As someone who is British, I just want to support everyone whose saying not to use cliches. Just as Al B said, we don't all know the queen, and we don't all speak posh. Also along with Al B I'd like to say that if anyone ever wants to ask any 'how do British people say...?' then feel free to PM me and I'd be happy to help. Being British is something I actually have experience in! The best advice has certainly already been given, which is say he's British, use some British words and phrases in his speach (but not 'alright guv' 'I say' or 'toodle pip' etc etc) and leave it at that.
Sig comment: No man is an island! (He's a peninsula.) - Jefferson Airplane: A Small Package of Value Will Come to You, Shortly
Do you intend for Brits to read your book? If so, just say "he had a British accent" and leave it at that. Americans and Canadians always fail pitifully to demonstrate British accents. They think Brits are all either ridiculously posh, or cockneys with half their teeth missing. Trying to put down the character's accent in such a way will seem silly and cliched to British readers.
I am British, Scottish actually. So if anyone needs any help e.g. "How would you say this, _______?" then don't hesitate to leave me a message on my profile. One other thing, you guys don't call a cigarette a "fag"?
Nope a fag is an insulting term for a homosexual. Which is why I got a laugh when I lived in germany and their was a huge biulding that could be seen from just about anywhere in town with F.A.G. in huge lettering.
Erm, I will occasionally call a cigarette a 'fag', but since I'm Minnesotan its always when I'm putting on airs to joke around. Otherwise I never use the word; its other connotations bother me as much as the n-word. The reason its a term for a homosexual is because in its archaic usage a fag was a bundle of word to be thrown on a fire. Now it means 'gay', specifically 'gay man'. Do the math. *shrug*
Although I'm guessing that your problem has been answered in the preceding pages, I'd still like to offer some advice. I say that if you really want to put his accent down, then do it. As a reference, I'm going to point you to a book called Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh. It's a great story about the lives of several heroin addicts living in scotland, and is also written entirely in an Irish accent. It's hard to explain it exactly, but pick up a copy f the book and it may help you pen the accent.
When you say your character is to have a British accent, what do you mean by that? Britain is made up of Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales. Each country has completely different accents to the others. I'm from Scotland and there is a big difference between how Scots speak as to English, Welsh or Irish people speak and vice versa. You probably mean English because every time someone says the UK then most people automatically think "England". Just something to consider though.
I wouldn't mind if the narrator was vague about the region. I mean, the more specific it is, the less likely the reader would know and hear it. If you write "Trinidadian, but with some hint in the vowels that she had spent only the last year in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles" I would have no clue what that sounds like. Or, you could just note, depending on this narrator's ear, that a character has a certain quality of a drawl (like a Southerner) (in America, that is-- for example) or jabber (usually Northerner/coastal-ditto) or something that adequately describes the voice, without (or in addition to, if you want,) mentioning the region. I would mind the writer spelling every syllable phonetically because s/he just can't get over how funny they talk or tries to be really, really, really specific. It's more a hindrance than a help to the character coming alive, and I can hardly care about whatever atmosphere the accented character is supposed to carry into the scene when I have to slow the flow to decipher every word. Making subtle but characteristic changes in grammar, vocabulary (especially with colloquialisms,) or verbal tics -- as others have mentioned -- is much better.
