Sorry! The English and Their Manners (Paperback)

'A writer of apparently limitless learning and intelligence, who writes works of scholarship masquerading as popular narrative non-fiction . . . the man is something else' 'An excellent history, just don't read it at the dinner table . . . this insightful book will give you pause the next time you wipe your nose on the duvet or - social death! - top up your host's glass at a New Year's Eve party' 'Amusing and enlightening . . . he is particularly insightful in depicting the evolutionary shift manners have taken since they were first codified on paper in the Middle Ages' '[Hitchings] is a lovely writer, full of interesting ideas and neat turns of phrase' 'Hitchings has made a bold, entertaining and often imaginative, assault on a fundamentally impossible subject' 'Manners is a fascinating subject, and Hitchings handles it with all his customary wit, knowledge and elegance' 'Highly entertaining and absorbing book' 'Understated elegance . . . it is itself an impeccably well-mannered and deeply English product' 'Witty and sharp . . . full of diverting nuggets and anecdotes . . . elegantly written' 'A scholarly study of English manners' 'Illuminating and entertaining' 'Hitching's shares provocative opinions . . . he exhibits an appetite for confounding myths about social mores' 'Endlessly entertaining' 'Diverting new book' An elegant and erudite book . . . Hitchings has an encyclopaedic mind, but like the well-mannered Englishman he is, wears his learning lightly Full of diverting nuggets and anecdotes Very well-mannered and authoritative survey of British behaviour What better book for a foreign beach than an exploration of our enduring stereotypes. This history of faux pas and foibles is ideal for broadcasting entertaining 'Did-you-knows?' He's terrific. He's struck the perfect balance between hard academic insight and sheer readability - and achieves both Scholarly without being heavy, and rich with acute anecdotes and diversions into social history . . . Pacy and enthusiastic, Hitchings's book entertains and enlightens The erudite and witty Henry Hitchings is the perfect guide through the minefield of social conventions we call manners