Who knew that The Lady was still going? Who knew that there was still a market for features on whether Downton Abbey’s Lord Grantham was patronising his butler by addressing him as “my dear fellow”? Or for advice if your travel companion insists on checking in a bag when you only have walk-on luggage? Or for tips from a former Royal butler on hosting the perfect summer garden party?
I know what you’re thinking. Actually, we might like to know the answer to all those questions of good manners, and thus The Lady, even in the transactional, individualistic, celebrity-centric 2020s, still had something of a market, even if most of it was in the form of classified advertising from people who sought or offered domestic help.
A cover of The Lady from February 2024 (Photo: Twitter/X x.com/TheLadyMagazine/media)There will not be many who will mourn the passing of “The Journal for Gentlewomen” (as its first issue in February 1885 styled itself). Rather like WH Smith, or indeed many of the venerable businesses that have fallen by the wayside recently, its name will disappear and most of us will quickly forget it ever existed.
square SIMON KELNER
Finally, young people are waking up to the joys of corporate jobs
Read MoreEven a flirtation with celebrity culture was not enough to revive its fortunes. The appointment of Rachel Johnson (the former prime minister’s sister, and a minor celebrity in her own right) as editor in 2009 and then, almost immediately, the filming of a fly-on-the-wall documentary set in the magazine’s offices, gave it some fleeting notoriety, but in the end Ms Johnson’s stated desire to make it “more hip, less hip replacement” was seen as inauthentic, and she left after a three-year tenure.
“Brouhaha is a noun that describes a hubbub or uproar,” it explains helpfully in a feature on quintessentially British words or phrases. “While it seems very British,” it adds, “the word brouhaha isn’t British at all – it’s French.”
A stiff, upper-crust idea of how one ought to behave at all times might sound outdated, and with The Lady gone it’s hard to imagine anyone pining for advice on – say – whether it’s ever appropriate to swear. (“Bad language could cause appalling embarrassment to a group of people at, say, a golden wedding party,” as a recent advice column warned.)
The demise of The Lady should be noted and regretted, not for what it was, but for what it represented – a gentler world of good manners and politesse, far away from the brouhaha of today.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Good manners are vanishing- we’re a poorer country without them )
Also on site :