It's official. Stephen Hawking is evil - CNET

The campaign has been going for some time. The idea behind it is that it always seems to be Brits who play the bad guys in movies.

This is surely understandable. All those stiff lips and polite words are merely masks for colonialists and empire-builders. (Disclosure: I still have a British passport. I'm allowed to say that.)

Here, Hawking lives in a glorious bad-guy pad in the hills.

He's not one to joke around. At least, he doesn't appreciate his underling trying to make physics funny.

Still, he's impressed by how his protege has driven his Jaguar F-Pace SUV to defy gravity.

"We are the masters of time and space," declares the younger villain.

"And we all drive Jaguars," Hawking replies, before adding: "Hah. Hah. Hah."

Revealing his dark side has been Hawking's ambition for some time. Two years ago, he admitted that he'd love to be a Bond villain.

I suppose a Jaguar ad is the next best thing, or perhaps the 15th next best.

The Jaguar brand has undergone some changes since I owned one and had to give it back because it kept rattling.