Questions and suggestions 5 1)

magazine which gives details of all the week's radio and television
programmes. In April 19 94 it subtitled its int roduc tion to a pro -
gramme wh ich previewed that year's entries for the Eurovisio n Song
Cont est as ' tips fo r Ie top'. Notice th e ' le'. It is an indicatio n of the
apparently w idespread assum ption that Euro pe is a place w here
eve rybody speaks Fren ch.
Th e British co ntinue to be very bad about learning o the r pe oples '
languages. Fluency in any European lan guage other than English is
generally regarded as exo tic. But there is not hing defensive or deliber-
ate about thi s att itu de . The British do not refuse to speak other
languages. They are just lazy.

QUE STIO N S

I In the early years of th e twentieth century. the
playwright and soc ial commentator George
Bernard Shaw re m arked that an English man only
had to open his mouth to make some other
Englishman despise him . What wa s he talking
about' Would he say th e sam e thing toda y'
2 In the 19 30S people in middle-class ne ighbour-
hoods o ften reacted angrily to th e building of
ho using estates for the wor king class nearby. In
one area they even built a w all to separate the
two neighbourhood s I Thi s co uld never hap pen
to day . Why not' W hat has cha nged?
3 Standard English is used ' naturally' in everyday
speech by between 1,% and 30 % of rhe popula-
lion in Britain (it depends how you define it).
Recei ved pronunciation (RP), again depending
on how you define it, is used in everyday speech
by o nly 3% to 12% of the population. So wh y
is standard English w ith an RP accent the usu al
m odel for people learning British English as a
foreign language ? What justificati on can yo u
find for thi s pra ctice '
4 Do the social classes in yo ur co unt ry differ enti -
ate them selves in the same ways as they do in
Britain? Do language, accent, clothes, money,
habi ts and attitu des play the sam e ro les in your
co untry?
, Th is chapter considers several factor s that can go
towards creating a person 's sense of identity.
Some of these are m ore important in Britain and
some are less important. Are the same factors
the im portam o nes in yo ur co untry?

SU G G ESTI ON S

• Mauy BBC television co m edy programmes depend for m uch of their

humour on habits and values de termi ned by social class. Recent
examples (which you may be able to gel o n video) include Only Fools
and Horses and Birds ofa Feather, bo th of which portray Cockney value s,
and Keeping Up Appearances , which makes fun of the pretentiousness of
so m e middle-class people.
• If you are interested in accents an d di alects, EnglishAccents and Dialects
by Hug hes and Tru dgill (Edward Arnold) is an academic book w ith
lo ng texts exemplifying the main type s of English spoken in Britain .
There is an acco m panying cassette.
• TheQueen and I by Sue Townsend (Mandarin) is fu n to read and portrays
working class characters humorou sly con trasted w ith memb ers o f
the upper classes (the ro yal family).

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 56
.. Land o f tradition
A reputation for tradition can lead to
its artificial preserv ation - o r eve n
its re-introduction. A notable
example is the Asquith taxi. This wa s
introduced onto the streets of
London in 1994. It is an exact replica
of Lo ndon taxis of the 19 305
(ex cept, of course, that it has
modern facilities - and a m o dern
mctcrl). It is deliberately des ig ne d
that vvay to appeal to tourists, w ho
equate London with traditi on.
Similarly , w hen Lo ndo n's fam ou s
red buses w ere privatize d (sol d to
private companies) in the early
199°5, the differen t bus companie s
wanted to paint their buses in their
company co lours . The go vern me nt
ruled that all buses had to Slay red
because that is what the peop le o f
London wanted, and that is wh at the
government believed would help
the tourist trade .
An Asquith taxi
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5
Attitudes
The British , like the peop le of every country, tend to be attributed
w ith certain characteristics which are supposedly typical. However,
it is best to be cautious about accepting such characterization s too
easily, and in the case of Britain there are three particular reason s to
be cautio us. The first three sections of this chapter deal w ith them in
turn and com ment on several stereotyped imag es o f the British.
Stereotyp es and chan ge
Societies change over time w hile their reputation s lag behind . Many
thin gs w hic h are often regarded as typically British derive fro m
bo oks , so ngs or plays w hich were wri tten a long time ago and w hich
are no longer representative o f modern life. One exam ple of this is
the popu lar belief that Britain is a ' land of tradi tion ' . Thi s is what
most tourist bro chur es claim (I> Land of tradi tion). The claim is based
on what can be seen in public life and on centuries of political con -
tinui ty. And at this level - the level of public life - it is undoubtedly
true. The annual ceremony o f the state opening of Parliam en t, for
instance , carefully follow s customs which are centuries old (see
chapter 9) . So does the military ceremony of ' trooping the colour '.
Likewise, the cha nging of the gu ard outside Bucking ham Palace
never changes.
How ever , in their private eve ryday lives, the British as individuals
are pro bably less incl ine d to follow traditio n than are the people of
most othe r co untries. There are very few ancient customs that are
followed by th e m ajor ity of fam ilies on spec ial occa sion s. The
co untry has few er local parades or processio ns wit h genuine folk
ro ots than most other co untries have. The Engli sh language has fewer
sayings or pro verbs that are in common everyda y use than many
o ther languages do . The British are too individualistic for these
thi ng s. In addition , it should be not ed that they are the most enthusi-
astic vide o-watching people in the w orld - the very opposite of a
tradition al pastime !
The re are m any exam ples of supposedly typical Briti sh habits
w hich are simply not typ ical any more. For exam ple, the stereotyped
image of the London 'ci ty gent' in clu des the wearing of a bow ler hat.
In fact, this type of hat ha s not bee n commonly worn for a lo ng time.
Foo d and drink provide other exam ples. The traditiona l 'Bri tish' (or
 English versus British .57

'English') breakfast is a large 'fry-up' (see ch apter 20 ) precede d by

cereal wit h m ilk and followed by toas t, bu tter and marmalade , all
washed down with lo ts of tea. In fact, only ab out 10% of th e people
in Brit ain actually have this sort of breakfast. Two- thirds hav e cu t out
the fry -up and jus t have the cereal, tea an d toast. Th e rest have even
less. W hat the vast majority of British people have in the m o rni n gs is
therefore much closer to w hat they call a 'continent al' (i.e .
European) brea kfast than it is to a 'British' one. The im age ofthe
British as a nat ion of tea -d rinkers is an o th er stereotype w hich is
somewhat out of da te. It is tr ue that it is still prepared in a di stin ctive
way (strong and w ith m ilk), but m o re coffee than tea is n ow bou ght
in the country's shops. As for the trad ition of afternoon tea w ith
biscuits, scones, san dwiches or cake, th is is a minority activity,
largely confined to retired peo ple and the leisured u ppe r- m idd le class
(although preserved in tea shops in to urist resorts) .
Even w hen a British ha bit conforms to the stereotype, the wrong
conclusions can sometimes be drawn from it. The su pposed British
love of q ue uing is an example. Yes, British people do fOrI11 queues
w he never they are wa iting fo r so mething, but this does not m ean that
they en joy it. In 199 2, a su rvey found tha t the average w ait to pay in
a British supermarke t was three mi n utes an d twe n ty-t hree seconds,
an d that the average wait to be serve d in a bank w as tw o m inutes an d
thirt y-t hree seco nds. You m ight th ink tha t these times sound very
reasonable. But The Sunday Times new spaper did not think so. It referr ed
to th ese figures as a ' problem' . Some ba nks now promise to serve
their customers 'within tw o mi n utes' . It would therefore seem w rong
to conclude tha t the ir habi t of q ue ui ng shows that the British are a
patient people. Appa ren tly, th e Bri tish ha te hav in g to w ait and have
less patien ce th an people in many o the r coun tries.

En glish versus British

Because English culture do m in ates the cu ltures of th e o ther three
nations of the British Isles (see chap ter I) , everyday ha bi ts, at titudes
and values among the peopl es of th e fo ur n ations are very similar.
However, they are no t identical, an d w ha t is often regarded as typi c-
ally British may in fact be only typ ically Eng lish. Th is is espec ially
true with regard to one no table cha racteristic - anti-in tellectualism.
Among m an y people in Britain , there exists a suspicion of intelli-
gence, education and 'high culture ' . Teach ers and acad emic staff,
although respected, do not have as hi gh a status as the y do in most
o ther countries. Nobody n ormally pro clai ms their academ ic qu ali-
ficat ions or title to the w orld at large. No pro fessor would expect, or
want, to be ad dressed as 'Professo r' on any but the m ost form al occa-
sion. Th ere are large sections of bo th the u pp er and w or kin g class in
Britain w ho, tradi tio nally at least , have na t encoura ged the ir child ren
to go to univer sity (see ch ap ter 14 ) . This lack a f en thusiasm for
ed uca tio n is certainly decreasing. Nev ert heless , it is still unusual for

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 S8 5 Attitudes
... Swots
The slang word 'swot' was first used
in publi c schools (see cha pter 14)"
It describes someone wh o w or ks
hard and does well acade mically" It
is a term of abuse" Swots are not verr
popular. In the English mind. schol-
arship is something rather strange
and exotic. so much so that the sight
of the ma nager of a footb all team
simply wr iung so met hing down
during a match is considered worth y
of comment. During the 1990
English football Cup Final. when he
saw this happening. the BBC com-
mentator said (Witham apparent
iron}"). 'And }"OU can see Steve
Coppell's been 1O university - he's
takin g notes !'
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parents to arrange extra pr ivate tuition for thei r ch ildren, even among
those who can easily afford it.
Anti -inte llec tual att itu des are held consciou sly only by a small
pro portion of the po pulation, but an indication of how deep they
ru n in society is that the y are reflected in the English language. To
refer to a per son as somebo dy who 'gets all their ideas from books'
is to spe ak of them ne gatively. The word 'clever ' o ften ha s nega tive
connot ations. It suggests some one who uses tricker y, a person w ho
cannot quit e be tru sted (as in the expression ' too clever by hal f ')
(t- Swots).
Evidence of thi s attit ude can be found in all four na tion s of the
British Isles. How ever, it is probably bett er seen as a specifically
English characteristic and not a British one. The Scottish have alw ays
placed a high value on education for all classes. The Irish of all classes
place a high value on being qui ck , read y and able w ith words. The
Welsh are fam ou s for exporting teacher s to other pans of Britain
and beyond .
Multicultura lism
The third reason for caution about gen eralizations relates to the large-
scale immigration to Britain from places outside the British Isles in
the twentieth cent ur y (see chapter 4). In its citi es at least , Britain is a
m ulticult ural socie ty. There are areas of london , for exam ple , in
w hich a distinctively Ind ian w ay of hfe predominates, w ith Ind ian
shops, Indian clothes, Indian langu ages. Because in the local schools
up to 90 % of the pupils may be Indian , a distinctively Ind ian style of
learning tends to take place.
These 'new British ' people have bro ugh t w idely di ffering sets of
attitudes with them . For example, while som e seem to care no more
about education for their children than people in tradi tional Eng lish
culture, ot her s seem to care about it a great deal more.
How ever , the diver gen ce from in di genous British attitudes in new
British com m un ities is constantly narrow ing. These com m unities
some times have their own newspapers but none have the ir own TV
stati on s as they do in the United States. Th ere, the nu mber s in such
com m un ities are larger and the physical space betwe en them and
othe r com m un ities is grea ter, so that it is possible for people to live
their w ho le lives in such comm un ities without ever really learning
Eng lish. Thi s har dly ever happens in Britain.
It is therefore still possibl e to talk abou t British characteristics in
gen eral (as the rest of thi s chapter does) . In fact, the new British have
made their ow n cont ribu tion to British life and attitudes. They have
probably he lped to make people more informal (see below ) ; they
have chan ged the na ture of the 'corner shop ' (see chapter 15) ; the
m ost popular, we ll-attende d festival in the whole of Britain is the
annual NOlting Hill Carn ival in London at the end of Augu st, w hich
is of Caribbean inspiration and origin .
 Co n ser vatism 5"9

Conservatism III- Lord Sn o oty

The Briti sh ha ve few living folk traditions and are too individ ualistic Lord Snooty illustrates the enthusi -
asm of British children for charac -
to have the sam e everyday habi ts as each other. Ho wever, th is does
ters from earlier times. He first
not mea n that they like change. Th ey do n' t. They m ay no t beh ave in appeared in the Beano, a chil dren's
tradi tio nal wa ys, but they like sym bo ls of tradi tion an d stability. For comic, in 19 38 . He is a you ng
example. there are some very untraditional attitudes and habits wi th English ar istocrat aged abo ut ten.
regard to th e famil y in m odern Britain (see cha pter 4) . Neverthele ss, w ho loves sneaking out of his castle
to play with local village children.
po lit icians often cite their ent hus iasm for 'traditional fam ily values '
He has always worn the same
(bot h parents m arr ied and living together. parents as th e main so urce
clothes. typical of wealthy young -
of aut honty for ch ild re n etc) as a way o f winning su pport. sters of an earlier age but by now out
In gen eral. the British valu e con tin u ity over modernity for its own of date. Surely. the children of the
sake. Th ey d o not co nside r it especially sm art to live in a new house 1990S wo uld prefer a present -day
and , in fact , th er e is prestige in livin g in an obviously old one (see hero wit h whom to iden tify? That is
wh at the ed itors of the Beanothought.
chapter 19) . They have a general sen timent al attachmen t to o lder,
In 199 2 they decided to give Lord
sup posed ly safer, tim es. Their Christmas cards usuall y depi ct scenes Snooty a rest. But loud protest fol-
fro m past centuries (see chapter 23); they like the ir pubs [ 0 loo k old lowed , and he quickly found a new
(see chapter 20) ; they we re relu ctant to chan ge their system of cur- job in The funday Times (the children's
rency (see chap ter 15). comic which is issued with The
Moreover, a look at ch ild ren's reading habits su ggests that this Sunday Timesnewspaper) . as well as
making further appearances in the
attitu de is not go in g to change. Publishers tr y hard to make their Beano.
books for child ren up -to -d ate. But perhaps the y needn't tr y so hard .
In 19 92 th e two m ost popular children '5 writers were noticeably
un -rnodern (they were bo th, in fact, dead ) . The m ost popula r of all
was Roald Dah l, w hose fantasy stories are set in a rat her o ld -
fashioned w orld. The seco nd m ost popular wr iter was Eni d Blyton,
whose stories take place in a co m fo rtable whi te m idd le-cla ss world
before the 19 605. Th ey co nt ain no references to other races or classes
and m ention nothing m ore modern than a radi o . In other words,
they are m ostly irrele vant to m odern life (Do Lord Snooty) .

Bein g different
Lord Snooty
The British can be parti cul arl y and stub bo rn ly co nser vative abo u t :0 0 C ThOJmon & Co lId 1989
anyth ing which is perceived as a to ken of Britishness. In these
matters, their co nservatism can combine wit h the ir individualism;
th ey are rath er proud of being different. It is , for example , ver y
diffi cult to imagine that the y will ever agree to change from driving
on the left -ha nd side of th e road to driving o n the right. It doesn 't
matter that nobody can think of any intrinsic ad vantage in driving on
the left. Why sho uld they change just to be like eve ryone else? Ind eed,
as far as they are concerned , not being like everyone else is a good
reas o n not to change.
Development s at European Un ion (EU) level which migh t cause
a change in so m e everyday aspect of British life are usually greeted
with su spici on and hostilit y. The case of double- decker buses (see
chapter 17) is an exam ple. Whenever an EU committee makes a
recommend ati on about standa rd izing th e size and shape of the se , it

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 60 5 Attitudes

pro voke s warn ings fro m British hus builders about 't he en d of the
double-decker bus as we know it ' . The British pu blic is alwa ys ready
1O listen to such predictions of doom .
Systems of measu rem ent are another exam ple. The Briti sh gove rn-
ment has been trying for years and years 1O prom ot e the metric
system and to get British peop le to use the same scales that are used
nearly everyw he re else in the world . But it has had only limited
success. British m anu factur er s are obliged to give the we ight of their
tins and packets in kilos and grams. But everybo dy in Britai n still
sho ps in pound s and ounces (see chapt er 15). The we athe r forecaster s
on the telev ision use the Celsius scale of temper atur e. But nearly
everybody still think s in Fahr enheit (see chapter 3) . British people
continue to measur e distances, amounts of Ii quid and the mselves
using scales of measurem ent that are not used anywher e else in
Eur ope (0- HoII' for? HOIl' big' HoII' much ') . Even the use of the 24 -hou r
cloc k is comparatively restricted .
British government s sometimes seem to promote this pride in
being d ifferent. In 199 3 the ma nagers of a pub in Slou gh (w est of
Londo n) started selling glasses of beer which they called 'swi fts'
(25 el) and ' larges' ( 50 el) , sm aller amounts than the traditional
... H ow far? H ow big? How much?
British equivalents of half a pi nt and a pint. You might th ink that the
Distances on road signs in Britain are au thor ities would have been pleased at thi s voluntary effort to ado pt
sho wn in mile s, not kilome tres, and
European habit s. But they we re not. British law dem ands that drau ght
peo ple talk about yards, not m etres.
If you described yours elf as being
beer be sold in pi nts and half-p in ts only. The pu b was fined £3, I 00
J 63 tall and we ighi ng 67 kilos a
by a court and was ordered to stop selling the 'continental' measur es.
British person w ould not be able to British gover nm ents have so far resisted pressur e from business people
im agine what you looked like. You to adop t Central European Tim e, rem ain ing stubbornly one hou r
would have [0 say you were 'five behind, and they contin ue to start their financial year not , as othe r
foot four' ( s feet and + inche s tall)
countries do , at the beginning of the calend ar year but at the
and weighed ' ten sto ne seven ' or
't en and a half stone' ( 10 stone and begi nn ing ofApril!
7 pounds). British peopl e th ink in
pounds and ounces wh en buying
their che ese, in pims w he n bu ying The love of nature
their m ilk and in gallons when
buying th eir pet rol. Americans also Most of the Briti sh live in towns and cit ies. But the y have an idealized
use this non -m etric system of visio n of the count ryside . To the British, the co unt ryside has almost
weights and m easures. non e of the ne gative associatio ns which it has in som e cou ntries,
Imperial Metric such as poor facilit ies, lack of ed uca tiona l oppo rtunities. unem ploy -
ment and povert y. To them , the countryside means peace and qui et,
I inch 2.54 centimetres
beauty, good health and no crime. Most of them would live in a
12 inches ([ foot) JO .48centimetres
count ry village if they thought tha t they could find a w ay of earn ing
3 feet ([ yard) 0. 9 2metres
1760 yards {t mile) 1.6 kilometres a livin g the re. Ideally, th is village would consist o f thatche d co ttag es
[ ounce 28.35 grams (see chapter I 9) built around an area of grass know n as a 'village
[6 ounces ([ pound) o.+S- 6 kilograms green ' . Nearby, the re would be a pond w ith ducks on it. Nowadays
[+ pounds ( I stone) 6.38 kilograms suc h a village is not actuall y very common , but it is a stereotypical
[ pint o.cstnres
picture that is w ell- kno wn to the British .
2 pints (I quar t) r.r e lnres
8 pints ( I gallon) +.6+lures
Some history conne cted with the building o f the Channel tunnel
(see chapter 17) provides an ins tructive exam ple of the British

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 The love o f n ature 6 I

attitude. While the 'chunnel ' was bein g built , there were also plans Ill- The Nati o nal Trust
to build new high-speed rail lin ks o n eit her side of it. But what route A not able ind icatio n of the British
would these new railway lin es take ? On the French side of the reverence fo r bot h th e co un tryside
cha nnel, co m munities battled w ith each ot her to get the new line and the past is the stre ng th o f the
built through their tow ns. It would be good for loca l bu siness. But National Trust. This is an officially
recognized charily whose aim is to
o n the Eng lish side, the oppos ite occurred. No body wanted the rail
preserve as much of Britain 's coun-
lin k nea r them ! Commun ities battled w ith each other to get the new tryside and as m an y of its histo ric
line bu ilt so m ew here else . Never mind about business, they wanted buildings as possible by acquiring
1O preserve their peace and quiet. them ' for the nat ion'. Wi th m ore
Perhaps thi s love of the countryside is another aspect of British than one-and -a-half m illion
conservatism. The countryside represents stability. Those who live me mbers, it is the largest conserva -
tio n org ani zation in the wo rld . It is
in to w ns and cities take an active interest in country ma tter s and th e
actuall y the third largest lando wner
British regard it as both a right and a pr ivilege to be ab le to go 'into in Britain (after the Crown and the
the co un try' w he never they wa nt to . Large area s of th e country are Forestry Commission ). It owns
official ' national parks' w he re almost no bu ilding is allowed . There more than /jOO mile s of th e coast-
is an organ ization to w h ich th o usands of enthusiastic co unt ry wal kers line . The im po rtance of its work has
belong , the Ram blers' Associa tion. It is in co ns tant batt le w ith land- been supported by several laws,
among wh ich is one wh ich doe s not
owners to keep open the pub lic 'rights of way' across the ir lan ds.
allow even the government to take
Maps can be bought which mark , in great detail, the routes of all th e over any of its land without the
public footpath s in the country. Walkers often stay at youth hostels. approval of Parliament .
The Yo uth Hostels Association is a charity whose aim is 'to help all,
especially young people of lim ited m ean s, to a gre ater kno wl ed ge,
love and care of the co untrys ide '. Th ei r hostels are cheap and rat her
self- co nsc iously bare and sim ple. There are more than 300 of them
around th e co untry, m ost of them in th e midd le of nowhere !
Even if they cannot get in to the co untrys ide, ma ny British people
still spend a lot o f their tim e w ith 'nat ure' . They grow plants. Gar -
denin g is one of the most popular ho bbies in the country. Even those
unlucky people who do not have a garden can pa rticipate. Each local
au thority o w ns several areas ofland w hich it ren ts very cheaply to
these people in sm all pa rce ls. O n these' allo tments', peo ple grow
mainly vege tab les.

Polesden Lacey, built in Ihe , 8205 and

non: owned by the National Trus t

Allotments in London

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 62 5 Altitud es
... Th e railway cats
It is said that the British often treat
their an imals as if they we re people.
Well. this is true. One of the most
co mmon th ings that people do is to
be employed. And so, on British
railways, are cats.The names of Olive.
Katie. Pickles and around 200 others
appear on the company payro ll,
officially recognized as employees.
Their job is to catch rats and other
vermin. There is usually one cat per
stanon. Their pay (tax free) is food.
and they also get free medical treat-
ment (Without deductions from
their salary). They are very popu lar
with the human BR staff, who admit
that their 'productivity rate' is not
always very high (in other wor ds,
the)' don't catch many rats) but
claim that they are good for morale.
~ Th e RS P CA
The desire for animal welfare has
official recognitio n. Cruelty to
an imals o f any kind is a criminal
offe nce. Such offences are investi-
gated and acted upon by a we ll-
known char ity, the Royal Society for
the Prevention of Cru elty to
Animals (RSPCA).
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The love of anima ls
Rossendalc Pet Cemetery in Lancashire is just one exam ple of an
animal gra veyard in Britain. It wa s starte d by a local farmer who ran
over his dog w ith a tractor. He was so up set that he pu t up a headston e
in memory of his dog . Now, Rossendale has thou sand s of graves and
plot s for caskets of ashes, w ith facilities for every kind of animal,
fro m a budgie to a honess. Man y people are prepared to pay quite
large sums of money to give their pets a decent bur ial (a trait they
share wi th man y Ame ricans). As thi s example shows , the British
tend to ha ve a sentime ntal atti tude to ani mals. Nea rly half of the
hou seholds in Britain keep at least one dom estic pet. Most of the m
do no t bother wi th such grand arrangem ents w hen their pets die , but
th ere are mill ion s ofinformal graves in people's back gardens. Mo re-
over, the status of pets is taken seriously. It is, for example, illegal to
run ove r a dog in yo ur car and then keep on driving. You have to
sto p and inform the owner.
But the love o f animals goe s beyond sent ime ntal att achment to
domestic pe ts. Wildlife programmes are by far the most pop ular
kind of television do cumenta ry. Million s of famili es have 'bird-
table s' in their gar dens. These are raised platforms on w hich bi rd s can
feed. safe from local cats, du ring the win ter mont hs. Ther e is even a
specia l hos p ital (St Tiggywinkles) w hich treats in jured w ild animals.
Per haps th is ove rall concern for animals is pan of the British love
ofnatur e, Stud ies in dicating that SOIl1e w ild species of bird or mam mal
is decreasin g in num bers become prominent articles in the na tiona l
pre ss. Tho usan ds of people are enthusiastic bir d-watcher s. Thi s
peculiarly British pastime often involves spending hours lying in w et
an d cold undergrowth , trying to get a glimpse of some rare spe cies.
Forma lity and informa lity
The tourist view of Britain involve s lots of formal ceremonies. Some
pe opl e have dr awn the conclusion from thi s that the British are rather
forma l in their gene ral behaviour. Thi s is not true. Ther e is a di ffer -
ence between ob serving formah ties and being formal in everyday
life. Attitudes towards clothes are a good ind ication of thi s di fferen ce.
It all depends on whether a person is playing a public role or a private
ro le. When peop le are 'on duty', they have to obey some qui te rigid
rul es. A mal e bank em ployee , for example, is expected to wea r a suit
with a tie , even if he cannot afford a very sm art one. So are politicians.
There wa s on ce a mild scandal during the I 980s bec ause the Leade r
of the Opposition (see chapter 8) wore clot hes on a pu blic occas ion
w hich w ere conside red too informal.
On the other hand, when people are not playin g a public ro le-
w hen the y are just being themselves - the re seem to be no rul es at
all. The British are probably more tolerant of ' strange' clo thing than
people in most other coun tries. You ma y find , for exam ple , the same
bank employee, on h is lunch br eak in hot w eather, w alkin g through
 Formality and informality 63

the streets with his tie round his waist and his collar unbuttoned. He ...Th e scruffy Briti sh
is no longer 'at work ' and for his employers to criticize him for hi s The British are comparatively unin -
appearance would be seen as a gross breach of privacy. Perhaps terested in clo thes. They spend a
because of the clo thing forma lities that many peop le have to follow low er prop o n io n of their inco me on
during the week, the British , unlike the peo ple of m any o ther cou n- cloth ing than peopl e in most othe r
European co un mcs do . Many people
tries, like to 'dress down' on Sundays. They can 't w ait to take off their
buy second-ha nd clot hes and arc
respectab le working clothes and slip in to something really scru ffy. not at all em barrassed to admit this.
Lots of men wh o wear suits during the week can then be seen in old If rou are somewhere in a Mediter -
sw eaters and jeans, so metimes with hol es in them . And male politi - ranean holiday area it is usually
cians are keen to get themselves photographed not wearing a tie possible to identify the British
wh en 'officially' on holiday, to show tha t they are really ordinary tourist - he or she is the one who
looks so badly dressed!
people.
This difference between formalities and formality is the key to
w hat people from other countries some times experience as a
cold ness among the British . The key is this: being friendly in Britain
ofte n involves sho w ing that you are no t bo thering w ith the formalit-
ies. This means not addressing som eone by his or her title (Mr, Mrs,
Profe ssor etc) , not dressing smartly when entertaining gue sts, not
shaking hands when meeting and not saying 'please' wh en making a
request. When they avoid doing these things with you , the British
are not being unfriendly or disrespectful, the y are implying that you
are in th e category 'friend' , and so all the rules can be ign ored. To
address someone by hi s or her title or to say 'please ' is to observe
for m alities and therefore to put a distance betw een the peop le
involved. The same is true of shaking hands. Altho ugh this sometimes
has the reputation of being a very British thing to do , it is actually
rather rare. Most people would do it on ly when being introdu ced to
a stranger or when me eting an acquaintance (but not a friend) after
a long tim e. Sim ilarly, most British peopl e do not feel welcomed if.
on being invited to some body 's house, they find the ho sts in smart
clothes and a grand table set for them . They do not feel flattered by
this, the y feel intimidated. It makes them feel they can 't relax.
It is probably true that th e British , especially the En glish, are more
reserved than the people ofmany other co un tries. They find it compar-
atively difficult to indicate friendship by open displays of affection.
For example, it is no t the convention to kiss w hen meeting a friend.
Instead , friendship is symbolized by behaving as casually as possible.
If you are in a British person 's house , and you are told to ' help
yourself' to some thin g, your ho st is not being rude or suggesting
tha t you are of no importance - he or she is sho wing tha t you are
com pletely accep ted and just like 'one of the family'.
In the last decades of the twent ieth cent ury, the general amo unt of
info rma lity increased. Buffet-type mea ls, at w hich peop le do no t sit
down at a table to eat, are now a co mmon form of hosp italit y.
At the same time , the tradition al reserve has also been breaking
down. More group s in society now kiss when meeting each other
(wom en and women, and men and women, but still never men
and me n!) .

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 64 5 Altitudes

~ Self-h elp Publi c spiritedness and am ateurism

The National Trust is one example of In public life Britain has tradi tionally followe d w ha t migh t be called
a charity which became very
.the cult of the talen ted amateur' , in w hich bein g lO O pro fessionally
Important without any government
involvement. Another is the Family dedi cated is looked at with suspicion. 'Only doing yo ur job ' has never
Planning Association. By [938, this bee n accep ted as a justification for actions. Ther e is a common
organization ran 935"clinics around assumption that socie ty is best served by everybo dy 'c hippi ng in ' -
Britain which gave advice and help that is, by lot s o f people giving a littl e bit of their free time to hel p
regarding birth control to anybody
in a variety o f ways. Thi s can be seen in the structu re of the civil
who wanted it. Not until ten years
later, with the establishment of the
service (see chapte r 8). in the circumstan ces under which Members
National Health Service (sec chapter of Parliamen t do the ir w ork (see chapte r 9), in th e use of unpa id
18), did the British government non- lawyers to run m uch o f the legal system (see chapter I I) , in
involve itself in such ma uers. some aspec ts of the education system (see chapter 14 ) , and in the
A further example ofself-help ' is fact that, un til recently, m any of the most popular spons in the
the Consumers' Association. In
co unt ry we re o fficially amateur even at top level (see chapter 2 I ).
195"7,a small group of people
working from an abandoned garage Th is characteristic , how ever , is on the declin e. In all th e areas
started Which.', a magaz ine expos in g menti oned above, ' pro fessionalism ' has changed fro m havin g a
abuses in the marketplace, investi- negat ive conno tation to having a po sitive one. Neve rthe less, so me
gat ing trickery by m anu factur ers new areas o f ama teur particip ation in public life have develop ed in
and com paring different com pan-
the last decade , such as ne ighbourhood wa tch sche mes (see chapter
ies' brands of the same pro d uct.
Thirty years later, 900,000 peopl e
I I). Moreover, tens of thousands of 'amateurs' are still actively
regularly bought this m agazine and in volved in charity work (see chapter 18) . As w ell as givin g direct
the Consume r's Association wa s help to those in nee d, they raise money by orga nizing jumble sales ,
making a £ [0 m illion sur plus (not a fetes and flag days (on which they stand in the stree t collecting
'profit ' because it is a registered mo ney). This volu ntary activity is a basic part of British life. It has
char ity). By th en it had successfully
ofte n bee n so effective that w ho le countrywide ne tw or ks have been
campaigne d for m an y new law s
pro tectin g consumers and Which? set up wi thou t any gove rnmen t help at all ( ~ Self-help) . It is no accident
had become the British consum er 's that man y of the world's largest and most w ell-kn own ch arities (for
bible. example, Oxfam, Amne sty International and the Save the Children
Fund) began in Britain . No te also tha t, each year, the co unt ry 's blood
... Supp orting th e underdog tran sfu sion service collects over two million donation s of blood
Some customs o f road use illu strate fro m unpaid volunteers.
the British tendency to be on the side
of 'the underdog ' {i.e. the weaker
side in any competition). On the
roads the underdog is the pedestrian.
The law states that if a person has
just one foot o n a zebra crossing then
vehicles must stop. And they usually
do. Conversely, British pedestrians
interpret the colour of the human
figure at traffic lights as advice. not
as an instruction. If the figure is red
but no cars are approaching, they
feel perfectly entitled to cross the
road immediately. In Britain , jay-
walking (crossing the roa d by
dodging in between cars) has never
been illegal.
Volunteers ready to collect money for the RSPCA

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 Privacy and sex 65"

Privacy and sex ... Lovely weath er we 're having

Respect for privacy underlies many aspects of Briti sh life. It is not just The British are always talking about
the weather. Unlike many othe rs.
privacy in your own hom e w hich is important (see chapter 19) . Just
this stereotype is act uall y true to life.
as im portant is the indi vid ual's rig ht to keep in formation about But constant remarks about the
himse lf or herse lf private. De spite the incr ease in informality, i t is weather at chance meetings are not
still seen as rud e to ask people what are called ' personal' question s the result o f polite con ventions.
(for example, about how mu ch money they earn or about their famil y They are not obligatory. Rather, they
or sex life) unless you kn ow them very well. No tice that the conven- are the result of the fact that, on th e
one hand , to ask personal questions
tional formula on being introduced to some one in Britain , ' how do would be rude while, at the same
you do ?', is not interpreted as a real request for infor mation at all; time, silence would also be rude .
the conventional rep ly is not to 'answ er the que stion' but to reply The wea ther is a very co nvenient
by saying 'how do you do " too. topic w ith which to 'fill the gap' .
The modern British attitude to sex is an example of how, while
moral attitudes have cha nged , the hab it ofkeeping things private is ... Blind Date
still dee ply ing rained. British (like Am erican) publi c life has a reputa- Blind OGle is a ,wy popula r television
tion fo r dema nd ing pu ritanical standards of behaviour. Revelation s programme. In it, a member of one
about ext ra-marital affairs o r ot her deviatio ns from what is cons id- sex asks three mem bers of the
oppo site sex (w hom he or she
ered normal in pr ivate life have, in the past, ruined the careers of
cannot see) questions and then
many public figures. Thi s would seem to indi cate a lack of respect for chooses wh ich o ne to go OUI With.
privacy and that the Briti sh do not allow their politi cians a pri vate The que stions and answers are
life . However, appearances in th is matt er can be m isleading. In m o st always full of sexual innuendo. The
of these cases , the di sgrac e of the po litician co ncerned has n ot been audience lo ves it.
On one show in 19 9 3, one of thc
becaus e of h is sexual activity. It has happen ed because this activity
po ssible blind dates was a German
was m ixed up with a ma tter of natio nal sec urity. or invol ved breaking girl. In con versation with the sho w 's
the law or indicated h ypocri sy (in actin g agains t the stated policy of host, her kno wledge o fl anguages
the politician's part y) . In other words, the pri vate sexual activity had came up. The girl said, 'My teacher
a direct relevance to the po liti cian 's public role . The scandal wa s that told me that the qu ickest w ay to
in the se cases , the politicians had not kep t their private lives and learn a forei gn language is to have
sex with a native speaker. And you
public role s separate enough . W hen no such connec tio ns are
know, it really works!' Uproar!This
involved , there are no negative consequen ces for the politicians. In remark caused the loudest audience
fact when , in 199 2, a leading politician ann ounced that five years reaction , the most hysterical laughs,
previou sly he had had an affair with his secretary, hi s popularity which the sho w had ever known.
actually incr eased! The show 's popularity is precisely
because sex is possibl y on the
In 199 2 a million copies of very explicit and realistic videos with
agenda, bur this was the first time
titles such as SuperVirility, Better Sex, The Gay Man's Guide (0 Safer Sex and that anyone on the programme had
The Lovers' Guide w ere so ld in Britain. There wa s some de bate about actually admitted to having sex. Very
whe ther they sho uld be banned. However, an opinion poll showed uri- British!
that the British pu blic agreed that they were not 'porno graphic' but
'e ducat ional' . Three out of four of those asked were happy for the
video s to be freely on sale. Examples such as this suggest that mod ern
Briton s have a positive and open attitude to sex. However, they
continue to regard it as an absolutely private matter. Sex may no
lon ger be ' bad ' , but it is still em barr assing. Take the example of sex
educat ion in schools. Partly because of worries about AIDS, thi s is
no w seen as a vital part o f the schoo l curriculum . It is the legal
responsibi lity o f schools to teach it. However, research in the early
The television programme 'Blind Date'
I 990S sugges ted that little o r no sex educatio n w as taking place in

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