Drawn from many sources, this engaging collection demonstrates that courteous behaviour transcends all barriers, from gender and wealth to age and class - here are noble acts by footballers and fashionistas, television personalities and teenagers, great commanders and humble private soldiers, society ladies and modest housewives, elderly philosophers and very young children. It includes Alexander the Great, Marie Antoinette, the Duke of Wellington, Evelyn Waugh, Winston Churchill, Sammy Davis Junior and Colonel Tim Collins.

Often amusing, sometimes moving, occasionally astounding and always fascinating, How to Be Kind is both a marvellous read and a tribute to the finest, albeit often overlooked, qualities of humankind.