Raworths Harrogate Literature Festival is taking place between October 10 – 20, welcoming a bevy of bestselling novelists and award-winning writers to the town.

Amongst this year’s line-up is William Hanson, The Sunday Times bestselling author, co-host of hugely popular podcast Help I Sexted My Boss, and all-round etiquette expert.

Ahead of his appearance at the festival to discuss his new book Just Good Manners, and in between spa town visits – he’s slated to speak at Cheltenham Literature Festival earlier in the week – the Stray Ferret chatted to him about TikTok fame, pea mishaps and how etiquette is just as relevant today.

Will this be your first time visiting Harrogate?

I’ve been to Harrogate a few times – my husband is from Yorkshire, and I have several friends who live in Harrogate. But I’ve never been to the literature festival so that’ll be a first.

Is there anywhere in the town that you’ve enjoyed visiting before?

Of course I’ve been to Bettys before, and I’ll be going again while I’m here. I remember you’ve also got lovely gardens.

I grew up in Bristol and nearby we had Bath – I think Harrogate and Bath are of a very similar architectural style. One of my favourite things to do is just to walk around and soak up the atmosphere, in particular the architecture.

Are you looking forward to Raworths Harrogate Literature Festival?

It’s a great honour really. The Harrogate Literature Festival is very well known – it might not be the biggest, but it’s certainly very well respected.

You’ve written four books prior to your latest – that’s quite a feat. Do you enjoy the process of writing?

When the words are flowing, it’s the greatest feeling in the world. When the words are not flowing, it’s incredibly frustrating.

I particularly enjoyed writing this book [Just Good Manners]. It’s the book I always wanted to write. It is, in effect, my version of the book I was given when I was 12 by my grandfather, which first got me into etiquette.

Life has changed significantly since that book was published. So being given the opportunity by Penguin Random House to present my take on contemporary manners and British behaviour from a humorous and almost physiological point of view  was a great honour.

I had a very short lead time to write this book which suits me – I perform better under pressure. But it did mean that when the words were not flowing on the odd day, it did add a slight stress.

I’d sit there going ‘no, I must write this section on napkins, the public are desperate to know everything they can about napkins’. But that was the only downside.

You talk about how etiquette can fit into modern life in Just Good Manners. Are there any newer examples of bad manners you think need addressing?

People cancelling on social arrangements is rife, particularly in bigger cities. Maybe in lovely towns such as Harrogate it doesn’t happen as much because it’s a smaller community, compared to Manchester or London.

There will be occasions when you can’t meet your friend for a perfectly legitimate reason. But if you’ve bailed on your friends one too many times because you can’t be bothered, it’s terribly unfair - you are in effect being more selfish than selfless.

Do you think it’s important to still uphold certain principles that etiquette can teach us?

Manners and etiquette – particularly etiquette – can get besmirched, it’s a very loaded word, which sounds grander than it actually is.

It’s just about consideration for other people within our interactions. We interact with other people so much more frequently these days than the previous generations, mainly due to technology, but also travel.

We’re around so many people from different backgrounds, beliefs and cultures so it’s all about putting them first and respecting them.

When people say: ‘etiquette is quite outdated now isn’t it?’ they’re missing the point. It’s not just about how to behave at Buckingham Palace.

Speaking of the modern era, you have a huge following on TikTok and Instagram. Is that a good reflection of how rules of etiquette can still fascinate people?

Throughout my career I’ve had people say to me, ‘people aren’t interested, life has moved on’ so it was quite nice that when I started posting to social media that people seemed to be incredibly interested.

I’ve been told the view count is high but I don’t really check – I make my videos, put them out there and hope for the best.

Your work has taken you to some interesting places over the years. Do any situations stand out to you as being particularly surreal or bizarre? 

It’s all a little bit surreal. I’m aware that I have a completely bonkers job. But the one that springs to mind is a client I’ve worked with for a long time.

About 12 years ago, they had a dinner for their graduate intake, and one of the graduates was seen eating peas off a knife.

Someone quite senior at the company saw this and so an ‘Etiquette Dinner’ was then introduced and has run ever since, where I work with several graduates at a time, and we have a relatively formal three course meal and talk about the fundamentals of having dinner with clients.

We always have peas as part of the main course as a homage and I always think if that one person hadn’t eaten peas off a knife – which in itself is quite extraordinary for him to think that was even possible – this event might not even exist.

I think my best performing video on social media was also about peas – I never thought they would be such a big part of my life, but they’ve certainly served me well!

Finally, you’ve got ties to Yorkshire and the north through your husband and your podcast co-host [broadcaster Jordan North]. Are there any Yorkshire-isms that you’ve adopted, whether they’re considered good manners or not?

When I started going out with my now-husband, I wasn’t used to certain Yorkshire turns of phrase. I remember he once said something like: ‘don’t take your bat home’ and I had no idea what he meant.

He explained it meant something along the lines of: ‘don’t have a tantrum’ and now I think it’s a lovely turn of phrase and its sort of slipped into my language.

I think it might be a cricketing reference, as I know Yorkshire do relatively well at cricket. 

William Hanson will be in conversation with journalist and broadcaster Anna Lawlor at Raworths Harrogate Literature Festival on Friday October 11 at 6pm.