How to be a Brit: The hilariously accurate, witty and indispensable manual for everyone longing to attain True Britishness

How to be a Brit: The hilariously accurate, witty and indispensable manual for everyone longing to attain True Britishness

by George Mikes (Author)

Synopsis

The indispensable manual for everyone who longs to attain True Britishness. George Mikes's perceptive best-seller provides a complete guide to the British Way of Life. Having been born in Hungary, he eventually spent more than forty years in the field, and the fruits of his labour include insights on important topics including the weather, how to be rude and how to panic quietly. Loved by readers and authors alike, How to Be a Brit contains Mikes's three major works - How to be an Alien, How to be Inimitable and How to be Decadent. If you're British, you'll love it; if you're a foreigner, you'll appreciate it. How to plan a town: "Street names should be painted clearly and distinctly on large boards. Then hide these boards carefully." Queuing: "An Englishman, even if he is alone, forms an orderly queue of one." Sex: "Continental people have sex lives: the English have hot water bottles."

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 272
Edition: Reprint
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 05 Nov 2015

ISBN 10: 024197500X
ISBN 13: 9780241975008
Book Overview: Aaportrait of stiff upper lips, scrupulous politeness and curious social codes,aHow to Be a Britaexaminesathe strange things we do and say. If you're British you'll love it; if you're a foreigner, you'll appreciate it . . .

Media Reviews
In all the miseries which plague mankind, there is hardly anything better than such radiant humour as is given to you. Everyone must laugh with you - even those who are hit with your little arrows. * Albert Einstein to George Mikes *
An instant classic -- Francis Wheen on 'How to Be an Alien'
Very funny * The Economist *
Bill Bryson is George Mikes' love-child -- Jeremy Paxman
This is the vital textbook for Brits, would-be Brits, and anyone who wonders what being a Brit really means. Pass me my hot water bottle, please -- Dame Esther Rantzen
Wise and witty -- William Cook on 'How to Be an Alien' * Spectator *
Brilliantly comical -- Pico Iyer on 'How to Be an Alien' * New York Times *
Mikes is a master of the laconic yet slippery put-down: The trouble with tea is that originally it was quite a good drink -- Henry Hitchings
I love it and read it cover to cover. Also has good tips for talking about the weather, not that we need them -- Rachel Johnson
Full of the very best advice that any would-be Brit should need (and for those of us who have forgotten exactly how it is to be ourselves) it's a jolly good read * The Telegraph *
How to be an Alien inspired me ... Some of his observations remain remarkably fresh and relevant 70 years later, but it's his tone that impressed me -- Erin Moore, author of That's Not English
Brilliantly comical -- Pico Iyer on 'How to Be an Alien' * New York Times *
I used to think that Mikes's world has gone, but it has returned to us in spades via the referendum. -- Nick Fraser * The Guardian *
Author Bio
George Mikes (pronounced 'me-cash'), was born in Hungary 1912. In 1938 he moved to London to become the correspondent for a Hungarian newspaper, and then he never left. A keen observer of the behaviour and misbehaviour of foreigners and natives in Britain, he is frequently cited by later authors including Kate Fox and Jeremy Paxman. He died in London in 1987.