Only those with GSOH need apply

GENTLEMEN of a certain age will recall that acronym in the dating classified ads, GSOH, and how those lacking it need not apply. We now live in an age of online matching, dating apps and algorithms, but a good sense of humour remains as important as ever, even if it’s now better known as ‘banter’. Why does it matter so much—and for those who don’t naturally possess it, what can be done?

‘Women like to be put at ease,’ says Lara Asprey, a matchmaker and relationships expert. ‘Pulling out a chair for a lady is lovely, but that type of gentlemanliness can also increase the pressure on an occasion and turn it into a quest for perfection. The ideal is to get acquainted via playfulness and a kind of dance, at the heart of which lies humour.’ Novelist Jilly Cooper, whose collection of favourite columns, , is out now in paperback, adds that ‘the