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How to be Inimitable
1960. First Edition. 91 pages. Yellow jacket over cloth. Pages and binding are presentable with no major defects. Minor issues present such as mild cracking, inscriptions, inserts, light foxing, tanning and thumb marking. Overall a good condition item. Boards have mild shelf wear with light rubbing and corner bumping. Some light marking and sunning. Unclipped jacket has light edge-wear with minor tears and chipping. Mild rubbing and marking.
91 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1966
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About the author
George Mikes
135books51followersGeorge Mikes (pronounced Mik-esh) was a Hungarian-born British author best known for his humorous commentaries on various countries.
Mikes graduated in Budapest in 1933 and started work as a journalist on Reggel ("Morning"), a Budapest newspaper. For a short while he wrote a column called Intim Pista for Színházi Élet ("Theatre Life").
In 1938 Mikes became the London correspondent for Reggel and 8 Órao Ujság ("8 Hours"). He worked for Reggel until 1940. Having been sent to London to cover the Munich Crisis and expecting to stay for only a couple of weeks, he remained for the rest of his life. In 1946 he became a British Citizen. It is reported that being a Jew from Hungary was a factor in his decision. Mikes wrote in both Hungarian and English: The Observer, The Times Literary Supplement, Encounter, Irodalmi Újság, Népszava, the Viennese Hungarian-language Magyar Híradó, and Világ.
From 1939 Mikes worked for the BBC Hungarian section making documentaries, at first as a freelance correspondent and, from 1950, as an employee. From 1975 until his death on 30 August 1987 he worked for the Hungarian section of Szabad Európa Rádió. He was president of the London branch of PEN, and a member of the Garrick Club.
His friends included Arthur Koestler, J. B. Priestley and André Deutsch, who was also his publisher.
His first book (1945) was We Were There To Escape – the true story of a Jugoslav officer about life in prisoner-of-war camps. The Times Literary Supplement praised the book for the humour it showed in parts, which led him to write his most famous book How to be an Alien which in 1946 proved a great success in post-war Britain.
How to be an Alien (1946) poked gentle fun at the English, including a one-line chapter on sex: "Continental people have sex lives; the English have hot-water bottles."
Subsequent books dealt with (among others) Japan (The Land of the Rising Yen), Israel (Milk and Honey, The Prophet Motive), the U.S. (How to Scrape Skies), and the United Nations (How to Unite Nations), Australia (Boomerang), the British again (How to be Inimitable, How to be Decadent), and South America (How to Tango). Other subjects include God (How to be God), his cat (Tsi-Tsa), wealth (How to be Poor) or philosophy (How to be a Guru).
Apart from his commentaries, he wrote humorous fiction (Mortal Passion; The Spy Who Died of Boredom) and contributed to the satirical television series That Was The Week That Was.
His autobiography was called How to be Seventy.
Serious writing included a book about the Hungarian Secret Police and he narrated a BBC television report of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.
Mikes graduated in Budapest in 1933 and started work as a journalist on Reggel ("Morning"), a Budapest newspaper. For a short while he wrote a column called Intim Pista for Színházi Élet ("Theatre Life").
In 1938 Mikes became the London correspondent for Reggel and 8 Órao Ujság ("8 Hours"). He worked for Reggel until 1940. Having been sent to London to cover the Munich Crisis and expecting to stay for only a couple of weeks, he remained for the rest of his life. In 1946 he became a British Citizen. It is reported that being a Jew from Hungary was a factor in his decision. Mikes wrote in both Hungarian and English: The Observer, The Times Literary Supplement, Encounter, Irodalmi Újság, Népszava, the Viennese Hungarian-language Magyar Híradó, and Világ.
From 1939 Mikes worked for the BBC Hungarian section making documentaries, at first as a freelance correspondent and, from 1950, as an employee. From 1975 until his death on 30 August 1987 he worked for the Hungarian section of Szabad Európa Rádió. He was president of the London branch of PEN, and a member of the Garrick Club.
His friends included Arthur Koestler, J. B. Priestley and André Deutsch, who was also his publisher.
His first book (1945) was We Were There To Escape – the true story of a Jugoslav officer about life in prisoner-of-war camps. The Times Literary Supplement praised the book for the humour it showed in parts, which led him to write his most famous book How to be an Alien which in 1946 proved a great success in post-war Britain.
How to be an Alien (1946) poked gentle fun at the English, including a one-line chapter on sex: "Continental people have sex lives; the English have hot-water bottles."
Subsequent books dealt with (among others) Japan (The Land of the Rising Yen), Israel (Milk and Honey, The Prophet Motive), the U.S. (How to Scrape Skies), and the United Nations (How to Unite Nations), Australia (Boomerang), the British again (How to be Inimitable, How to be Decadent), and South America (How to Tango). Other subjects include God (How to be God), his cat (Tsi-Tsa), wealth (How to be Poor) or philosophy (How to be a Guru).
Apart from his commentaries, he wrote humorous fiction (Mortal Passion; The Spy Who Died of Boredom) and contributed to the satirical television series That Was The Week That Was.
His autobiography was called How to be Seventy.
Serious writing included a book about the Hungarian Secret Police and he narrated a BBC television report of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 31, 2021
I read this many years ago: a Hungarian immigrant poking fun at his new compatriots. More recently, I reread its precursor, How to be a Brit (see my review HERE) and
a couple of excerpts of this in Paul Merton's anthology Funny Ha Ha (see my review HERE).
This "review" is an excuse to share a large excerpt of "How to take your pleasure sadly" (as Brits are wont to do), demonstrated by the awfulness of a typical 1960 daytrip to the seaside:
a couple of excerpts of this in Paul Merton's anthology Funny Ha Ha (see my review HERE).
This "review" is an excuse to share a large excerpt of "How to take your pleasure sadly" (as Brits are wont to do), demonstrated by the awfulness of a typical 1960 daytrip to the seaside:
One: tomorrow morning you will get into your car and take twelve and a half hours to cover a four-hour journey. The journey back will take you fifteen hours and the fumes will nearly choke you.
Two: when you reach your destination, you will queue up twelve times a day: three times for ice-cream, twice for deck-chairs, three times for beer, once for tea, twice for swings for the children and once just for the hell of it.
Three: whenever you feel unbearably hot, I order you to accept the additional torture of drinking hot tea.
Four: when it gets still hotter, you will drive down to the seaside and sit in the oven of your car, for two hours and a half.
Five: wherever you go, there will never be less than two thousand people around you. They will shout and shriek into your ear and trample on your feet and your only consolation will be that you, too, trample on their feet. There is no escape from them. You may try the countryside but the countryside, too, will be transformed into an everlasting Bank Holiday fairground, strewn with paper bags and empty tins and bottles. Furthermore, to add to your sufferings, I order you to take a portable radio everywhere with you and listen to ‘Housewives’ Choice’ and ‘Mrs Dale’s Diary’ incessantly!
If all this were meted out as dire punishment, proud, free Englishmen everywhere would rise against it as they have always risen against foul oppression. But as, on top of it all, they have to spend a whole year’s savings on these pleasures, they are delighted if they can join the devotees anywhere. Britain has been the marvel-country of the world for a long time. Many people used to regard her as decadent, decaying and exhausted until they learned better. How has Britain come out of her many trials, not only victorious but rejuvenated? The secret of the British is very simple: if they can endure their summer holidays, they can endure anything.
August 18, 2017
The second volume in the How to Be a Brit omnibus, this was originally published in 1960. Much less memorable overall than the first installment, but with a few wry lines that made me smile in recognition. The single best essay was “On Advertisements,” which suggests making ads more English, i.e., understated and cynical.
Favorite lines:
“Television is of great educational value. It teaches you while still really young how to (a) kill, (b) rob, (c) embezzle, (d) shoot, (e) poison, and generally speaking, (f) how to grow up into a Wild West outlaw or gangster by the time you leave school.”
“inability to speak foreign languages seems to be the major, if not the only, intellectual achievement of the average Englishman.”
Favorite lines:
“Television is of great educational value. It teaches you while still really young how to (a) kill, (b) rob, (c) embezzle, (d) shoot, (e) poison, and generally speaking, (f) how to grow up into a Wild West outlaw or gangster by the time you leave school.”
“inability to speak foreign languages seems to be the major, if not the only, intellectual achievement of the average Englishman.”
January 11, 2016
How to be Inimitable is an affectionate, cynical and humorous view of the British at the end of the 1950s. It was written by George Mikes, a Hungarian who had lived in Britain for 21 years and could still view the British from an outsider's point of view. It is written as a series of short chapters, that could be magazine articles, on various topics such as: conversation, politics, TV, tourism, modesty and the class system. It is illustrated in cartoon style by Nicolas Bentley.
While some of it is dated after over 50 years, other bits are still relevant:
While some of it is dated after over 50 years, other bits are still relevant:
Englishmen in cars are prepared up to a point to obey traffic signals; but the very idea that an English pedestrian should wait for a green light is absolutely outrageous. The Englishman's right to walk under the wheels of a lorries was secured in Magna Carta and ours is not the generation to squander such ancient liberties.
April 29, 2025
Very cute little read. It definitely feels a bit aged, but that’s okay.
It was written in 1960 and offers an amusing glimpse into British life and attitudes of the time, all told in a satirical and sarcastic tone. It’s kind of a sequel to the author’s earlier book from 1946, How to be an Alien. I thought the whole thing was fascinating—sometimes a little boring maybe—but still worth reading.
It was written in 1960 and offers an amusing glimpse into British life and attitudes of the time, all told in a satirical and sarcastic tone. It’s kind of a sequel to the author’s earlier book from 1946, How to be an Alien. I thought the whole thing was fascinating—sometimes a little boring maybe—but still worth reading.
February 7, 2017
"The country is, perhaps, going to the dogs. It may well be doing so. But this has always been a country of dog-lovers, so this suits us all."
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
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