Watching The English

‘Brilliant and hilarious’ GRAYSON PERRY
‘Absolutely brilliant’ JENNIFER SAUNDERS, THE TIMES
‘A delightful read’ SUNDAY TIMES
‘An entertaining, clever book’ TELEGRAPH

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

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.