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Hello, at the start of the 18th century more precisely in 1711, a new idea took

wing. It was complete with a philosophy, a literature, and very soon society was in its

thrall. The idea was politeness. When Queen Anne was on the

throne and the spectator was in the coffee houses, politeness, surprising as it may

seem to us now, was part of a social revolution. So how did the idea of

politeness challenge the accepted norms of

behavior? And how did a notion of how to behave affect the great wealth of

18th century culture? With me to discuss politeness at David Wooten, professor of

history at the University of York, John

Mullen, senior lecturer in English at University College London, and Amanda Vickery, reader in history

at Royal Holloway University of London.

Amanda Vickery, at the end of the 17th century, before we come to that great 1711 date, what

were the guidelines for best behaviour? I think there's really a... best behavior.

I think there's really a Courtney model of behavior which has been well established in the

17th century but at the end of the 17th century there are three major political events which change the map of

culture and redraw the map of politics. 1688 the so-called glorious revolution

when Parliament invites William of Orange to the throne,

rejecting the incumbent King James II, the act of toleration of 1689, which

acknowledges Protestant dissent and tries to draw a line under a century of religious strife.

And finally, the lapse of the Licensing Act of 1695, which ends political censorship effectively,

...