European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 4, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Daily Magazine the British Are pm him simply appalling the myth of British Courtesy by Marcus Eliason associated Pressi n the town of Newcastle under Lyme the Rev. Ian Gregory has founded the polite society dedicated to teaching the British Good manners. The Mission sounds a bit Pika teaching the French How 10 Cook or Gar ii Kasparov to play chess. Bad manners in Britain where form letters Are still addressed to John Doe Esquire where they beg your Pardon Slop then cars for pedestrians apologize when you step on their toes and say Witti the greatest respect when they mean to insult you but Gregory in t joking. Indeed the 53-year-old Clergyman sounds positively apocalyptic As he rails against littered streets vandalized pay phor a Cheeky teenagers riotous soccer fans Drunken pkg men who Don t Olfer their seats to women and women who would regard such courtesies As sexist. In Lite introduction to the inaugural newsletter Olathe polite society last year he wrote that Britain has stood off some of the most vicious tyrants in history Philip of Spain and his Armada in 1538, Napoleon Bonaparte in 1805 and Adoll Hitler 1940, but in 1986 the British people face National defeat at the hands of a sinister foe our ignorant and ill mannered selves " British Courtesy Gregory said in a recent interview is a myth it s based on foreigners Reading of romantic fiction. The reality especially in our inner cities is that we Are heading Back to he Sione age. It s simply appalling the Way people treat each  Gregory s initiative has won a resounding response admiring editorials congratulatory messages from around the country and a 250-Slrong dues paying room Biship m me first month of the polite so cml s existence some commentators see Gregory s complaint As symptomatic of a deeper anxiety in British society not just about vanishing pleases and thank yous but about youth unemployment juvenile crime drug addiction and random violence we have suddenly taken a fierce dislike to ourselves writes Ferdinand mount a former adviser to prime minister Margaret Thatcher in the conservative weekly Spectator. On the Liberal Side. Neat Atcherson in the weekly observer discerns among his countrymen a feeling thai England is leaving la English. That they have became bad tempered and unsociable and  Atcherson argues that if the change Means removing petrified institutions it should be welcomed while mount says it matters Little that British behaviour is no Worsa than elsewhere because politics is a drama of sell images and the horror of the heysel stadium riot in Belgium in 19ss embodied everything that we have come to fear in England civil disorder social Boorish Ness. Economic  thirty nine people died in the riot in which British soccer fans went on a rampage. Foreigners at least until recent times had always marvelled at British manners. To  wrote the critic Randall Jarrell. English manners Are far More frightening than none at  the English abroad before the Days of charter lights to overseas soccer matches were paragons of correctness to be slavishly copied. Luigi Barzini the late italian writer once recalled his Grandfather a tailor pulling an extra crease in his trousers because that s what English visitors seemed to prefer. He never realized that the creases were simply caused by the trousers being folded into suitcases. Pater Jenkins a British journalist says he once heard a voice irom a French hotel loom shout at revellers on Iho Street outside would you please be quiet. There wednesday february 4. 19b7 Are English people up Here trying to  British manners evolved Over centuries of social stratification reaching their apotheosis in the victorian age with a code that provided for every conceivable situation from leaving a calling card to cooking the Little Finger while sipping Tea. Now government minister Chris Pattan warns that we risk the creation of a Yob society and an impoverished  Yob being Cockney Slang for a lout. The newspaper today meanwhile laments the passing of the British reputation for Good manners and civilized  but a foreigner arriving in London today encountering the cheerful cab Drivers the orderly lines at bus stops the self effacing smiles might wonder what the latest fuss is All about. In Reading the times. The visitor will find a discussion in the letters column on whether dear sir or Madam is still the Correct form in official correspondence. And the British really do apologize when you step on their toes. I certainly  says Charles i def who works for Detroit a the authority on Royal and Noble lineages it always strikes me afterwards that it s a bit ridiculous but it s something you re brought up with from  Elsie Burch Donald american born editor of Deti Reil s etiquette and Modem manners says Adlish manners Are becoming More informal which i think is great for  Donald whose expertise ranges trom comportment on the Golf course to writing to the Queen said in an interview the British Are More polite than americans and less Friendly. But they have less time Tor a lot of the old kind of manners they re using less Normal modes of address writing More informally dropping the esquires and the right honorable it s a matter of gelling the balance ngh the English have been Loo Tamal and the americans Loo informal and now they re perhaps draw my together the stars and stripes Page 13