Gustav Temple and Alexander Larman set foot in a changed world since lockdown for a splendid Indian repast. Where does one choose to go for one’s first meal in a restaurant since last December? Is the pressure too great to find the perfect establishment, with the ideal food, wine and ambience? Is the sense of… … Keep Reading
Some suggested cadeaux for the papa in your life, ranging from the mildly generous to the worshipful This year, Father’s Day falls on Sunday 20th June. Dads across the land, while they quietly fix lawnmowers, construct bird boxes and oil all the hinges on the bathroom cupboards, are blissfully unaware that their scions are rampaging… … Keep Reading
As a tribute to the late actress, who died aged 52 on 16th April, Gustav Temple recalls an inspiring encounter with Helen McCrory in 2019, on the eve of Series 5 of Peaky Blinders. I interviewed Helen McCrory when the fifth season of Peaky Blinders was about to air in 2019. From such a huge… … Keep Reading
Gustav Temple spoke to Australian hat maker Blake “Blakesby” Canham-Bennett, who has expanded the colour and shape of men’s headwear, while holding on to classic styles and manufacturing methods. You seem to have broken the mould when it comes to men’s hat styles, while adhering to traditional blocks and techniques. Was this what you set out to… … Keep Reading
Gustav Temple assesses a new Irish Whiskey with rather ghoulish credentials. The word ‘sexton’ derives from the Mediaeval Latin word sacristanus – ‘custodian of sacred objects’. A sexton is ‘a person who looks after a church and churchyard, typically acting as bell-ringer and gravedigger’. The gravedigger in Hamlet calls himself a sexton, for example. The typical… … Keep Reading
On the bicentenary of Sir Richard Francis Burton’s birth, Chris Sullivan gallops through the extraordinary life of the notorious explorer, soldier, translator, writer, cartographer, orientalist, ethnologist, spy, diplomat, poet, geographer, expert fencer and sex obsessive. Can you imagine that, in the not too distant past, a thoroughgoing rogue might stand up in his club in the Haymarket… … Keep Reading
Gustav Temple nosedives into rums that don’t come from where they used to come from, because they are either made or refined right here on these craggy shores. Over the last decade or so, rum has been slowly shaking off its old reputation as something to swill in discotheques mixed with Coca-Cola. But only recently… … Keep Reading
Liam Jefferies meets the doyenne of Stanley Biggs, a menswear company with one foot set firmly in history. For some, there is no beating vintage. A vintage duffel coat found in the back of a surplus store will invoke a greater sense of worth than a similar model churned out by the thousands in some… … Keep Reading
Sophie Gargett of The Dilettante explores the concept of the flâneur and asks what we can learn from it during the age of walking in lockdown “My former ennui had returned and I felt its weight even more heavily than I had before. I doubted whether further attempts at sociability would ever relieve me of… … Keep Reading
In the centenary of her birth, Gustav Temple provides a top five reading list for Patricia Highsmith, plus a reader advisory warning. This year marks the centenary of the birth of Patricia Highsmith, born on 19th January, 1921 in Fort Worth, Texas. It is impossible to guess how she would have reacted to recent political… … Keep Reading
Brand-new pocket square from The Chap adds a touch of decadence to evening wear Following the recent launch of our new eau de cologne, Raffish, we commanded designer Caroline Lindop, who had designed the packaging for said gentleman’s fragrance, to come up with an accompanying pocket square. “Who is this pocket square for?” was her… … Keep Reading
Let us make one thing crystal clear: we are not speaking of the contemporary hipster. While jazz-jumpin’ chaps from the mid-twentieth century were sometimes referred to as ‘hipsters’, we are going to use the term ‘hep cat’ to distinguish this stylish breed from their bearded millennial counterparts. Chaps who favour the forties may be perfectly… … Keep Reading