Archive on 4: A History of the Stiff Upper Lip

Emotion is no longer a private affair. The boundaries between public and private life are well and truly blurred.  What seemed once the element of self-restraint in our cultural DNA is under siege.

Contributing to the demise of the stiff upper lip have been two world wars, the socialist project, the demise of the aristocracy’s moral influence, and the therapy culture.

But what has been gained? What has been lost?

Louisa Foxe trawls the archives – voices include Nancy Mitford, Siegfried Sassoon, and H G Wells – and interviews the pundits, among them Dr David Starkey and  Ken Loach, as she unravels the changing British attitude toward the expression  of emotion.