The English Gentlemen's Wife

More about the book

Originally written for Debrett's Peerage, Douglas Sutherland's guide to that endangered species, the English Gentleman, was composed as an antidote to all the dull little books on manners; the kind read by those who long to be recognized as part of the real gentry by the way they use their finger bowl or address an archbishop. Both genuinely informative and very amusing, The English Gentleman offers the parvenu a window onto the world of the genuine article. It describes his habits; where he might live, what he might wear, his school, his clubs, his hobbies and sports, his family and relationships, his mode of speech, and the acceptable way to behave in almost any given situation (invariably the very opposite of what the outsider might think). Not to mention advice on the correct attitude toward money (it's vulgar), sex (it's vulgar), and business (it's vulgar unless, of course, it's run at a heavy loss). A hilarious initiation into the eccentric world of the stiff upper lip.