London’s Cinnamon Club is something of an institution, set in the former Westminster Library and teeming with politicians, journalists and ladies who lunch. Its sister establishment in Oxford, Cinnamon Kitchen, is situated in the rather less grand-sounding Westgate Shopping Centre. But this is Oxford, where everything is nice and shopping centres are nothing like other… … Keep Reading
To mark publication of our 100th edition in May 2019, and celebrate 20 years of The Chap, we are giving readers three opportunities to mark these two milestones, occurring throughout the summer and autumn of 2019. 14th JULY: THE GRAND FLANEUR WALK A mass stroll in London on Sunday 14th July to celebrate the art… … Keep Reading
This year The Chap celebrates 20 years of publication, with the 100th edition published on 17th May 2019. To mark this pair of highly significant milestones, we are hosting a spectacular party on Saturday 8th June in London. Long-established WWII-themed shindig The Blitz Party, hosted by Chap Olympiad partners Bourne & Hollingsworth, will provide an… … Keep Reading
You know when you get a new pair of brogues, and then all your other brogues suddenly look tired, old and worn-out next to them? Acquiring a Sussex Tweed cap has the same effect on all your other tweed caps. My collection of bakerboy caps numbers only a modest seven, but when The Windover joined… … Keep Reading
“Disposophobics can’t, don’t or won’t make fast value judgments about their ‘stuff’,” says Ron Alford of Disaster Masters, Inc. ‒ a New York-based ‘crisis management’ service specializing in solving anomalous mess. “So their solution for their dilemma is to keep everything. If you put a $5 note, a magazine, a diamond ring and two dozen… … Keep Reading
Hercule Poirot is an iconic character. What was it that drew you to the role and why did you want to play him? In this case it was the three scripts that Sarah Phelps wrote. I thought that they were very well written, the character was interesting, Hercule Poirot was perhaps not very happy and… … Keep Reading
In Stanley, A Man of Variety you play a range of British comedy legends such as Max Wall, Tony Hancock, Max Miller. Were they your comedy influences? They are people I grew up with, watching on the telly. There were only two channels when I was a kid. On a Sunday and it would be… … Keep Reading
On a recent trip to Rajasthan, I discovered that not only does India possess its famous wealth of history and architecture, but it is also one of the most natural habitats for the travelling Chap. My journey took me first to Delhi, only nine hours away by plane but, as soon as you land, the… … Keep Reading
A while back, purely because I was very prominent during the 1980s and ran landmark clubs during the so called New Romantic era, some chump on that social media malarkey would not accept that, at that time, I was not wearing copious amounts of make-up. I, of course defended my corner as, being 6 foot… … Keep Reading
As Olly Smith so eloquently puts it in his drinks column, “As the Lowlands lead to the Highlands, so the first hundred Chaps will surely lead to the second hundred.” This, our 99th edition, does not skimp on the usual packed measure of quality, variety and scope, beginning with an interview with Hollywood actor Billy… … Keep Reading
Where does one go for lunch to mark that fateful descent from one’s early fifties to one’s mid-fifties? Wouldn’t it be tragic to choose some achingly hip joint in Shoreditch, Portland or Berlin, where the menu, mostly consisting of kimchi, is printed in braille on a rusty vintage advertising sign? The venue for such an… … Keep Reading
You cannot miss Boisdale of Belgravia. The strawberry-red frontage stands out like a Highland hunting lodge amid the upmarket estate agents (a set at Albany for £4.3 million, anyone?) and the fly-by-night delicatessens that look like reckless gifts from hedge-fund managers to their trophy wives. En route to our lunch appointment we paused to pay… … Keep Reading