A court case of 1837 involved a man named Thomas Saverland who had kissed a Miss Caroline Newton at a party “by way of a joke” and in return she’d bitten off a chunk of his nose. Saverland took her to court but lost as the judge ruled, “When a man kisses a woman against her will, she is fully entitled to bite off his nose, if she so pleases”, to which her barrister added, “and eat it up, if she has a fancy that way”. An 1819 German travel guide to London claimed, “The kiss of friendship between men is strictly avoided as inclining towards the sin regarded in England as more abominable than any other.” A recent poll said that 53 per cent of Yorkshiremen would hit a man who tried to kiss him.