The English Manner is a unique British-based company providing international training and consultancy in contemporary etiquette, protocol, the arts and social skills, household and event planning.

Founded by Alexandra Messervy, formerly of the Royal Household of Her Majesty The Queen, in 2001, and now joined by John Robertson and William Hanson, The English Manner gives worldwide personal development, cultural, hospitality and social skills training to an international clientele of all ages. You can find more information at:

http://theenglishmanner.com 

In October 2010 also The Household Academy, a joint venture between The English Manner & Public Image, has been founded. Please feel free to visit their website at: 

http://thehousholdacademy.com 

Today I would like to review THE ENGLISH MANNER’S blog which you can find at: 

http://theenglishmanner.wordpress.com 

• I’m always in search of differentiation. When I was reading this blog it was not difficult to notice that it is the only etiquette blog - that I came across so far - which talks about dress codes and etiquette for sporting events (in the British Season). You can learn more about the do’s and don’ts of the Cambridge and Oxford Boat Race, Formula One, the gym, shooting, tennis, horse racing, regatta, cricket. That makes it outstanding. 
• It was written as a corporate blog in which various team members (Alexandra Messervy, William Hanson, John Robertson, James Hanson) wrote about different topics. After reading some blog posts you get an idea what the members’ favourite topics are. 
• The contemporary factor by including current affairs and news, such as political debates, sporting events, TV shows or other public events. 
• I was never particularly interested in history - to be honest - but I think it is enriching to know how different etiquette rules evolved. You don’t find so much about the history of etiquette in general these days. In this blog you will find out when and how “Afternoon Tea” was invented, or the customs of chopsticks (a video could have been added in this case). 
• Reading about various statistics and facts on etiquette topics. The blog post “Crumbs! Brits’ Entertaining Skills are dunking’ disorderly” was particularly interesting because you rarely get to know such kind of survey results. 
• I learnt quite a lot of new things. Let me just mention two of them: the difference between being a Pre- or Post-Lactarian, or for example, that in Wimbledon players’ clothing designs have to be submitted months in advance to get officials’ approval.
• The idea of reminding the readership of training opportunities at the bottom of various (suitable) blog posts.  
• If you look at my favourite blog posts below and you read the blog you will notice that my personal favourite articles are those that include personal opinions, personal experiences and stories. The fact that someone shares his thoughts, views, opinions and experiences makes it very valuable and particularly interesting to me.