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Peter York

Peter York Quotes

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Peter York, born in 1943, is an accomplished author whose works span various genres, including literature, history, and social commentary. York's writing is renowned for its profound thought and unique perspective, which has had a significant impact on contemporary literature.

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Famous Peter York Quotes

“Rock and roll is the hamburger that ate the world.”

World Rocks Rock N Roll Rock And Roll Hamburgers

Book:Style wars

Source: Style wars

“Advertising has always been a huge unrecognised source of outdoor relief for the arts.”

Art Huge Source Advertising Relief

Author:Peter York

“Chandeliers are marvels of drop-dead showiness, the jewellery of architecture.”

Architecture Jewels Interior Design Jewellery Showy Chandeliers

Author:Peter York

“Fashion people think that the careful Nice companies are boring beyond measure. (Nice people think fashionistas look silly and should Get A Life).”

People Thinking Should Looks Company Nice Fashion Careful Boring Silly Nice People Fashionista

Author:Peter York

“Global new money has houses everywhere, and serious helicopters, it doesn't aspire to the Miss Marple life of St. Mary Mead.”

House Missing Serious Mary Aspire Helicopters Mead Miss Marple

Author:Peter York

“Kate Middleton's a pretty girl who sounds nice.”

Girl Sound Nice Kate Pretty Girl

Author:Peter York

“London clubland divides itself between the St James's refuge for toffs, and the Conquest of Cool, for the arts and media.”

Art Media London Divides Refuge Conquest

Author:Peter York

“One should never learn from one's mistakes. Making the same mistakes, over and over again, is a source of unremitting pleasure.”

Should Pleasure Mistake Source Same Mistakes Making The Same Mistakes

Author:Peter York

“Socially smart people have always mocked the threateningly mobile, and anti-branding is a central strand of high-end status conflict now.”

People Ends Conflict Smart Branding Mobile Smart People Strands

Author:Peter York

“There is an interior style we intellectuals and design policy wonks know as Haut Euro Pooftastic, which really takes the biscuit.”

Knows Style Policy Design Interiors Euro Biscuits

Author:Peter York

“There's no Peter York Foundation, and you're no one without one.”

Foundation Peter

Author:Peter York

“All I'm saying is that Louis Vuitton and L'Oreal didn't invent branding at some point in the mid-Eighties. Big, reassuring names have been around a long time.”

Long Has Beens Bigs Names Long Time Branding Eighty Reassuring Louis Vuitton

Author:Peter York

“Brands are useful ways of short-handing practically anything - look at the way Tom Wolfe first used brand name lists to sharpen up a character and a situation. Look at the most brand-referenced novel, Bret Easton Ellis's 'Glamorama.”

Way Firsts Looks Character Used Names Situation Novel Lists Brands Toms Brand Names

Author:Peter York

“By the 1980s, practically no one under 60 in the real civilian world wore hats for anything except weddings, funerals or Ascot. Hats had been in competition with hair, and hair had won. Thirty years before that, Brits of all classes and ages wore hats all the time.”

World Years Real Age Class Hair Competition Thirty Hats Funeral Civilians Thirty Years Brits

Author:Peter York

“By the late Nineties, we had become a more visual nation. Big-money taste moved to global standards - new architecture, design and show-off contemporary art. The Sloane domestic aesthetic - symmetry, class symbolism and brown furniture - became as unfashionable as it had been hot in the early Eighties.”

“Celebrity poverty, that's the hidden scandal in Blair's Britain. You can't help but worry for them. A girl I knew developed X-ray eyes for celebrity sorrows. She taught me to read the subtext of the down-market celebrity interview, she knew all the Hollywood codes, and followed the deep backgrounds.”

Helping Eye Girl Poverty Worry Taught Sorrow Hollywood Backgrounds Code Interviews Britain Rays Scandal Blair Subtext

Author:Peter York

“Decorators never quite saw the point of massing books. Books brought colour to a room and filled it up, but shelves bearing just one thing struck them as a decorative display opportunity tragically lost.”

Book Opportunity Lost Rooms Saws One Thing Filled Colour Just One Display Shelves Never Quit Decorators

Author:Peter York

“Eponymous brands aren't that popular with analysts and investors now. You can only take an eponymous brand with a living figurehead so far, they argue. What happens when they grow old and die? What happens when they misbehave and go seriously off-brand?”

Happens Dies Grows Arguing Brands Investors Analysts

Author:Peter York

“For me, wearing a tie is a pleasure, a recherche one but a pleasure nonetheless. You could say that I'm avoiding tie avoidance. My own gorgeous collection runs into hundreds and I buy them the way I buy books - I simply can't pass a shop. I have loved them since I could spend my own money on them.”

Way Book Running My Own Pleasure Ties Collections Shops Avoiding Gorgeous Avoidance

Author:Peter York

“George Bush is by American standards rabidly Upper Class - Eastern, Socially Attractive, WASP, 19th-century money, several generations of Andover and Yale (and, while we're at it, his father, George H. W. 'Poppy' Bush, was a former president and his grandfather was the Nazis' U.S. banker in the 1930s).”

Father President Class Generations Century Standards Former Attractive Grandfather Nazi Eastern Bankers 19th Century 1930s Yale Upper Class Poppies Wasps

Author:Peter York

“Girls like Diana Spencer, armed with nothing more than a guinea-pig-rearing certificate, proud to say in that old Sloane way that she was 'as thick as two short planks,' became the exception as girls from Benenden and Downe House started to fast-track towards the City and law, consultancy, media and the arts.”

Way Art Two Law Girl House Cities Media Proud Track Exception Thick Pigs Diana Certificates Guinea Guinea Pigs

Author:Peter York

“Sloanes aren't cafe society or NYLON hedge-funders with million-pound bonuses, or London Eurotrash wearing upgraded style anglais. Ann Barr's and my original picture of them in 'The Official Sloane Ranger Handbook,' published in 1982, was of an upper-middle-class world, conservative and fairly homogeneous, united by old attitudes and institutions.”

World United Attitude Class Millions Middle Style Originals Institutions Conservative London Officials Middle Class Pounds Bonus Rangers Cafes Homogeneous Upper Middle Class Nylon

Author:Peter York

“I'm certainly not a person who spends their every waking moment soaking themselves in signs and signals of the sort that cult studies people study; and it's partly, I suppose, because some of those signs and signals aren't worth bothering about. You have to be selective about these things.”

People Persons Moments Study Bother Waking Cult Signals Selective Soaking

Author:Peter York

“Pop managers are fixed in the dramatic stock character repertoire too, ever since the first British pop film musical, Wolf Mankowitz's 'Expresso Bongo' of 1959, with Cliff Richard as Bongo Herbert and Laurence Harvey as his manager. The key components were cast as X parts gay, X parts Jewish and triple X opportunistic.”

Firsts Character Film Keys Gay Musical Casts Pops British Managers Fixed Dramatic Components Cliffs Harvey Bongos

Author:Peter York

“Haagen-Dazs (a clever Scandi-sounding name invented by Americans in 1961) was bought for its Euro-sounding sophistication by the kind of Americans who first bought those Mercs and Beemers, while Ben & Jerry's (now owned by Unilever) brought a post-hippy sensibility to bear. Buyers saw the brand as saying 'all-natural, organic and Fairtrade.”

Firsts Kind Names Natural Saws Bears Clever Brands Posts Sensibility Jerry Euro Sophistication Buyers

Author:Peter York

“Have you got a Beemer, an Audi, a Saab or a Volvo that replaced a Ford, Vauxhall, Rover or Nissan? Many Brits have. Your first Beemer. A particularly nice smell of leather. Something rather plain but satisfactory about the interior. And that lovely enamel wotsit in the middle of the steering wheel. A moment of quiet 'because I'm worth it' pride.”

Firsts Moments Nice Middle Pride Quiet Smell Lovely Wheels Replaced Worth It Interiors Leather Steering Brits Volvo Audi

Author:Peter York

“I can remember when anything further downtown New York than Canal Street was risky and the whole area still looked like a 70s cop movie location; when the original loft-owners were more dash-than-cash, artistic types.”

Stills I Can Whole Remember Streets New York Type Areas Originals Artistic Owners Cash Cop Location Remember When Downtown Canals

Author:Peter York

“I can't actually read interviews with thesps now because they're almost always fantastically predictable, the men especially. Actors are forever stressing their ordinariness, their beer and football-loving commitments.”

Men I Can Actors Forever Football He Man Commitment Stress Beer Interviews Predictable Ordinariness

Author:Peter York

“I cling to the basic set of tenets laid out in Tom Wolfe's 'New Journalism' - to get out there like the great French novelists of the 19th century and study life. I am a Tom Wolfe fan of the first order.”

Firsts Order Study Fans Century Journalism Novelists Toms 19th Century Great French Study Life

Author:Peter York

“I often find myself worrying about celebrities. It's an entirely caring thing; it's not like the people who commission those photographs with cruel arrows to go on the covers of the celebrity magazines. The photographs show botched plastic surgery, raging eczema, weight gain and horrible clothes for maximum schadenfreude.”

People Shows Worry Goes On Clothes Gains Weight Photograph Caring Rage Horrible Magazines Plastic Surgery Maximum Arrows Plastic Surgery Schadenfreude Eczema

Author:Peter York

“If you've done a bit of journalism, everyone assumes you must be moving into PR. We're absolutely not becoming a PR agency and we're not turning into Brunswick. We will remain SRU, but we will be owned by the Brunswick Group. It's quite different.”

Ifs Different Done Moving Bits Groups Becoming Assuming Journalism Agency

Author:Peter York

“Imagine a State occasion where the Queen is wearing trainers with her tiara because she thinks it will make people like her better, more folksy. It's unthinkable. But that's patently the thought process Gordon Brown (or his spin doctor) went through before the Prime Minister appeared on the world stage in Beijing without his suit and tie.”

“In Britain, eponymous lifestyle branding as we know it started in the late 1960s, with two fascinating families - the Conrans and the Ashleys - who in increasingly brilliant settings and catalogues sold rather different visions of what the new ideal upper-middle-y life looked like.”

Knows Two Different Vision Middle Late Ideals Brilliant Lifestyle Setting Settings Britain Fascinating Branding 1960s Catalogues

Author:Peter York

“In London - and forget those extra public pressures on politicians - the lovely old Sloane world of manor houses simply hasn't cut it since Big Bang in 1986, the point at which Mrs. Thatcher really started to achieve her ambition to make this country more like America - its ambition, economy, it's very tangible measures of success.”

World Country Bigs America House Forget Economy Cutting Achieve Politician Ambition Pressure London Lovely Extras Bangs Tangible Measure Of Success Mrs Thatcher

Author:Peter York

“In the 1940s, cigarettes would be shown in classy situations, endorsed by celebrities - real A-list Hollywood stars in America - the ads would make claims about tobacco quality or manufacturing science and, bizarrely, some brands had what almost amounted to health claims.”

Real Would Be America Stars Quality Situation Hollywood Claims Lists Brands Ads Cigarette Manufacturing Tobacco Hollywood Stars

Author:Peter York

“In the future, people will blame the Eighties for all societal ills in the same way that people have previously blamed the Sixties. The various Thatcherite Big Bangs - monetarism, deregulation, libertarianism - have been working their way through the culture ever since.”

People Way Has Beens Bigs Culture Blame Various Libertarianism Sixty Bangs Eighty Deregulation

Author:Peter York

“It's just as well that I write in the same facile way wherever I am - no blocks or anguish, no contemplation, no elaborate revision, no need for love-tokens or nice views.”

Way Needs Writing Wells Views Nice Block Contemplation Anguish Revision Tokens

Author:Peter York

“Like lots of baby boomers, I was brought up on archaic anthropomorphism. Upstanding Christian dogs. Rabbits with family values. Because the ancient texts and pictures were sacred - Potter, Milne and the rest. Even concerned parents who knew Freud and Jung never saw the contradictions in feeding us on them.”

Christian Values Parent Saws Dog Baby Concerned Sacred Ancient Contradiction Feeding Rabbits Potters Family Values Jung Boomers Baby Boomer Anthropomorphism

Author:Peter York

“Marmite - like that other little black-jar job, Bovril - is so much a Mark 1 staple-of-Empire brand, so much part of the Edwardian world of enamel advertising signs, the history of grin-and-bear-it industrial food.”

World Littles Jobs Black Bears Mark Advertising Brands Empires Jars Staples Marmite

Author:Peter York

“Men turn to formal wear when they want a new job or when they think their current one is in danger. They try to present themselves as powerful and successful.”

Thinking Men Want Trying Jobs Turns Powerful Successful Danger Currents Formal New Job Formal Wear

Author:Peter York

“My friends adore 'TOWIE' - the TV documentary series, 'The Only Way is Essex.' They like it, I'm afraid, for the most unworthy of reasons: class mockery. They tune in to wonder in a 'can you believe those people?' way at the natives of Brentwood and Buckhurst Hill.”

People Way Believe Reason Wonder Class Tvs My Friends Series Hills Tunes Adore Documentaries Unworthy Mockery Essex

Author:Peter York

“Nobody knows anything. I deal with people in all walks of life, some of whom should have some idea of what they're doing. And they're all clueless. It's astonishing that any bridges stay up, or that planes don't constantly plummet from the sky. It's heartening, in a strange way.”

People Knows Way Should Ideas Walks Deals Sky Strange Should Have Bridges Planes Astonishing Nobody Knows Walks Of Life Clueless

Author:Peter York

“People are fretful about lifestyle retailing because the idea that anyone's immortal soul and deepest longings can be quite so readily anticipated and consolidated with several hundred thousand other like-minded types is worrying.”

People Ideas Soul Worry Type Thousand Hundred Longing Lifestyle Immortal Immortal Soul Retailing

Author:Peter York

“Prince William looks good in uniform and Man-at-Hackett black and white tie (he has grown up wearing it constantly); less certain in his suits, which sometimes look borderline archaic; and variable in casual. But completely comfortable in the Sloane uniform of non-designer jeans and chocolate-brown suede loafers. He'll look fine in Boden.”

Men Looks Sometimes Certain Black White Fine Comfortable Suits Ties Designer Brown Chocolate Black And White Uniforms Jeans Casual Variables Borderline Loafers

Author:Peter York

“Real writers - serious writers with serious subjects, who earn their living at it - all seem to write in small rooms with that knotty-pine 1974 look on the top-floor rear of their houses. Rooms with views.”

Writing Looks Real Seems House Rooms Views Subjects Serious Small Rooms Room With A View Serious Subjects

Author:Peter York

“Selling scent is a key job for celebrities. At any one time, there'll be hundreds of them at it, going on the world's talk shows, doing photo-shoots, providing employment for thousands. Celebrities are instant brands.”

World Shows Jobs Keys Selling Employment Brands Instant One Time Providing Scent Talk Shows Photo Shoots

Author:Peter York

“Stephen Jones' hats are what we used to call 'creations'; extravagant, odd things for extravagant, odd people like Madonna or Lady Gaga. They're worn in a parallel universe.”

People Used Universe Creation Odd Hats Worn Parallels Extravagant Gaga Odd Things Parallel Universe

Author:Peter York

“Successive generations of middle-class parents used to foist their own favourite books on their children. But some time in the late Eighties it began to wane - not because children had lost interest in adorable animals but because most of it was available on useful, pacifying video.”

Children Book Used Lost Parent Interest Animal Class Generations Middle Late Available Video Middle Class Favourite Eighty Adorable Favourite Book

Author:Peter York

“The library was one more essential in the parade of rooms in a big 18th-century house - and part of the required kit ever afterwards. The important thing was to have the books, not actually read them.”

Important Book Bigs House Rooms Century Essentials Important Things Library Parades Ever After 18th Century

Author:Peter York

“The newsprint thesp celebrity interview as a middle-brow art form suffers from desperate overproduction. There'll be at least 10 in the broadsheets today and every Sunday hereafter.”

Art Today Form Suffering Middle Interviews Desperate Sunday Hereafter Brows Broadsheet

Author:Peter York

About the Author

Born: 1943
Known for: Author
Quotes: 61

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