The English Gentleman - Softcover

Douglas Sutherland

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140055975 ISBN 13: 9780140055979

Publisher: Penguin, 1980

Synopsis

Originally written for Debrett's Peerage and now something of a classic, Douglas Sutherland's guide to that endangered species, the English Gentleman, was originally written as an antidote to all the endless, dull little books on manners and etiquette: the kind read by those who long to be recognised as part of the real gentry by the way they use their finger-bowl or address an Archbishop. Both genuinely informative and yet very funny in its self-deprecating tone, The English Gentleman offers a window to the parvenu on the rather perverse 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 behaviour when abroad, 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 to have toward money (it is vulgar), sex (it is vulgar) and business (it is vulgar unless, of course, it is run at a heavy loss). It all adds up to an unmissable initiation into the eccentric social history of the stiff upper lip. A hilarious and insightful look at the real life counterparts to the sort of squires found in the fiction of Nancy Mitford, PG Wodehouse and Compton Mackenzie. Proving that truth is often stranger than fiction.

About this title

Review:

"Extremely funny" Jilly Cooper "Douglas Sutherland is a most witty exemplar of this vanishing species, and he has written a perfect self-parody of his type" New York Times Introduction by Sir Iain Moncreiffe of that Ilk, Bart. Drawings by Timothy Jaques"

About the Author:

Douglas Sutherland was a descendant in the male line of William, Earl of Sutherland in 1235. He went through private school, public school and the regular army and lived in what he described as the coldest mini-castle in Scotland. He was a well-known shot, salmon fisherman and bon vivant.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 1980
• ISBN 10: 0140055975
• ISBN 13: 9780140055979
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 97