At the very centre of Sir Robert Peel’s idea of policing was the constable’s beat: a few streets, shops and families that he must know and care about.

The Commissioners of the Metropolitan Police reiterated that what they liked best was a policeman who never arrested anyone.

After witnessing a bus conductor’s battle of wills with the London public, journalist Alfred Gardiner felt obliged to give him a little advice.

The people who oil the wheels of society are not the people who never give offence, they are the people who never take any.

The man who seems frustratingly dull and awkward may shine in other company, and we owe it to him and to ourselves to read the signs.

An unemployed French labourer was amazed when a friend suggested becoming a French master to refined English ladies.