in the vehicle tells him whose car it is, English is immediately suspicious, telling the man that he cannot be the Foreign Secretary, going on to describe her appearance most disparagingly. When English turns to look at the occupant of the other seat, he sees that the woman that he has just insulted is sitting there.
• Before heading to MI7 Headquarters, Johnny stops to get a new suit. On his out of the clothier's shop, he accidentally walks into a newstand, quickly walking back out.

Johnny English Reborn (2011)

• In the original opening, Johnny is found in a cave in the Himalayas by Ting Wang, who offers to make him "a warrior again, mightier than before". English comes out of the cave and asks "How?"
• After Johnny's photo is taken at the MI7 service desk, he walks to his meeting with Pegasus. Along the way, the modernization of the organization visibly perturbs him. He is especially taken aback at seeing children on the premises. On the elevator, he sees he sees a poster advertising Tucker as the Spy of the Month. He reacts with an exaggerated eye roll. After disembarking, he finds Bough (who is now married) and expresses his concerns about the children, etc., while complimenting him on his office (actually Pegasus'). When Pegasus walks in, Johnny assumes she is an aide and proceeds to make advances on her. He is severely discomfited when she reveals his mistake.
• While being debriefed by Ambrose en route to the Toy Cupboard, English fawns on him, calling Simon the crème de la crème (repeated several times) of MI7. Ambrose shakes it off and continues to explain the situation, that MI7 is on Code 12 because of the upcoming talks with China. The two also joke at Pegasus' expense.
• After entering the Grand Lisboa Casino, unknowingly passing the Killer Cleaner, Tucker and English see a couple arguing in Mandarin. Johnny claims to be quite fluent in the language so Colin asks him to translate. Despite being semi-accurate, English's translation turns the couple's conversation from an argument into a romantic exchange. After the woman slaps the man, Johnny says that she was thanking the man "in the traditional way."
• While descending the steps to the tables, English accidentally drops his sidearm, which bounces around firing off several close shots. Johnny and Colin cover by pretending to be magicians with a specialty in "the near-death experience."
• Before entering the hotel, Johnny gets Tucker a traditional Chinese "herbal remedy" for his queasy stomach. The package actually contains dried squirrel testicles which Colin munches on while entering the hotel.
• After Fisher is shot and lolls over, English thinks he's passed out from too much alcohol and tries to wake him. Meanwhile, the Killer Cleaner has vacuumed up the bullet's shell. Tucker comes running in and immediately starts eating some of his herbal remedy. Johnny realizes that Fisher is dead and inadvertently reveals to Colin what it actually is that he's chewing. The two agents run into the hallway with Tucker trying to put up police tape and English telling him to stop, that "this is espionage, not crowd control." Johnny grabs an elderly man who has exited his hotel room, curious about the commotion, thinking that his cane is actually a gun. After realizing his mistake, he tosses it to Tucker.
• Before using a ladder to climb over a roof after Ling, English tries using his Semtex chewing gum to blow open a door lock. He gets the gum stuck to his finger, then his ear. With the countdown running out, Johnny tosses the gum over the side of the building and it lands on the sidewalk below, to be caught on a passerby's shoe. An explosion follows.
• After Johnny subdues Ling and his associates and obtains the Vortex key, Tucker expresses his admiration while the audience aboard Derek's speedboat adulate.
• At Pegasus' house, English asks Kate Sumner for her observation of his body language. She shrewdly sees through his projection of suaveness to his actual nervousness and relief at being reinstated.
• In an extended version of Johnny and Colin's report to Pegasus and the Foreign Secretary, English tries to cover up the loss of the key by pretending that his whole presentation was "a visualization exercise", then ducking under the table after a "dropped" pen. The meeting is interrupted by Pegasus' children and their friends. The Foreign Secretary leaves, with everyone else trailing out behind him and English banging his head against the key box.
• While en route to play golf with Karlenko, English and Tucker video-chat with Simon Ambrose and Kate Sumner. Johnny and Simon plan dinner at Ambrose's club and Kate asks Johnny to be careful. After they hang up, their car is run down by Vortex agents Slater and Madeleine who attempt to take out their vehicle with machine guns. The bulletproof Rolls-Royce is impervious and soundproof so English and Tucker are completely unaware of the attack. While Slater prepares a bazooka, Colin tries to test out the "oil" button, which leaves a slick behind them that causes the Vortex car to slide off the road and blow up. Slater and Madeleine survive.
• After Ambrose asks the waitress to have her for dessert, he and Johnny briefly discuss women. When Simon recalls stealing some of English's girlfriends, Johnny corrects him: that he stole them all.
• When a wounded Johnny appears in Kate's apartment following the wheelchair chase, Kate tends to Johnny's leg wound, prepares to apply an antiseptic and tells him that it will hurt. Johnny tells Kate that when he was training as a monk in Tibet, he was taught to ignore pain. However, he promptly screams when Kate applies the antiseptic with a cotton ball.

Trivia

• Johnny English is based on a similar character named Richard Latham that Atkinson played in a series of advertisements for Barclaycard in Britain. The "poison dart pen" sequence of the first film is based on a scene in the commercials where Johnny shoots himself in the leg with the pen.
  • Atkinson also played another spy with comic relief named Nigel Small-Fawcett in the 1983 unofficial James Bond film Never Say Never Again.
• Johnny English and Angus Bough are the two only characters of the franchise who appears in more than one movie by being played by the same actor.
• In the first film, just after the dream introductory sequence, English is wearing the classic "Mr. Bean" outfit.
• When he is locked up with Lorna Campbell before Sauvage's coronation, Johnny mentions a singing technique to find his way through a darkness, which he states has to be in E-flat. Although the first note he sings is a B-flat, he is actually singing in the key of E-flat.
• In the third film, during the dance floor scene, Johnny was doing the signature dance move of Mr. Bean.
• According to an earlier script, prior to joining MI7, Johnny was also believed to have been a former junior Royal Navy officer who served as the Captain's aide. But due to an undiagnosed sleepwalking condition - at one point almost falling into the sea whilst onboard a warship; Johnny was forced to leave the service.

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