A bit of a stickler

Hannah Stephenson meets Lynne Truss, bestselling author of the grammar-busting Eats, Shoots & Leaves, who has now turned her attention to our (lack of) good manners...

Lynne Truss has made a mint out of being a stickler. First, her little book about punctuation - Eats, Shoots & Leaves - became a surprise runaway best-seller and made her a millionaire. Now she is tub-thumping again, but in her new offering, Talk To The Hand, she directs her anger at the lack of manners in everyday life. The title refers to a response best known from The Jerry Springer Show - 'talk to the hand, coz the face ain't listening', which is accompanied by an aggressive palm held out at arm's length. No stone is left unturned as Lynne tackles a plethora of irksome issues, from mobile phones to litter-dropping, poor service, spitting and the sheer downright selfishness of today's society.

"Many people simply don't realise they are being rude," she adds. "They haven't learned the rules that you should give up your seat to an elderly or disabled person on the train, for instance."

"What worries me is the lack of imagination or willingness to empathise," she says. While it's evident that so many things infuriate her about people's lack of consideration, she says that her anger has been at least partially assuaged by being able to put it all down on paper.

"Many people simply don't realise they are being rude. They haven't learned the rules that you should give up your seat to an elderly or disabled person on the train, for instance."

Lynne, 50, is blonde, single, downto- earth and droll. She has countless anecdotes, as do we all, of people's rudeness and has been surprised by the transfer of effort from assistant to customer in recent years. She tells me, for instance, of a friend who waited ages to be served in an airport cafe, was then brought the wrong item and didn't have time to wait for the correct order as he needed to catch his flight.

As he got up to leave, the waitress said indignantly, 'Oh, you've had a really nice time at our expense,' as though he was using the cafe as a place to sit and therefore taking advantage of it.

The nature of manners is also changing because of new technology, she reflects. "People are being cut off from each other because of all the technology, including computers and iPods. We are bound to end up alienated." She agrees that age may play a part in tolerance levels and having the courage to speak out prepared to be branded a grumpy old woman who likes nothing better than a good rant.

"I don't care if people think I'm being grumpy. Actually, everybody is judgmental, but admitting it is a bit of a relief," she says. The book, however, is not particularly about manners or etiquette, but about rudeness within the modern world. "I didn't write a book on manners because I'd never be able to talk with my mouth full again - and I do that quite a bit."

One of her pet hates is being ignored by cashiers intent on having a conversation with their colleague; another is sitting between two people on public transport, who start a conversation and treat her as though she were invisible. "If they just acknowledged you were there, that would be all right. But if they regard you as an item of furniture, I hate that. I just get sarcastic. I don't have a clever way of dealing with it. I'd like to carry sparklers or flags to let them know I'm here."

Only two years ago, Lynne was a jobbing freelance journalist for newspapers and radio, who also wrote books. Then Eats, Shoots & Leaves brought her instant stardom, selling more than three million copies worldwide. The months when she was catapulted from a fairly successful career to literary stardom were surreal, she reflects, as she was deluged with TV, radio and press interview requests, both here and in America, where her book also became a huge success.

"I did feel my life wasn't my own. It was marvellous but I am nervous about having my head above the parapet. I didn't actually want to be famous. I just like being successful."

Her new-found wealth has enabled her to pay off both the mortgage on her house in Brighton and her mother's mortgage, and to rent a three-bedroom flat in Bloomsbury, in the West End of London. She has also treated herself to a Volkswagen Beetle convertible and a few designer clothes. But she still cannot quite believe the success of Eats, Shoots & Leaves.

"I was quite scared by the whole furore and the fact people thought I should just be celebrating all the time. I held my breath for a long time and kept thinking there would be an awful reversal. It sold so many before Christmas and I thought that those who bought multiple copies would bring them back." Of course they didn't. Ian Hislop apparently has five copies.

Lynne still feels a sense of relief that money is no longer a worry, which is perhaps a legacy of her ordinary upbringing on a council estate near Richmond, Surrey. The daughter of a milkman and self-taught accountant, Lynne grew up in an environment where good manners were equated with not upsetting anyone.

"Not causing others any inconvenience was my mother's way of raising me," she recalls. The TV was always left on when friends visited and it wasn't until years later that Lynne discovered that writing a thank-you letter for a gift constituted good manners. It was something of which she simply wasn't aware.

Writing about the decline in manners leaves Lynne wide open to accusations of hypocrisy, should she not practise what she preaches. Of her harshest critics, she says: "I fully expect them to be following me around to see if I'm rude to people in shops. We all think we're not rude.

"We might think we're under pressure and that that excuses rudeness on our part. I don't think that I'm perfect as a punctuator or grammarian but people will take that simple point of view."

Lynne has turned down numerous TV offers, including the chance to appear on Celebrity Mastermind. She'd rather be writing than on screen.

She will be penning a comedy series for Radio 4 next year, however, and her ambition is to write a stage play. No doubt she will also remain sympathetic to sticklers worldwide.

Talk To The Hand:
The Utter Bloody Rudeness Of Everyday Life, by Lynne Truss, is published by Profile, priced £9.99. Out now.