News Archives - The Chap

12th February 2019 News

Spring Edition Out Now

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 Zane, a man whose sartorial obsessions easily matched this publication’s. Other chaps interviewed are Antiques Roadshow presenter John Bly, who confessed never to have broadcast sober, as well as towering British novelist William Boyd, musician Darren Hayman and rodeo tailor Manuel Cuevas. Chaps profiled who… Keep Reading

8th January 2019 News

Terry-Thomas

On this day in 1990, Terry-Thomas died at Busbridge Hall Nursing Home in Godalming, Surrey. Something of a Chap icon, in fact more of a spiritual godhead, Terry-Thomas personified the upper-class Englishman with a strong caddish streak. He was born Thomas Terry Hoar Stevens in 1911, changing his stage name to Terry-Thomas in the 1930s, after trying less successful pseudonyms such as Thomas Terry and Mot Snevets (an anagram of Tom Stevens). An early attempt to disguise his dental diastema was abandoned, when he realised that the gap between his front teeth could actually benefit his image. He added to… Keep Reading

20th November 2018 News

Kendo Nagasaki – The Man Behind the Mask

Autobiographies often mark a turning point in the author’s life; the end of their creative output and time to reflect on a career; the opportunity to put scurrilous rumours to rest with the truth; the need to cash in on the dwindling fame of a reality TV show. The purpose of an autobiography to mark the unmasking of a wrestler whose face and voice have been hidden behind a red and black striped mask for over 50 years is certainly a first, and one unlikely ever to be repeated. Peter Thornley, the man behind the Kendo Nagasaki mask, has never… Keep Reading

13th November 2018 News

Winter 18 Edition

The Chap Winter 18 is available directly from here and in digital form from issuu.com Crammed to the gunwales with a broad variety of content, our main interview is with dandy actor and fashion designer John Malkovich. We also meet other remarkable men, including Nicholas Parsons, Craig Brown and a man who crossed the Alps on a Space Hopper. Sartorial contents include a fashion photo shoot at Cordings of Piccadilly, Mahoney Watches, Amide Hadelin, Loake Shoes, Grey Fox Column and Chris Sullivan on Sartorial Disphosophobia, the inability to discard a single vintage item in one’s wardrobe, even when it no… Keep Reading

1st November 2018 News

The Defiant Moustache

In the tribal district of Khyber on the Pakistan/Afghan border, moustaches are frowned upon. This is putting it mildly. Lashkar-e-Islam, a militant group allied with the Taliban, regularly terrify bewhiskered men with threat of kidnapping or even death if they persist in cultivating a large lip weasel. Taliban rules on beards are very clear: a man’s beard must be long enough to be gripped in a fist. Moustaches, however, are expected to be ‘neatly-trimmed’, though sizes are less specific. One thing’s for certain though – any man with a moustache large enough to grip in a fist will be hunted… Keep Reading

12th September 2018 News

Fenella Fielding, 1927-2018

The actress Fenella Fielding, who has died aged 90 from a stroke, was one of our most difficult interviewees to track down. After countless attempts to reach her via her agent in 2008, it was several years later that I saw her on a street in Soho, stopping traffic in a black and white ensemble, a vampish tower of hair and black eyelashes peering over enormous black sunglasses. “Fenella, Fenella!” I called out from across the road, to the delighted schadenfreude of some hipsters sitting outside a café. They smirked as I approached Miss Fielding on the pavement, blurting out… Keep Reading

28th August 2018 News

Digital Editions

Our new digital partners issuu.com are based in the United States, and this means that UK customers who purchase the digital edition for only USD $5 will pay just £3.88 at today’s exchange rate. The digital edition is identical to the print edition and features Dandy Wellington on the cover, interviewed inside about his views on dandyism, jazz music and his collection of straw boaters. Inside you will also find an interview with actor Timothy Spall, who discuses his new film Stanley, A Man of Variety, in which he plays various British music hall and comedy legends. The Chap Travels:… Keep Reading

14th August 2018 Features/News

The Chap in America

The Chap Magazine launched in the United States in Autumn 2018, available in selected branches of Barnes & Noble in all the major cities of the USA. There are already thousands of men and women in the United States who dress impeccably and celebrate precisely the values enshrined in our gentlemen’s periodical. Ever since interviewing film director John Waters in our fifth edition 20 years ago, it has come to our attention that the percentage of American men who kick against the slovenly dress codes of the age, and treat their choice of pocket square as the most important decision… Keep Reading

7th August 2018 Fashion/News

The Chap Autumn 2018

The Chap Autumn 18 is available from thechap.co.uk Our main interview is with actor Timothy Spall, who speaks about his new film Stanley, a Man of Variety, as well as impersonating Terry-Thomas during the interview. Other meetings with remarkable men include Dandy Wellington (above), New York bandleader, impresario and dandy, and Lance Richardson, author of the first biography of Tommy Nutter. Our new travel section includes a vintage voyage along the Nile in the company of Pandora Harrison, while author Paul French takes us on a walking tour of 1930s Shanghai. New Chap writer Chris Sullivan, founder of 1980s style… Keep Reading

5th July 2018 Fashion/News/Uncategorised

Gareth Southgate’s Lucky Waistcoat

For years, The Chap has been championing the importance of men observing ancient codes of sartorial correctitude. We feel that such dress rules have persisted for centuries because they are signifiers of something higher than mere clothing. Not to wear tweed in the city has no practical purpose, other than to signify to other gentlemen that you are “in the know”; adhering to the rules that subtly express “we are all in it together”. Wearing the right combinations of clothing, as well as making aesthetic sense, is also a desire not to offend. The idea of being “rebellious” by wearing… Keep Reading

28th June 2018 News

The Happy Prince

At the start of Rupert Everett’s new film, we see the Oscar Wilde we know – decked out in evening clothes, telling the titular fairy tale to his two sons. The 1997 film Wilde with Stephen Fry has several scenes like this, which show Wilde as a loving father. And then Everett as Wilde breaks the fourth wall and says to camera, “It’s a dream.” It’s also a bracing statement of intent: We’re not going to see that Oscar Wilde. The Wilde we’re watching is about to scrounge some absinthe and cocaine for himself and two street urchins, then paint… Keep Reading

15th June 2018 News

The Fake Royal Commentator

It has been discovered that Thomas J Mace-Archer-Mills Esq, a familiar face in television interviews during the Royal Wedding, was a fraud. Mace-Archer-Mills cut the mustard on television, with his upper class accent, traditional attire and air of authority on all things royal, and passed comment on the Royal Wedding without anyone questioning his credentials. He was one of the most frequently seen faces on TV during the run-up to the wedding, giving insightful comments such as why Meghan Markle was right not to wear a shoulderless dress during the ceremony: “You are in a chapel which is a royal… Keep Reading