Skills possessed by club members include turning pages without rustling, sinking a shot in billiards without a sound, noiseless walking on carpets and hardwood floors, and drinking and eating without audible swallowing. Even when prospective members learn these skills, they are sometimes loathe to practice them, being as it is that preserving silence takes great amounts of energy and patience. However, the rewards are substantial. Distractions and annoyances are greatly reduced at the Thackeray Club, therefore rendering meditation and deep thinking possible. Club members wishing to dine, read or write in peace are left alone to do so, and those wishing to escape from the tediums of conversation, and horror of horrors, small talk, find freedom at the Club.
The Thackeray Club gets its name from the very famous Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movie, Top Hat. It has no connection to the British novelist of the same name.
The Thackeray Club, in an attempt to promote more silent clubs, has also included information on the Diogenes Club made famous in the Sherlock Holmes mystery, The Greek Interpreter.
