Miss Martindale’s short-lived column for the Chap provided much needed advice, in 2004, on how young ladies should dress and comport themselves. Welcome to the Ladies’ Smoking Room – and you must welcome me too, for with my appointment as your Resident Ladies’ Columnist, I make my debut into the world of the Woman Worker.… … Keep Reading
Mass spluttering at the breakfast table of gentlemen across the land results from announcement that Patum Peperium is no longer available. Shocking news came last week when the manufacturers of Patum Peperium: the Gentleman’s Relish announced they would be ceasing production. Patum Peperium has been gracing the hot buttered breakfast toast of gentlemen from Kolkata… … Keep Reading
The Tournament of Tomfoolery returns after seven years in the wilderness. After a hiatus of seven years, during which time many chaps and chapettes have forgotten how to toss a cucumber sandwich on a plate or ride a bicycle while holding a teacup and saucer, The Chap Olympiad is back on Saturday 18th July, from… … Keep Reading
Full details of this year’s saunter sans purpose, determined by the same principles of flannerie as ever, but with a new starting point. All photos by Soulstealer Photography. The 2026 Grand Flaneur Walk takes place on Sunday 17th May. This will be the sixth incarnation of The Chap’s saunter sans purpose during the Summer (last year… … 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
Gustav Temple pays a visit to the Barbadillo Bodegas in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, to settle once and for all what the difference is between Fino and Manzanilla You can smell the bodegas before you see them; the scent of sherry in all its forms wafts about Sanlúcar de Barrameda, a small town on the coast…
Part Two of Chris Sullivan’s history of male grooming The first rudimentary form of shaving cream was documented in Sumer, Mesopotamia (now Southern Iraq), around 3000 BC, which combined wood alkali and animal fat. Further shaving creams remained essentially unchanged from the Romans to the Renaissance, and it wasn’t until the 18th century that men…
Chris Sullivan looks back at the history of male grooming to ensure that post-lockdown man is ready to spruce himself up After months of lockdown, whereby a chap has been bereft of haircut, a barber’s wet shave and, for some, a manicure, many of Britain’s menfolk now resemble Robbie Coltrane as Rubeus Hagrid in Harry…
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…
