This short videogramme by Sophie Gargett gives a tantalising glimpse of what’s in store for readers of Chap Summer 20, published in May 2020. Heading the cast is Honor Blackman, the subject of a profile by editor Gustav Temple, which focuses on the star’s roles as Cathy Gale in The Avengers and Pussy Galore in … Keep Reading
Gustav Temple and Olly Smith share the ideal cocktails to make at home, while the cocktail bars are all closed during Lockdown The origin of the word ‘cocktail’ remains a mystery to historians. One minute men were swigging fermented fruit from gourds and grunting at each other, the next they were swapping witticisms while sipping … Keep Reading
The new edition of Britain’s longest-running gentleman’s journal comes out on 18th May 2020. Despite global lockdown due to Covid-19, all stops have been pulled out to make this as splendid an edition as ever. Our cover star and subject of our main feature is the delectable Honor Blackman, whose twin roles as Cathy Gale … Keep Reading
As an introductory offer for new subscribers, we are offering a FREE copy of Best of The Chap when you take out an annual subscription. For just £24, you will receive four editions of The Chap Magazine, plus a free copy of our 300-page hardback book celebrating 20 years of publication. Simply visit our Subscriptions … Keep Reading
The Summer of Lockdown edition of The Chap leads with a profile of Honor Blackman and her roles as Cathy Gale in the Avengers and Pussy Galore in Goldfinger. Also profiled are art deco artist Tamara de Lempicka, monocled dystopian film-maker Fritz Lang and Godard muse Anna Karina. The European theme continues with travel features … Keep Reading
With all of isolated in our homes, drinking our way through the reserves of port, whisky and gin, a chap or chapette needs something weighty to read, so we have assembled this special Coronavirus Bundle, which includes: a copy of our 300-page hardback tome Best of The Chap; four randomly selected back issues of The … Keep Reading
Chap Spring 20 is our Hollywood Golden Age special. Our main interview is with dapper actor Alec Baldwin, with profiles of Ava Gardner and Robert Mitchum and a top five Ava Gardner film list. We also meet living 60s legend Rita Tushingham from 1961’s A Taste of Honey. Photographs of lovely ladies in vintage Hollywood … Keep Reading
From a new collaboration with famed lip weasel stiffener Captain Fawcett comes Debonair, a moustache wax for gentlemen. The creation of Debonair was personally supervised by Gustav Temple at the Captain Fawcett Grooming Factory, following a stunningly simple brief: give me a moustache wax, my good man, that conjures up old leather armchairs and aromatic … Keep Reading
Kentucky is regarded as the first of the Southern states, sitting south of the Ohio River on the eastern side of the United States. It is a green and pleasant land, literally. There are miles of gently rolling hills, clean air and plentiful amounts of fine pure mineral water. All these elements play a large … Keep Reading
One of the fourteen countries that straddle the Equator, Ecuador took its name from that imaginary line and offers an engaging place for the traveller to explore with much historical interest, museums and art galleries but, more significantly, it’s the best place in the world to buy a Panama hat. I took a trip out … Keep Reading
Why am I writing about Disneyland in The Chap, you ask? Because, for the past four years, Disneyland in Anaheim California been the epicentre (not Epcot Center – that one’s in Florida,) of Dapper Day, and Rose Callahan and I had been invited by the event’s organizer to give a presentation about our book I … Keep Reading
Olly Smith pays a visit to the East Sussex vineyard of Breaky Bottom to inspect the terroir and enjoy the company of owner Peter Hall “Aaaaah filthy!” These were the words I growled joyfully on all fours while sniffing the earth beneath the vines at Breaky Bottom. It was my first visit to Peter Hall, the enigmatic twinkling wizard who first planted vines in his East Sussex vineyard in 1974, the very same vintage as me. His vineyard and my life are contemporaneous, but more than that, I owe my career to that specific moment of filth, revelling on all fours…
Olly Smith sings fulsome praises to the grandfather of all gentlemanly drinks, Whisky In John Landis’ 1983 comedy Trading Places, the villainous duo of Mortimer and Randolph Duke attempt to lure Eddie Murphy into their limousine by proffering a small bottle with the words “whisky – all you want!”. As a child, this always struck me as an intriguing gambit. Could any drink possibly be so good that one could be irresistibly drawn to it like a magnet tugging on the very metal of a robot’s brain? Some years later, I was taught never to resist the dram’s allure by…
“Caught up with RHQ at Enscheide by mid morning. Went down main street to see how things were going. Odd elements of German infantry being winkled out. Half way down main street firing broke out on both ends so I dived into a shop for cover. It was a barbers shop, so I had a haircut while waiting for things to simmer down.” Excerpt from the Rev Leslie Skinner’s war diary: 3rd April 1945 When Leslie Skinner landed on Gold Beach on 6th June, 1944, with the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry, he had two missions: officially he was senior chaplain to…
Entries have now closed for our Lockdown Lip Weasel Competition, for which we received dozens and dozens of excellent attempts to cultivate a splendid moustache during Lockdown. The results will be published in Chap Summer 20, out on 18th May. It has come to our attention that many readers of this humble publication are, as well as struggling to square their gregarious, bon vivant personalities with self-isolation, have taken to using the aeons of time spent alone to cultivate interesting facial hair. Growing a moustache takes time, patience and a brief period of looking like a homeless person, and the…