The Chap Magazine Issue 65

The latest issue of The Chap, in the shops today, looks at the crazy world of the beatniks and their sartorial forebears in early 20th century Bloomsbury.

As well as documenting the lives of four of the main beatniks: Kerouac, Burroughs, Ginsberg, Huncke, we meet British beat poet Michael Horovitz, from whom Michael “Atters” Attree hears extraordinary tales of taking mescaline with William S Burroughs. How can one spot a typical beatnik in today’s world, where the pavements are already cluttered with “Hipsters” peddling similar aims and trouser lengths? Arbuthnot & Slipper roam the East End of London to find out.

We look at the dress codes of the Edwardian beatniks, spearheaded by gipsy caravan dwelling, unruly-bearded bohemian Augustus John and his chums Lytton Strachey and Stephen Spender. Berets figured heavily in the beatnik wardrobe, so we delve into the origins and contemporary usage of this bohemian barnet cover. If there could be said to be a Bohemian beverage, it would be cider, and the Bon Vivant investigates this troublesome drink and its rise from park bench to gourmand’s table.

The subject of our questionnaire, Ed Harcourt, comes from solid Sussex Bohemian stock and has not only grown a superb moustache, but has also written a song about it.

Steve Pittard takes a look at cricket’s greatest loafers, with a quote from William Temple, the 1924-1944 Archbishop of Canterbury: “Personally, I have always looked upon cricket as organised loafing.” The article includes the occasion when top Leicestershire idler Nigel Briers sprained his thumb on the pocket of his flannels.