This stranger’s-eye-view of an eccentric nation promises insight but delivers only conventional wisdom ‘Continental people have sex lives; the English have hot-water bottles. ” So observed Hungarian journalist George Mikes in How to Be an Alien (1946), one of the finest examples of a tradition in...

Source: [Guardian International](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/jun/23/fantastic-kingdom-by-helene-von-bismarck-review-an-outsiders-guide-to-british-politics)

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