Official Sloane Ranger h

Those were the days... when this book was released, I has a flat on Sloane Gardens, the street to the left coming out of the Sloane Square tube station. I suppose that I was a Sloanie, back then. This book did a tremendous job of defining and poking fun at the "Sloane Rangers." It was a treat then and it's a treat to read again, now, some 30 years on.

After all these years.....still very funny. Covers all aspects of the Sloane Rangers life, without blushing. " The Sloane Ranger is not taught about sex by Mummie or Daddy.....The young Sloane, if it asks its parent, is told ' It's the same as animals.' One Sloane virgin bride was astonished that the approach was not from the rear. " Pg 130. etc, etc.

First: you *must* read "The Official Preppy Handbook", as it is the most laugh-out-loud funny authentic sociological study ever written (only Mackay's early "Extraordinary Popular Delusions And The Madness Of Crowds" -- more relevant than ever today!! -- Veblen's classic "Theory Of The Leisure Class", and William Bolitho's "Charles XII" chapter in his otherwise mordant "Twelve Against The Gods", compare). But concerning upperish-class folkways and collective self-regard, the downright Japanese British (both island fastnesses had many secure centuries to ossify) have it all over their parvenu American cousins. "The Official Sloane Ranger Handbook" is *far* denser with cultural info than the Preppy book -- and it's companion, "The Official Sloane Ranger Diary", is an even richer resource! Devour all three as a foundation in socioeconomic stratification/lifestyle studies, proceed through Fussell's "Class", Packard's "The Status Seekers", and google thee onward from there, for a program of endlessly entertaining fireside reads!!P.S. I just discovered the promising 3rd book in this series, "Cooler Faster More Expensive", and the related "Official Filthy Rich Handbook" -- looking forward to both!!

so cute and fun

Yuppies for Englishmen. A culture that’s morphed into everyday acceptance. Interesting, but pointless read.

A bit dated. I first got a copy in the early 1980s when it was more current. Still, it gives one useful information about the British cousins of the true Preppies.

A wonderful blast from the past. Full of good memories, happy times... It's as if Laura Ashley came into you home and gave you a hug!

A good insight how certain people live their lives.i actually did my teaching practice in one. School mentioned in this book.

スローン・レンジャーの、そもそもの定義や、時代背景を含むストーリーが詳しく解説されている。

great review

Um die Briten zu verstehen (allen voran die Schicht, aus der bspw. Kate Middleton entspringt) und deren cultural codes, kann dieses Werk zu Rate gezogen werden. Amüsant beschriebene Beispiele.

I'm writing in 2008, twenty-five years after the SLOANE RANGER HANDBOOK was first published. Originally, the book could have been read simply for an innocently voyeuristic "hoot" at the quirks of the then flourishing Upper Middle Class. On speed-reading it with a chuckle, you might have consigned it to the downstairs loo to gather dust. Get it out now - or buy a copy on Amazon! In 1982, the authors painted Henry and Caroline at their most ebullient and excessive; fair enough - the book had to sell. The 1982 Caroline Sloane was the clear heir and continuation of her mother, 1950/60's Caroline Knightsbridge-Knotted. There was an assurance to Sloane life which, as the years passed and the new millennium dawned, came to be seen as rewarding the untalented and stopping those with ability reaching the top. Perhaps this was true in part but there was another side to the Sloane character which, today, is worthy of some mourning; indeed, on re-reading the HANDBOOK, it has become an elegy. The Sloane - shout this from the rooftops - gave back to society. The "wah-wah" voice and robust, patrician conservatism disguised a person who was up before dawn to deliver Meals-on-Wheels and who baked cakes all evening for the church spire appeal, or other cohesive community cause. The Sloane was a "We" person, not a "Me" person. Today, as "Little Britain" characters and their self-absorbed New Labour facilitators depose the remaining Henrys and Carolines, the loss of this tribe is a cause for regret.

Must read!Not only for brittish sloanes, but also for the cousins from the continent!Experience here what it really means to be brittish or to be educated.It advocates the good old conservative lifestyle and explains why thedifferent fieldsports disciplines are so important!