*WITH A NEW FOREWORD BY GRAYSON PERRY*

The unofficial guidebook to the English national character by anthropologist Kate Fox.

From the class system to conversation etiquette, Kate Fox picks apart and exposes the bizarre codes of behaviour that the English unconsciously obey.

If you are English, this book will make you re-examine everything you take for granted. And if you aren’t English, it will help you navigate the rules of this peculiar culture.

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READERS LOVE WATCHING THE ENGLISH:

‘A hugely enjoyable read . . . If you want to be really cheered up and entertained with some well-crafted observation of the embarrassingly familiar then do read this book – it’s a joy.’ ?????

‘A great read for lovers of sociology, language and anthropology.’ ?????

‘A very thought-provoking and insightful book. It draws to your attention all the intricacies of class distinction and underlying humour that pervades almost everything we do.’ ?????

From poet Kate Fox comes a book for everyone who knew the famous silhouette of the tree that stood at Sycamore Gap.

For those who took shelter, saw its branches against the sky or heard the leaves dance; for all the picnics next to it and the proposals under it. For anyone who feels the strength of silent roots and the quiet promise of the turning year. For any of us who measure time in rings and wait for green leaves to grow again.

For everyone who felt a loss when the gap was just a gap once more, these are words that grew in the space, the hope that shoots like seedlings.

Grown against the wide sky of Northumbria, at a place of borders where ancient history meets our modern lives, the tree that stood for so long still has much to say.

This is a book of growth, loss and renewal, a song from soil to soul, about how we all live where the earth meets the sky.

From Cartimandua, the forgotten Iron Age Queen of the North, to Woodbine-smoking football player Lily Parr, Kate with her trademark wit and sense of fun, shows how these astonishing trailblazers laid the ground for modern stars from Victoria Wood to Little Mix. Nicola Adams, Betty Boothroyd and Helen Sharman all have these unsung northern champions to thank for paving their way.

Funny, enlightening and a call to arms, it’s perfect for a nation ready to rediscover its hidden heroes.

Have you ever been unable to explain the idiosyncrasies of English humour, bizarre mobile-phone etiquette, or the endless obsession with class? In this classic bestselling book, social anthropologist Kate Fox puts a nation under a microscope. The result is a biting, affectionate, insightful and often hilarious look at the English in all our glory.

Based on extensive field-research, experiments and observations, Fox deciphers a strange and fascinating culture, governed by complex sets of unspoken rules and bizarre codes of behaviour. She uncovers the roots of English self-mockery and demystifies peculiar cultural features such as ‘weather-speak’, class anxiety tests, the paranoid pantomime rule and the apology reflex. If you’re English, this book will help you understand yourself and your fellow countrymen in a new way. And if you aren’t English, you’ll finally understand why we talk about the weather so much.

A worldwide bestseller, translated into multiple languages, and a set text for university anthropology courses, Watching the English is a timeless classic on the quirks, habits and foibles of the English people.