QUIZ: test your social etiquette

As Mary Killen launches a new online course in modern manners, we ask, how would you fare with these awkward social dilemmas?

Table manners: in 1608, Thomas Coryat saw forks being used in Italy, brought one back to England and was promptly mocked for using it - The rights and wrongs of modern manners
Having good manners boils down to treating others as you would like to be treated yourself Credit: Photo: ALAMY

"If you need to ask why manners are still important, then sadly you have already excluded yourself from some of the most enjoyable social circles you might ever hope to penetrate."

So says Mary Killen, author and columnist at The Spectator, who also thinks that more time should be spent teaching children good manners.

"Parents don't spend enough time with their children, so don't want to spoil what short time they have by nagging," she says.

Killen has been solving readers' complex social dilemmas in her column 'Dear Mary' for over 20 years.

From how much to tip, how long to stay when invited for a drink, and whether to thank by email or snail mail, Killen says that "Britons are desperate to know how to deal with things tactfully."

"Having good manners boils down to treating others as you would like to be treated yourself," she says. "You throw your civility and kindness on the water, and it comes back to you. Everyone is happier."

In fact, so popular is Killen's column that she was recently asked by the Idler Academy in London to create an online course. The resulting product, 'A Guide to Modern Manners', launched this week.

It will join other online courses from the Academy including 'Elocution with Sir Timothy Ackroyd' and 'Punctuation with Harry Mount'.

But how is your social etiquette? Take Mary's quiz to find out.

Mary Killen's Modern Manners quiz