Gentlemen
then and now
Clearly,
he must have manners, humour, humility, talent and courage, but there
will always be more materialistic giveaways, too
Country Life /
October 28, 2015
A member of the
Athenaeum once put up a notice after his umbrella was taken from the
cloakroom. It read: ‘Will the nobleman who has taken my umbrella
please return it.’ A friend asked: ‘How do you know it’s a
nobleman?’ He replied: ‘The rules state that this club is for
gentlemen and noblemen, and no gentleman would take my umbrella.’
According to
Somerset Maugham, the only value of being a gentleman lay in the fact
that it wasn’t a pretence (he also said it was almost impossible to
be one and a writer), but with the world changing faster than a baton
handover in an Olympic relay, is it possible to have a definitive
picture of one? Clearly, he must have manners, humour, humility,
talent and courage, but there will always be more materialistic
giveaways, too.
Gentlemen then and
now
1912
2012
The Proms
Glastonbury
The Quorn
Duke of Beaufort’s
Rolls-Royce
Land Rover Discovery
Baden-Baden
Rock
Royal Ascot
Glorious Goodwood
Guinea fowl
Venison
Bloomsbury Group
Hay Festival
Norfolk
Dorset
Henley
Henley
Shooting at Elveden
Shooting at Alnwick
Belgravia
Fulham
Moustache
Clean-shaven
Cigarettes
Nicorette
Rudyard Kipling
Antony Beevor
Tobogganing in St
Moritz Skiing in Val d’Isère
Rectory
Old Rectory
Ballroom dancing
Strictly Come Dancing
Claret
New Zealand Pinot Noir
Epsom salts
San Pellegrino
Wisden
Wisden
H. M. Bateman
Matt
Fagging
Counselling
African grey parrot
Buff Orpington
Scotland in August
Scotland in August
Manservant
No servant
Kedgeree
Muesli with blueberries
Bread-and-butter
pudding Sticky-toffee pudding
Fob watch
Diving watch
Gertrude Jekyll
Arabella Lennox-Boyd
Dining room
Kitchen
Herbaceous border
Wildflower meadow
Royal Yacht Squadron
Royal Yacht Squadron
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sebastian Faulks
The Savoy Grill
The Wolseley
Nightshirt
Turnbull & Asser pyjamas
Ironed newspaper
Today
English setter
Black labrador
Whist
BBC Ten O’Clock News
White tie
No tie
12-bore
20-bore
New pair of Purdeys
Grandfather’s Purdeys
Catching lots of
salmon in Scotland Catching no salmon in Scotland
Polo in India
Polo in Midhurst
Five perfect
gentlemen
Sir Walter Raleigh
for courtesy
The Light Brigade
for heroism when facing certain death
Beau Brummell for
exquisite dressing
Ernest Shackleton
for rescuing his men
Lord Carrington for
knowing when to resign
Five gentlemen of
literature
Lord Peter Wimsey
The Scarlet
Pimpernel (Sir Percy Blakeney)
Mr Knightley
Raffles
Richard Hannay
Five things a
gentleman would never do
Holiday in Florida
Own a yacht without
sails
Wear fuschia socks
Order Cristal
Champagne
Plant a hanging
basket
The
39 steps to being a gentleman
Which manners maketh the
(modern) gentleman? Rupert Uloth has the definitive list.
Rupert UlothOctober
28, 2015
A gentleman…
1 Negotiates
airports with ease
2 Never lets a door
slam in someone’s face
3 Can train a dog
and a rose
4 Is aware that
facial hair is temporary, but a tattoo is permanent
5 Knows when not to
say anything
6 Wears his learning
lightly
7 Possesses at least
one well-made dark suit, one tweed suit and a dinner jacket
8 Avoids lilac socks
and polishes his shoes
9 Turns his mobile
to silent at dinner
10 Carries house
guests’ luggage to their rooms
11 Tips staff in a
private house and a gamekeeper in the shooting field
12 Says his name
when being introduced
13 Breaks a
relationship face to face
14 Is unafraid to
speak the truth
15 Knows when to
clap
16 Arrives at a
meeting five minutes before the agreed time
17 Is good with
waiters
18 Has two tricks to
entertain children
19 Can undo a bra
with one hand
20 Sings lustily in
church
21 Is not vegetarian
22 Can sail a boat
and ride a horse
23 Knows the
difference between Glenfiddich and Glenda Jackson
24 Never kisses and
tells
25 Cooks an omelette
to die for
26 Can prepare a one
match bonfire
27 Seeks out his
hostess at a party
28 Knows when to use
an emoji
29 Would never own a
Chihuahua
30 Has read Pride
and Prejudice
31 Can tie his own
bow tie
32 Would not go to
Puerto Rico
33 Knows the
difference between a rook and a crow
34 Sandals? No.
Never
35 Wears a rose, not
a carnation
36 Swats flies and
rescues spiders
37 Demonstrates that
making love is neither a race nor a competition
38 Never blow dries
his hair
39 Knows that there
is always an exception to a rule
Agree? Disagree? Let
us know on Twitter
This article
features in our Gentleman’s Life magazine, out today with Country
Life
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