Whenever Russell Crowe hits the headlines, it's generally to get a rap across the knuckles for bad behaviour . . . bar brawls, affairs, and general boorishness.

But really, does the crime of ungentlemanliness deserve the punishment of being taken out by al-Qaeda?

Bizarrely enough, the actor has revealed that that's exactly what he was at risk of after the release of Gladiator, when the FBI warned him that the terrorist group were planning to kidnap him. Ironically, they reportedly targeted the Kiwi actor as part of their plan to culturally destabilise the USA by eliminating iconographic Americans. The FBI protected Crowe for four years, but he remained unconvinced of the danger. "I never fully understood what the f**k was going on."