Interesting.  Because this is the most common explanation I've been given for my swarthy Irish ancestry.  Who the hell knows?  But the Spanish teacher at my high school took me under her wing, convinced of my Spanish origin when I told her, that no, my olive skin and dark features come from my Irish genes...  She practically jumped for joy at thought of having one of these specimens of Spanish virility in the British Isles in her little school.  Freak.  

I still have people stop me on the street and start asking me things in Spanish.  Don't speak a word of it though.

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. -Voltaire