The London Lounge

Gentlemen:

Are any of you familiar with the magazines "Fantastic Man" and/or "The Chap". They look interesting. Are they worth subscribing to?

Trey

I have occasionally stumbled onto the website of 'The Chap,' and been most amused, but I have never actually seen a copy in print.

I know someone who regards himself (and, indeed, is regarded by many) as a Chap and, predictably, he received a subscription to the magazine as a gift and he says that it is quite amusing but not especially enlightening. However, the website (which allows free access) does conain some useful links.
NJS

I picked up one (print) copy of The Chap. It's amusing but not something I'd be tempted to subscribe to. It seems to combine the seriousness of the hobbyist-historian with a silliness that borders on camp. Photos of the Chap Olympics in a London park (something like a mixed gender three-legged martini-drinking race, if I recall) and a photo sent by reader, who's a serving paratrooper in Iraq, of himself kitted out in cravat and pith helmet in the desert. Both admirable but only very indirectly applicable to (at least my) real life. Sort of Bertie Wooster meets Monty Python. David Saxby writes the agony column. He's completely pitiless.

couch wrote:Sort of Bertie Wooster meets Monty Python.

Except that one can never be quite certain whether the participants are actually serious
NJS

Purchased one edition of Fantastic Man. It had a very short article relating one individual's experience of bespoke. Little else of much interest to the average Lounger I suspect. The article in question mentioned my tailor but I am not sure if that is a good or a bad thing

storeynicholas wrote:

couch wrote:Sort of Bertie Wooster meets Monty Python.

Except that one can never be quite certain whether the participants are actually serious
NJS

I´d be surprised to learn that they were.

I have got a card bound volume containing the best of The Chap from 2000 till 2004. My first impression when I received it was one of surprise. For I did not know that this publication existed originally as a magazine, and not as a book. Then I was puzzled, for at first glance it was not clear whether it was supposed to be a “serious” publication or not. Whether or not it actually fulfils any reasonable standards of seriousness may be a moot question, but reading it turned out to be far more entertaining than it might have been if it intended to be serious in too serious a way. A similar impression I experienced when I first read The English Gentleman, by Douglas Sutherland.

I've just looked at 'The Chap' website for 30 seconds and it's already made me laugh out loud. It's Monty Python meets your mother's knitting patterns.

Despite "Fantastic Man's" price I took the plunge and subscribed. I will post comments after receiving my first magazine.

Trey

Trey wrote:Despite "Fantastic Man's" price I took the plunge and subscribed. I will post comments after receiving my first magazine.

Trey

Fantastic Man is great but it is certainly geared toward the more sophisticated "fashion" type, if there is such a thing. I love it for the content and aesthetic but I can understand if some others here might not share in my enthusiasm.

The Chap is great fun (I have been a subscriber for some years) and always an enjoyable read, Fantastic Man I am not familiar with.

Gentlemen:

I received my first copy of "Fantastic Man." It is interesting. The jury is out on whether I will renew. Some of the features are interesting although less conservative for my tastes. Aesthetically the magazine is very appealing to the eye and certainly looks quite impressive.

Trey