The class quiz
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Hungarian-born George Mikes (pronounced ‘Mikesh’, 1912-87) came to Britain in 1938. He wrote How to Be an Alien (1946) and 10 other books in which he gently poked fun at the characteristics of post-war English society. As an outsider, he had an affectionate understanding of the importance of class to English life. His reference to the lower-middle class is a good example of how, throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the middle class was further divided into upper, middle and lower strata, with the lower barely distinguishable from the ‘respectable’ working class.
