Meet the Bristol etiquette expert, William Hanson revealing the correct way to drink tea

  • How to drink a cup of coffee correctly - William Hanson speaks to ITV West Country

Do you know the correct way to drink a cup of coffee? Would you sit with your elbows on the table or tap your teaspoon against your cup? Then Bristol's William Hanson might be disappointed in you.

The etiquette coach has been teaching ITV West Country's Ellie Barker some correct cafe manners - and has gained million of followers on his social media dishing out the latest lessons in 'proper' form and good manners.

William was born in Bristol and boarded at Clifton College, but has risen to fame in recent years for his lessons on grace and decorum.

"I should just stress that I did not intend to become an etiquette coach," William said.

"In fact, as a child, when I was growing up in Bristol, I wanted to be the Archbishop of Canterbury. But my late grandmother gave me a book of etiquette for my 12th Christmas. I know this is hard to believe, but she thought I was the gauchest child, so she probably thought it would appeal.

"I didn't leap at the chance to read it but unlike some of the subjects of school, I found that actually I was retaining the information, so I started to buy more etiquette books.

"And then when I was 16 or 17 at school, one of the teachers came up to me and said: 'We need someone to teach the younger years how to set a table, do you you could do that?' And I said, 'Well if I do it, do I need to do rugby?' And he said, 'Oh no no no, you can miss rugby. And I thought, 'Sign me up!' I didn't need to be asked twice."

'No elbows on the table' - William Hanson teaches ITV West Country's Ellie Barker a thing or two about dining etiquette.

William now has three million followers on Instagram, two million followers on TikTok and more than 39 million likes on his TikTok videos.

He also has a podcast with broadcaster Jordan North called 'Help, I Sexted my Boss', and his fourth book coming out later this month, while he is currently on a three-city comedy tour teaching etiquette.

But the 35-year-old started small, beginning to discuss etiquette between school and university, which gathered him press coverage.

"A company called The English Manner, which I now own, wrote to me and said, 'if you're going to do this, please come and do this for us'," William said.

"So, by the time I finished university, I had a proper job."

William says "never in a million years" did he believe he would be doing the "depth and breadth of things" that he now does as a full-time etiquette coach, with his own company.

"To be honest, for years, it was an absolute struggle because nobody was interested", he added.

He believes he managed to turn it into a successful career because of joining the industry shortly before the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Catherine, and around the time of the hit TV show Downton Abbey.

He also believes, surprisingly, that the 2008 recession played a part in boosting interest in etiquette.

"People started to think 'We don't have these material possessions but what costs nothing' - as trite as it is, manners do cost nothing - so people were slightly more interested in what they could have for free, which is being nice to people," he said.

While some people can be put off at the thought of etiquette, William says his clients include those new to the UK, children, graduates hoping to impress clients when hosting and even royal households "around the world".

William says he doesn't lose sleep over people not knowing etiquette but those who don't say 'thank you' is his biggest bugbear.

"It's not easy", William said. "Etiquette is such a loaded word and everyone seems to have a slightly inbuilt prejudice to what etiquette is.

"Etiquette isn't belittling other people, it's being nice to people. But you only need to look on what's going around the world - in our country and in every other country - one of the root causes is a lack of tolerance and respect for other people."

Asked about his biggest bugbear, William said it is "a complete lack of awareness of the basics".

"When you hold the door open for someone and they don't say 'thank you'. You do not need to have read any of my books or have come to my live show or gone to an etiquette class, to know that 'please', 'thank you' and 'sorry' are basic entry-level stuff, and that is what annoys me."

William is performing at Bristol's Redgrave Theatre on Thursday 5 September.