AFTER YOU MADAM

I've always tried to be a gentleman. You know - standing up for ladies on buses or on the tube.

Or perhaps letting women go through the door ahead of you - and holding it open. All that sort of stuff.

I suppose the archetypal example of being a gentleman was Sir Walter Raleigh.

The story goes that he once took off an expensive cloak and threw it over a mud puddle for Queen Elizabeth to walk across thus  illustrating his flamboyant manner — the event probably never happened, but everyone had come to expect that sort of thing from Raleigh, and Elizabeth always favoured that kind of showmanship. 

Others have their own view of what being a gentleman means:

"A gentleman is simply a patient wolf" - Lana Turner 

"A gentleman is any man who wouldn't hit a woman with his hat on." - Fred Allen

and my favourite - "A gentleman is someone who knows how to play an accordion but doesn't" - Al Cohn

Anyway, I shall continue to stand up for ladies even if they do look at me as if I'm weird when I do it.