The Great British Butler

[Music] the butler once an integral part of any self-respecting English upper class home someone who symbolized the image of service of a Time Gone by a world where people knew their place and when serving others was a privilege and a vacation but if you thought those days were over you would be wrong Butlers are absolutely essential people are working and earning sheds money to all hours of the day night and they have these fine ass and houses and somebody has to run them Butlers are making a big comeback as the well healed amsters decide that what they really need to run their lives is our man Jeeves I'm all for it there's nothing better than having a butler who knows how to do the things correctly in this program we follow one young man who has decided to take on the challenge and we find out just what is expected of the modern day Butler if he can't comes in for one night everything is placed in the room I take digital photographs when he leaves and if he leaves something there that's exactly where he'll find it when he comes back the world of the butler might have changed but for Douglas harod it Still Remains the Same Douglas is one of the old school a butler who has earned his pedigree working for the Great and the good over a period of 60 years his family were in private service and he started his career as a pantry boy aged 15 when I started um which was at the end of the war um I didn't have three meals put in front of me a day in service I did and I think that was very important one of his fondest Recollections whilst working for l Spencer at olop house is the kindness of a very young Diana Princess of Wales she would come in my butless pantry and say Mr harod would you like a coffee and she would make me a coffee and she would wash up my cup that's a sort of person um Lady D used to be working for press Baron Robert Maxwell was a very different story the most demanding client yes he never thought that anyone should refuse him anything it was a test but working for Maxwell it was such an exciting life although he's semi-retired Douglas likes to pass on his experience and expertise to new blood today he's assessing a young man who wants to find out what the life of Rob Butler is like and the challenge will be to serve luncheon at the home of London socialite Mona who regularly entertains royalty and society's movers and shakers in her Mayfair apartment I have guests coming from New York Louise and um a young designer a young freelance journalist and filmmaker um so it's it's a fun it's an Eclectic crowd today's trainy Butler is George a young professional musician who thinks life is a butler might just be more interesting after the uncertainty and Chaos of the music business George is looking for some stability and discipline in his life and The Wider Horizons that life as a butler may have to offer I think you would meet a lot of people that would be very interesting whilst you out Bing people that you would never meet um in the rock and roll business there is a tremendous feel about becoming a battler well first of all you live in the fast lane you might not be in the fast lane yourself but you're living with people who are and you're often living in a beautiful place with people who have lovely things and you're living in an environment that you wouldn't otherwise be in back in mayair veteran Butler Douglas has already arrived at the apartment and is receiving instructions from London Society Hostess Mona I'll give you the um the the guest list the guest list thank you now can I ask you about the the drinks the wine you want for lunch if we serve champagne between 1 and 1:30 I'm not serving canipes and then I want to stick just to a light white dry wine throughout the meal I think it's simpler I think it's easier um followed by some more champagne for desserts now I'm going to go off leave you with the chef because I've got sort of things to do if there's any problem you're completely and totally in charge it's so good to have you and I want you to go away now and relax and leave everything up to me well that would be great your day thank you occasional botling has grown hugely I mean it's a marvelous thing to do in fact you can have a present you can have a voucher for Christmas from us which says you know give your granny a butler for a present Butlers are in demand but not everyone has the bearing and style to be one George is about to take his first steps into the world of high class service when George arrives I'm hoping he's going to be very smartly dressed in a Butler's delery which is a a three button black jacket a black was coat a white shirt a gray tie striped morning trousers and highly polished black shoes and black socks first impressions are everything the question is whether George will pass must hello my name is George and I'm here George I'm very pleased to meet you love it's me do come in thank you now you you've come here today to be a trainy butler right dressed like that you look extremely untidy your hair is a mess but can we coat with all that can we get it sorted all right well put your bag down and we'll go into the dining room the competition in the world of butlers is fierce if George seriously wants to reach the heights of the profession he'll have to do better than that well what I'm hoping to achieve with George today is to teach him how to lay a dining room table and also teach him how to wait at table in the style that we do that in private households table mat is put down and it is two fingers from the edge of the [Music] table every piece of cutl is put on the table should be cleaned should be rubbed up with a cloth right I thought that when Douglas said we're going to lay a table now and I'm going to teach you how to do it that it would be fairly simple the whole form behind being a butler is extremely self disciplined George those are the wrong glasses they are not champagne glasses would you please take them back to the pantry and bring me champagne glasses of course which are tall flutes right there well it's not difficult for me to teach him the ways of being a butler but it'd be very difficult for him to learn the ways of a butler George is discovering that there's a lot more to being a butler than serving afternoon [Music] tea he doesn't know which side the glass is supposed to go to he doesn't know that the pudding Spoon and Fork go on the inside of a table and we work from the outside with the cutlery when we eat come on George stand up TR but he's doing very [Music] well the demand for Butlers is not restricted just a private service at the Lanesboro hotel in nightsbridge head Butler sha davron has 23 Butlers to organized for each of the 95 rooms and Suites in this Sumptuous Hotel the light for me in my job to this day is when you have turned out somebody and they're off out for the evening or you've done something magical for them it's gives me such pleasure Sean's passion for his work has seen him work all over the world in private service he came to the lanes were 12 years ago and faced up to a very different set of challenges I come in in the morning Anything Could Happen

Channel: TheLuxuryChannel

Views: 344,844

Keywords: Great Britain (Island), Butler (Profession), film, programme

Id: rz8vsW60kiI

Length: 8min 17sec (497 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 04 2013