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Long live the quintessential Englishman
Nick Foulkes6 May 2009
Is Stephen Fry being a little ungrateful? Talking at the Royal Geographical Society the other night, he stunned the audience by turning roundly on the quintessential Englishman (QE).
"I wish I had a gold sovereign for every time that phrase is used," he fulminated, "so I could put them in a sock to smack over the head of the next person who says it."
His protestations echo Kate Winslet's recent keenness to stress her humble and impoverished background. But what is so awful about being middle-class or quintessentially English?
Does Fry not realise that he owes the affection in which he is held to the widespread belief that he is representative of some national archetype?
He did, after all play a quintessential Jeeves to Hugh Laurie's Wooster. A role - like James Bond or Dr Who - that should come with a health warning concerning the risks of being typecast for life.
Like it or not, Fry is representative of the sort of notional Englishman who rises from the pages of Dickens or Wodehouse - creators of our best-loved national stereotypes - but he is not of modern Britain. I don't like to think of him operating his Sky Plus or shopping at TK Maxx.
He belongs instead with those great British characters of the past: David Niven, Terry-Thomas and Noël Coward, a gallery of endearing, occasionally roguish charmers.
Working Title's films prove that the English gentleman is still much in demand: the man who has the greatest claim to be known as the ultimate QE is, of course, Hugh Grant.
Yet according to contemporary criteria, today's QE can be a varied creature.
Take Pete Doherty: the young rebel has long been a staple of our museum of national character, lauded equally for his English dress sense and his uniquely English brand of pop.
Another likely candidate is David Beckham: talented athlete, beautiful to look at. And - an important point this - he travels well.
Part of the duty of the QE is to be appreciated for his Englishness all over the world. As such, is it really so bad to be seen as a prototypical Englishman? It should be a source of pride that the QE is still a viable export, something we can say is made in Britain using British ingredients.
But to be a truly successful QE takes work and years of practice.
There is the formal dress (but never over-dress); the furled umbrella clicking against the pavement (never opened, only raised aloft to hail a taxi - sorry hansom); the ability to tell Lapsang Souchong from Earl Grey but to express a preference for builders' brew (I believe Fry did TV advertising for a brand of tea); the encyclopaedic erudition worn oh-so-lightly (but make sure the learning is recondite rather than immediately useful).
And of course the modesty that enables you to downplay all suggestions that you might be either identifiably quintessential or English, let alone both at the same time.
Reader views (17)
Fry is a loveable, elegant eccentric whose subtle intelligence is often confused, unfortunately these days, for middle-class pomposity.
- Viviane B, London, 09/05/2009 00:37
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Can anyone be a QE?
- Prototypical Englishman, Wormwood Scrubs, 08/05/2009 10:45
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Paul Haddock, Reykjavik, Iceland, Obviously, things seem funnier in Iceland.
- Pacifus, Newcastle Australia, 08/05/2009 00:45
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Pompous, overbearing, talentless, mind-numbingly boring and tedious. Fry sounds like the QE to me.
- Pacifus, Newcastle Australia, 07/05/2009 23:02
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Football shirt/ vest.
Baggy shorts & trainers.
Rope chain necklace, sovereign ring.
Shaved head.
The quintessential Englishman has changed. I think if you ask any foreigner what the QE is, he'll tell you it's this, not some poncey, Toff caricature.
- Fresh, LONDON, 07/05/2009 15:39
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Note to John from Aberdeen - having enormous chip on one's shoulder (not to mention a complete lack of self-awareness) is considered by some to be one of the quintessential traits of a Scotsman. Which is rather rich, considering that the Barnett formula keeps your public services so well-funded...
- H, London, UK, 07/05/2009 15:26
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John, calm down son, I know you're Scottish but that's not your fault, blame your parents.
- Martin Patton, Kent, 07/05/2009 13:40
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It has been shown time and time again that virtually anything you can think of as being quintessentially English is actually Scottish. Go on write a list and check it on Google for yourself. Maybe that was what Stephen Fry was on about, after all he was a Student Rector of Dundee University for long enough to know all about the myopia of the average little Englander.
As a famous Scot once said "There's nane sae bleen as them that willnae see!" Wasn't it Jesus Christ himself, another well known Scot if you believe some of the Rosylin stories and the Appleton Thorn (Warrington) stories.
There is maybe one quintessentially English trait though, pomposity.
- John, Aberdeen, UK, 07/05/2009 12:54
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Ivegotanasbo - Fry doesn't resent being called a quintessential Englishman - he is not a quintessential Englishman : he is half-Austrian for a start. I think it is the inaccuracy of the phrase that bothers him.
Pipmk - lots of Englishmen are capable of self-promoting publicity. Beckham is particularly good at it.
- Susan, London, 07/05/2009 12:10
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Stephen Fry has small talent, eh? Very droll. He really is quite astonishingly talented, amusing and interesting. Check out some of his stuff on YouTube, starting with this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHQ2756cyD8
I understand that he doesn't like being pigeonholed, but he really does possess many QE qualities (and QI) and is all the better for it. But let's not dwell on such quibbles.
- Paul Haddock, Reykjavik, Iceland, 07/05/2009 11:59
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Steptoe and son. Alf Garnet. Rex Harrison. Noel Coward. The Prince of Wales...........
ALL genuine 'characters' and totally REAL, not a phony among them !!!
The entire (Male) cast of "Are you being served". One can go on FOREVER !!!
- Radz, Expat!, Copenhagen , Denmark., 06/05/2009 23:12
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Britain's class business is just so boring... Fry and Winslet do play it up 'somewhat' 'what', so why do they resent being seen that way?
- Ivegotanasbo, London, 06/05/2009 21:22
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He is too ready to "bare his soul" for publicity to be really English. Also does a quintesential Englishman criminal conviction? I think not. He is a self obsessed publicity seeker with a very smal talent. And thats the opinion of his friends!
- Pipmk, Leeds ,England, 06/05/2009 15:58
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To be Q.E. all that is required is for the person to be so much of what is perceived to be English and no other nation. Can you imagine Fry as an Australian, a Russian, an Eskimo, a Mexican, a Moroccan, a Chinaman etc etc. Thought not. Q.E. he is.
- Nora, London, Uk, 06/05/2009 14:27
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We must not leave out the ability to speak with a toffee nosed accent !
T H Leeds
- Thomas Hayes, Leeds UK, 06/05/2009 13:43
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David Beckham is a player not a gentleman, he would sell his soul for filthy lucre;Pete Doherty is the quintessential scumbag.
- Squiz, Islington, 06/05/2009 13:31
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To be a QE is not about clothing. Pete Doherty isn't much of a man. Let alone a QE. He stole from his own friend. His music is a poor man's Jarvis Cocker. To be a QE you live your life by a code, by principle and with courage. The bi-product of this is that your manners and dress are always faultless.
- Alex C, London, 06/05/2009 11:48
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