A library is a gentleman’s hideaway from the world, the sanctuary from in-house disputes and a place for free thought. Within it he can do what he wants; learn the Saxophone, commence a novel or even install a 12 x 6 ft Snooker table, it doesn’t matter. It is his. Often though, a gentleman’s library will be full of literature that has been underhandedly recommended by friends, taken from a Grandfather’s storage box or suggested by Google’s People also searched for…
It’s our behaviour, cuisine and heritage that often mystifies nations from around the world; seeing us as snobby cavaliers or colonial prospectors, we’re stuck in the rut of a past time that we no longer live. But that’s what makes us quintessentially British – it’s our rejection of the modern way that so many different countries find hilarious, delusional or at times exemplary. To help you identify with this further, gentlemen, we bring you the 15 things that we British do best:
Sepp Blatter, the man who holds a reputation in the sporting world as low as Edward II in Scotland, Piers Morgan in the US and CJ from Eggheads in the minds of daytime Quiz show viewers. The impertinent quote-vendor can’t quite keep his mouth shut when it comes to giving an opinion, sprouting views vaguely reminiscent to the old racist, homophobic and sexist that you’d find sipping Gin in the corner of a pub on a Monday evening; Mr Blatter seems to get it wrong, time and time again.
A gentleman’s bookshelf says more about the man he is than his most watched on Netflix, his favourite sex position on a Sunday morning or his opinion on Joey Essex. Indisputably it’s what a man reads, how he empathises with the characters and how he uses what he learns from them, that defines him.
It’s the modern way nowadays, when selecting wine from a supermarket shelf, to go for the most eye-catching label or the most efficiently priced. There are many reasons for this; we just don’t have the time nor the money for quality fine wine, and even if we did – we know sod-all about what is the best, or what goes with what.
The greatest knowledge a gentleman can ever acquire is from his father or about his father. It’s moments when you’re completely alone and vulnerable as an adolescent, like facing off with an angry driver that you’ve carelessly bumped into the back of, that the words of your father form the moral backbone of your behaviour.
It’s a tough one… compiling a list of lyrics that every gentleman will agree with as having the most meaning. After all, every man has his own set like he does his own golf clubs. Lyrics that take him back to a different period; whether that’s a love lyric from a past-time with a past-lover, a particular punk soundtrack to his coming of age story, or a Wham! moment of extreme happiness.
