Stephen Potter

Lifemanship, we are assured, was devised in response to a huge public demand, somewhat unexpressed. The way of life adopted by Lifemen is as hard to define as the sound of one hand clapping, but this has not deterred the founder of the Lifemanship Association, Station Road, Yeovil (Somerset, England), from formulating a course of lectures on a vital issue of our times. // With the help of informative diagrams and actual examples from the practice of famous exponents, he explains how to triump in daily life -- in conversation, at the wee-end party, whilst wooing, and in many other succulent situations. He discusses fully such fascinating gambits as the Canterbury Block -- 'Yes, but not in the South' -- to which there is no known riposte, and the whole questions of O.K.-words and O.K.-names. // Lifemanship sprang from Gamesmanship, and has gone on to One-Upmanship and Supermanship. They are all in Penguins. // 'All go-getters, careerists, snobs, cads and cut-throats will find this book invaluable, and so do I' -- John Betjeman.

A history of the teaching of English literature.