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
Gustav Temple watched Robert Eggers’ new adaptation of the vampire classic and missed the camp and humour of all previous versions. Robert Eggers long-awaited version of F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu, lavishly funded by Universal Pictures, lacks all the essential ingredients that have made many previous vampire movies into masterpieces. The plot, characters and cast – with…
Gustav Temple treads in Bogie’s footsteps to be fitted with a Borsalino Fedora. “When your head says one thing and your whole life says another, your head always loses.”Humphrey Bogart’s line from Key Largo (1948) rang in my head as I mounted the steps to Burlington Arcade in London. I may have been a long…
Gustav Temple reviews the new documentary about the life of Humphrey Bogart. “I like people, yachts, chess, politics, a good drink, a good wife, nice kids. I had those.”Humphrey Bogart Hollywood’s ultimate man’s man, and his troubled relationship with alcohol and history of treating his many wives roughly, may not seem the ideal subject for…
Gustav Temple provides festive concoctions to get one through the holiday period. People often refer to Christmas as a ‘boozy’ or ‘over-indulgent’ period, then those same people, come the first of January, go all holly-and-ivier-than-thou, self-righteously placing a palm over their wine glass when offered a top up. What they don’t comprehend is that Christmas…