Interesting Facts

According to senior business leader, Antony Jenkins, the chief executive of Barclays bank, young people in the UK are turning up for interviews lacking basic social skills, such as knowing how to shake hands. (Mr Jenkins told the Sunday Times, "It seems basic stuff: how to shake someone’s hand, look them in the eye and hold your shoulders back.” He added that while social media was a “very effective form of communication”, it was important young people could talk to each other face to face. Well these are the business leaders of the future Mr Jenkins, so how about learning how to fist bump?)

According to a survey conducted by the job-finding website monster.co.uk, more than half of British managers say they can tell whether they want to employ a candidate for a job based on the strength of their handshake. (8 out of 10 said the ability to maintain eye contact when talking to them was key. 6 in 10 said that small talk played a crucial role in their decision, and the same number said that dress sense was a deciding factor. So, dress well, practise your handshake, maintain eye contact, brush up on your small talk, and the job is in the bag.)

The Queen may have shaken half a million hands, but there are other people who have achieved handshake greatness:- (In Atlantic City, New Jersey Mayor Joseph Lazarow was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records for a July 1977 publicity stunt, in which he shook more than 11,000 hands in a single day, breaking the record previously held by President Theodore Roosevelt, who had set the record with 8,513 handshakes at a White House reception on 1 January 1907. On 21 September 2009, Jack Tsonis and Lindsay Morrison broke the Guinness World Record for the world's longest handshake, shaking hands for 12 hours, 34 minutes and 56 seconds. This record was broken less than a month later in Claremont, California, when John-Clark Levin and George Posner shook hands for 15 hours, 15 minutes, and 15 seconds. The next month, on 21 November, Matthew Rosen and Joe Ackerman surpassed this feat, with a new world record time of 15 hours, 30 minutes and 45 seconds. At 8pm EST on Friday 14 J...

The handshake is thought to have been introduced to the UK by Sir Walter Raleigh in British Court during the late 16th century. (The handshake is thought by some to have originated as a gesture of peace by demonstrating that the hand holds no weapon. There are various customs surrounding handshakes, both generically and specific to certain cultures:- The handshake is commonly used when meeting, greeting, parting, offering congratulations, expressing gratitude, or completing an agreement. In sports or other competitive activities, it is also done as a sign of good sportsmanship. Its purpose is to convey trust, balance, and equality. In Anglophone countries, in business situations. In casual non-business situations, men are more likely to shake hands than women. In Belgium, handshakes are done more often, especially on meetings. In Switzerland, it may be expected to shake the women's hands first. Austrians shake hands when meeting, often including with children. In so...

According to research commissioned by soap firm Radox, the Queen has shaken half a million hands. (The average number of hands your typical Brit will shake is 670 for men and 304 for women, but to be honest, since I moved to Germany I've probably shaken as many hands as the Queen. They do like a good handshake here.) Source

Brits are waving goodbye to the handshake. (The good old handshake is becoming a thing of the past in the UK, as it is now considered 'outdated' and even 'unhygienic'. According to a study commissioned by soap firm Radox, one in five of us feel shaking hands is ‘too formal’, and 42% said they would only do it in a business context. Almost 50% of us are using alternative ways to greet each other with 16% prefering a continental-style peck on the cheek and nearly a third opting for a hug.) PS - We have been discussing this on the forum since 2006. Source

British cabinet ministers who have been sacked, resigned or lost their seats collect an £18,000 golden handshake (and those who leave twice get the payment again). (I always knew I was in the wrong job.)