Airfix releases Spitfire Kit celebrating the wartime beer runs of 1944. After the Normandy landings in June 1944, those who had survived, facing further hardship against fierce resistance from German forces, still had time to wonder where their next pint would come from. They had to wait until July for assistance. Spitfire aircraft carried expendable… … Keep Reading
Twin brothers plan to ascend a peak in Nepal to compare a replica of the gear worn by George Mallory in 1924 against modern climbing kit. Photos by Luke Jarmey In October, the Turner Twins will ascend Nepal’s Mera Peak (21,217ft) in a unique experiment – pitting modern-day mountaineering kit against the natural fibre outfits… … Keep Reading
The second saunter sans purpose of 2025 will see the dandies of London face more bracing weather conditions than usual. The Chap’s Grand Flaneur Walk has taken place every Summer since 2019, only interrupted by the global unpleasantness in 2020. Thus far, among five saunters sans purpose, only one has been marred by inclement weather,… … Keep Reading
An encounter with the sixties icon in 2014, republished following the sad passing of Terence Stamp on 17th August 2025. Photos by Peter Clark. “Terry meets Julie, Waterloo Station, every Friday night.” Apparently you are Terry, from Waterloo Sunset by the Kinks, and Julie is Julie Christie? There are two stories, and either way Ray… … Keep Reading
Gustav Temple takes a liquid journey around the world to see whether single malt whisky can be trusted from anywhere except Scotland. To some readers (and they may be right) is is already blasphemous even to suggest that whisky can come from anywhere except Scotland. But when one discovers that whisky is also made in… … 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
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
The Chap meets the star of a new live comedy show opening at Edinburgh Fringe this August, who greets the public outside chain stores in his spare time. Visitors to such salubrious establishments as B&Q, Wilko, Wetherspoons, Waitrose and TK Maxx recently may have enjoyed a cordial greeting as they entered, from a chap dressed…
Gustav Temple meets Katie Thomas, founder and doyenne of vintage-style lingerie brand What Katie Did, champion of the vintage scene and the pioneer for a retrospective revolution in ladies undergarments. This interview first appeared in CHAP Spring 22. How did it all start for What Katie Did? In the mid 1990s, I started collecting pieces…
Ahead of the Third Grand Flaneur Walk on Sunday 14th May 2023, we recall 2022’s dandified stroll sans destination. This year, after two years of not being permitted to wander anywhere, with or without destination, a large number of flaneurs pressed their pantaloons, polished their canes and cultivated new buttonholes again, in preparation for the…
After a two-year hiatus, the most aimless walk of the century is back, with a party at the end of it. In July 2019, a large group of well-dressed dandies, flaneurs, boulevardiers and quaintrelles set forth from the statue of Beau Brummell on Jermyn Street, London, on a long walk with no destination whatsoever. This…
