UPWARD MOBILITY: HOW THE BRITISH OBSESSION WITH CLASS WAS REFLECTED IN THE CARS THEY PRODUCED
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If you were born into the upper classes, you're likely to remain there - even if you lose your fortune. The penniless aristocrat who can't afford to heat his castle is no less aristocratic than the wealthy one. Even now, in an arguably more socially mobile era, class origins stick more than elsewhere. Mick Jagger remains for many a faintly disreputable rock'n'roll rebel despite a knighthood that made him Sir Mick.
Yes, the media does suffer from a class divide | Giulio Sica | Opinion | The Guardian
And for all his millions, David Beckham's working class accent is as much a part of his persona as his looks and soccer prowess. As for Middleton, she is not a member of nobility or the aristocracy, which makes her an unusual bride for the man who will likely be king one day. William's mother Princess Diana was the daughter of an earl, and Prince Andrew 's ex-wife Sarah Ferguson also has aristocratic ancestors - her great-grandfather was a duke.
Middleton's maternal ancestors were manual laborers and coal miners, a fact trumpeted in tabloid headlines like "From pit to palace.
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But Kate is not exactly working class. Middleton's paternal ancestors have been affluently middle-class for more than a century: Kate's parents Carol and Michael Middleton are millionaires who run their own party-planning business.
Before that they worked in the airline industry - Carol as a flight attendant, Michael as a flight dispatcher. Middleton's Marlborough education helped give her an ease around the upper classes and - on the evidence of her one television interview - polished manners and a genteel accent to match those of her royal fiance. Accent is still a key class signifier, although times have changed since those of humble origin had to shed all hints of working-class or regional origins if they hoped to rise in the world. Today it's just as common to find upper-class kids adopting "mockney" - mock Cockney - accents in an attempt to seem cool.
Yet Middleton's background is ordinary enough to launch the oft-repeated story about William's posh friends quipping "doors to manual" as a gibe at her mother's former job. Or for commentators to snipe about Carol Middleton chewing gum during William's military college graduation ceremony, attended by the queen. Will Atkinson, a sociologist at Bristol University who has studied the class system, said social mobility in Britain has been stagnant since the World War II.
You get the occasional Kate Middleton. But most people will reproduce their parents' class.
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I enjoyed this book about how the english class system bought vehicles usually within their class structure. An interesting book well worth a read. Yes, the Rolls Royce is shown on the cover and this is THE automobile; but this book gives a little insight to the subtleties of an Englishman's choosing an automobile during the 20th century. Here on this side of the pond [USA] we had only 3 levels of value or class to consider: Ford, Mercury or Lincoln. Then even if you were one who wouldn't buy a Ford, at least Ford was not at the very bottom of the barrel. Take a look at how Ford was seen in England.
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