Black and white still showing man kissing the hand of an uncertain womanEver wondered whether it's okay for a gentleman to strike up a conversation with a lady in an omnibus?

Or whether joining a young man on his canoe is the done thing? Well, the agony aunts of yesteryear are here to help.

And the answer to both questions is a categorical 'no'. These and other important relationship advice, can be found in a fascinating new book that has collated the weird and the wonderful from the world of agony aunts.

From the Swinging Sixties right back to the 18th century, it seems we've always needed a few tips and here are a few of those essential questions answered.

For instance, one reader of The Weekly Magazine wrote in 1859: "Is it proper for a strange gentleman to commence a conversation with a lady he does not know in an omnibus?"

To which the stern reply came: "No gentleman would take such a liberty with a lady whose conduct showed she respected herself. Contemptuous silence is the best reproof for such impertinence."

And things weren't any easier in 1959. One young woman wrote in to the Woman's Sunday Mirror, asking: "My friend says she will never get married but will take a lover as marriage means nothing nowadays. What are your views?"
Simple. "Your friend needs to have her head examined. Tell her it's time she grew up."

But there are some words of wisdom that we should all bear in mind.

'Two young girls' asked the Girl's Companion in 1908: "Is there any harm in a young lady permitting a gentleman whom she met at the seashore, and to whom she has not been formally introduced to see her home?"

And here is just a snippet of the reply: "The handsome, debonair, well-dressed, agreeable young man may be the daring thief who broke into your house last year; or the highwayman who held up your next door neighbour only the month before, leaving him for dead on the pavement from a blow from a concealed, murderous pair of brass knuckles which he usually carries with him.

"Or he may be an escaped madman who has just broken his way out of some insane asylum."

Wise words, ladies, wise words.

Never Kiss A Man in A Canoe by Tanith Carey is available on November 6 priced at £9.99.