What Not to Do in Britain!: Save yourself failure, embarrassment, worry, time and money (Rajiv Immanuel's "Preparing you for UK life series" Book 1)

Once at dinner at the home of a British friend, seeing on the dining table a bottle of ‘Worcestershire Sauce’ I (the author) innocently related an incident that I’d read about long ago.
I said, that the British spy Kim Philby, was once asked, in an interview, what ingredient from ‘British cuisine’ he missed most during his exile in Russia.
“Philby replied: ‘Worcestershire Sauce’.”
My anecdote met with stony silence.
Nobody laughed. I wondered what kind of faux pas I had done (“Was it that you don’t refer to the activities of British spies?” “Or do the British not spy? No it can’t be that” I thought of ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’ and about Ian Fleming who had made a killing writing about a British spy).”
Then it struck me.
The difference was that Harold Adrian Russell Philby had spied against Britain. He was a traitor.
Important lesson: Don’t mention things Brits are not proud of.

Giving the right impression is vital to career success in Britain. You can go to any heights in Britain if you give the right impression.

This book is designed to help you get ahead in your British life. How can you do that if you keep making social blunders and making wrong choices out of ignorance? (wearing checked shirts with striped ties, or sniffing in public, for instance,).

It tells you about the social blunders to avoid in Britain, the do’s and don’ts of British society, derived from twenty years of living in the UK.

It tells you about the social and cultural minefields to avoid putting your foot in.

The idea is to save you embarrassment, worry, time, money and ensure your success in your UK life. Your career depends on it.

This is not a superficial view of the British people.

British culture can be confusing for foreigners. However, it is possible to learn how to get along in British society eventually. This book, the result of twenty years of Brit-watching, could help you understand British people and British culture so that your progress through British society is smooth and successful.

The Brits (i.e. the British) are different from the rest of us. They have their own ways of doing things. Sometimes, what they do and the way they do things may seem surprising, shocking, praiseworthy, silly, worth emulating, crazy, confounding...

“Most people cannot see themselves as others see them,” wrote Napoleon Hill nearly a hundred years ago in his book Think And Grow Rich. If a person born in the UK were writing this book, you would expect the writer to give quite a different take on their own culture. People are human and may find it difficult to see how others see them. Our emotions and loyalties can get in the way of an honest assessment.

As a foreigner, the author, Rajiv Immanuel, is not held back by such emotional attachments. This book aims to be fair – to both this country and its people, and to foreigners too. This book not only tells you important things about British culture to help you, it also tells you of the realities of British culture that Brits will not be keen to write books about.

Culture in Britain is evolving. Some British guides to British culture can be simply outdated.

This book is not all negative. In this book you will learn about absolutely praiseworthy aspects of British attitudes and behaviour. Things the author gives the Brits full marks for. Brits do rise to extraordinary heights at times (find out in this book).

Now, you’ve been invited to a friend’s house for Saturday lunch and you’re excited but this book warns you not to be and advises you to eat all you can before you set foot in your friend’s house! Why? Read this book and find out...