TAG HEUER CARRERA CALIBRE HEUER 01

Chris Hemsworth works hard and chooses his roles carefully. He handles pressure
by taming it, and turning it to his advantage. #DontCrackUnderPressure was coined
with him in mind.
www.tagheuer.com
43 119
Editor’s Letter My Style
Root through the wardrobe of entrepreneur and
55 A-list florist Ronny Colbie.
Foreword
Motoring’s electric dreams will become a
reality for all of us sooner than you think... 120
Watches
A new Moon rises at Louis Vuitton
63
Details
108 with the marque’s first smartwatch.
123
The Horrors’ latest monster hit;
Robert Webb on what it means to be
a man; Flatliners’ Nina Dobrev looks
108Cars
Travel
From backstreet markets to grand old architecture,
GQ discovers the secret world of Sicily’s capital and
Why it’s all about kerb Taormina’s rugged beauty.
to the future; how to spot a “slashie”. appeal for Bugatti’s
261mph Chiron; the new
Mercedes-AMG S63. 127
85
Tony Parsons
Pushing past
116 your limits can be
The Lab dangerous in the
Don’t buy a laptop gym, but even
– smart covers and in injury there’s
keyboards mean a room to grow.
tablet is more
your type.
143
Taste 103
Why Jamie Oliver
wants us to spend less time in the
85
New House Rules
kitchen; Yotam Ottolenghi’s sweet tooth;
Temper’s flare at its new City grill joint.
Corduroys, bumbags,
keychains and big 119

earrings: permission
granted. Plus, the GQ
mega-yacht bingo.

100
Our Stuff
Photographic Director
Robin Key opens up about
life behind the lens. 123 120

152
103
Bachelor Pad
Michael Wolff
President Trump promised to drain “the swamp” of
Clean up in the American politics – but Washington is fighting back.
home style stakes
with a bathroom 167
that’s worth Style Manual
Black tie is changing; Kingsman’s fashion hits; Jim
splashing out for. Chapman; Acqua Di Parma passes on the scent of Italy.

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 19

 264 Jared Leto, Actor
By Jonathan Heaf. Photographed by Gavin Bond

268 Anthony Joshua, Sportsman

By Paul Henderson. Photographed by Matthew Brookes

270 Zayn Malik, Hugo Boss Most Stylish Man

By Nick Carvell. Photographed by Doug Inglish

274 Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, Comedians

By Paul Henderson. Photographed by Charlie Gray

276 Mark Hamill, Icon

By Stuart McGurk. Photographed by Gavin Bond

280 Kurupt FM, Garage Act

By Charlie Burton. Photographed by Hamish Brown

282 Pelé, Inspiration

By Paul Henderson. Photographed by Maurício Nahas

285 Sadiq Khan, Politician

By Stuart McGurk. Photographed by Charlie Gray

287 Sergei Polunin, Creative Maverick

By Eleanor Halls. Photographed by Doug Inglish

288 Adwoa Aboah, Hugo Boss Woman Of The Year

By Jonathan Heaf. Photographed by Mariano Vivanco

295 Liam Gallagher, Rock’n’Roll Star

By Jonathan Heaf. Photographed by Gavin Bond

296 James Norton, Breakthrough Actor

By Stuart McGurk. Photographed by Charlie Gray

299 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Band

By Dorian Lynskey. Photographed by Tom Oldham

300 Stormzy, Copper Dog Solo Artist

By Dorian Lynskey. Photographed by Daniel Sannwald

303 The Grand Tour, TV Personalities

By Matthew Jones. Photographed by Gavin Bond

304 Grace Wales Bonner, Breakthrough Designer

By Robert Johnston. Photographed by Piczo

306 Wolfgang Tillmans, Maddox Gallery Artist

By Jonathan Heaf. Photographed by Karl Kolbitz

309 Christopher Bailey, Designer

By Robert Johnston. Photographed by Steve Schofield

311 Sir Geoff Hurst, Legend

By John Naughton. Photographed by Jason Alden

312 Stranger Things, Editor’s Special Award

By Holly Bruce. Photographed by Brakha X2

314 Antonio Conte, Special Achievement

By Alastair Campbell. Photographed by Claudio Porcarelli

320 Cillian Murphy, TV Actor

By Alex Godfrey. Photographed by John Balsom

Jacket by Hugo, £550. Shirt by Boss, £89. hugoboss.com

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 21

180
GQ Preview
Products, events and offers. 330
Ed Victor, 1939-2017
205
Life
We remember the late,
Conquer your great literary agent who
fear of public enriched the world and
speaking by
using your ears;
his clients with the same
Bear Grylls’ sparkle and flair.
leap of faith; BY DYLAN JONES

Sir Chris Hoy

gets off his bike; Features
set your sights
on shooting gear.

217
GQ Power
Drivers assemble! Audi’s
new A8 redefines the
limits of self-driving cars;
plus, Dominic Cooper goes
into overdrive. 132

192

205 217

132
245
The Drop
352
Lust for life
Chef Anthony Bourdain and rock’s
oldest wild child Iggy Pop on growing
The writers ruining pop; old disgracefully.
Takashi Murakami takes
Russia; Richard Rogers’
social scenes; the old ones
352
Out To Lunch 192
BY ESMA ANNEMON DIL

The return of the Queen

are always the best at this
year’s party conferences;
Salman Rushdie strikes
gold; Team GB’s new
virtual reality.
GQ’s Jonathan Heaf
checks in at London’s
Chess Club with
245 Killers’ frontman
Brandon Flowers.
Thanks to Netflix’s global drama sensation,
the life of Her Majesty is capturing
imaginations far beyond these shores. We
investigate the power behind The Crown.
BY MARION VAN RENTERGHEM

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 23

berluti.com
 Editor
DYLAN JONES
PA TO THE EDITOR Lottie Stanners

DEPUTY EDITOR Bill Prince CREATIVE DIRECTOR Paul Solomons FASHION DIRECTOR Robert Johnston
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Chairman and Chief Executive, Condé Nast International

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 Co

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Hamill
Nick Nick
Cave Cave
Adwoa Adwoa
Aboah Aboah
Sadiq Sadiq
Khan Khan
Kurupt Kurupt
FM FM
Zayn Zayn
Malik Malik
Anthony Cillian
Joshua Murphy
+ +
Stranger Stranger
Things Things

154 pages
154 pages
of the coolest
Culture . Sport Cillian of the coolest
Culture . Sport Anthony
Fashion . Tech
Cars . Bars
Interiors
Murphy Fashion . Tech
Cars . Bars
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GQ’s TV Actor Of The Year GQ’s Sportsman Of The Year

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Joshua
Nick Cillian
Cave Murphy
Adwoa Adwoa
Aboah Aboah
Cillian Sadiq
Murphy Khan
Kurupt Kurupt
FM FM
Zayn Nick
Malik Cave
Anthony Zayn
Joshua Malik
+ +
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Things Things

154 pages 154 pages

of the coolest
Culture . Sport
Fashion . Tech
Sadiq of the coolest
Culture . Sport Jared
Khan Fashion . Tech
Leto
Cars . Bars
Interiors
GQ’s Politician Of The Year Editor’s Letter Cars . Bars
Interiors
GQ’s Actor Of The Year

Interview by Stuart McGurk Photographed by Charlie Gray Interview by Jonathan Heaf Photographed by Gavin Bond

“I’ve been to the Oscars, and this is better than the Oscars” – Michael Lewis

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never been invited, there are some who think we created the Men Of The Year Awards
simply in order to have a party. Although the Awards dinner (formerly at the Natural
Stranger Things
History Museum and the Royal Opera House before alighting on its current home at GQ’s Editor’s Special Award

The Grand Tour

GQ’s TV Personalities Of The Year Tate Modern) has certainly managed to create its own microclimate of celebrity – a place
154 pages
of the coolest
Also starring! Mark Hamill
Sadiq Khan, Anthony Joshua
Adwoa Aboah, Zayn Malik
where you might find Johnny Depp talking to Keith Richards, Amy Schumer swapping 154 pages
of the coolest
Culture . Sport Cillian Murphy, Stormzy Culture . Sport Also starring! Mark Hamill
Fashion . Tech
Cars . Bars
Interiors
Jared Leto + Kurupt FM
punchlines with Ricky Gervais, Sir Elton John comparing backhands with Andy Murray, Fashion . Tech
Cars . Bars
Interiors
Sadiq Khan, Anthony Joshua
Adwoa Aboah, Zayn Malik
Cillian Murphy, Stormzy
Jared Leto + Kurupt FM

or David Cameron, Tony Blair and Boris Johnson wondering if political careers really do
Interview by Matthew Jones Photographed by Gavin Bond

all end in failure. And while we obviously know that the collective power of the extraor- Interview by Holly Bruce Photographed by Brakha X2

dinary people in the room (try Eddie Redmayne, Emma Watson, Sir Michael Caine,
Madonna, Pharrell Williams, Ringo Starr, Benedict Cumberbatch, Sir Patrick Stewart,
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sponsored by Hugo Boss, remain a reflection of achievement, a way to acknowledge Cillian
www.gq.co.uk OCTOBER . 2017 . £3.99

www.gq.co.uk OCTOBER . 2017 . £3.99

Hamill Murphy
Nick Nick
Cave Cave
Adwoa
Aboah
Sadiq
success in every field, from fashion and film to politics Adwoa
Aboah
Sadiq
Khan Khan
Kurupt
FM and pop, from literature to sport and from comedy to Kurupt
FM
Anthony Zayn
Joshua
Cillian
Murphy
architecture and back again, applauding supermodels, Malik
Anthony
Joshua
+ +

154 pages
of the coolest
Stranger
Things design icons, photographers, film directors (somewhere, Stranger
Things

Culture . Sport 154 pages

Fashion . Tech
Cars . Bars perhaps in some strange, shadowy parallel universe, of the coolest
Culture . Sport
Fashion . Tech
Mark
Interiors
Zayn Malik Cars . Bars Hamill
GQ’s Most Stylish Man Of The Year Martin Scorsese’s speech is drawing slowly to a close), Interiors
GQ’s Icon Of The Year

chefs, entrepreneurs and Olympians (standing ovations

»
Interview by Nick Carvell Photographed by Doug Inglish Interview by Stuart McGurk Photographed by Gavin Bond

being wholeheartedly encouraged).

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Malik Nick
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2 Anthony Joshua, Sportsman Of The Year, wears Ralph Lauren Purple Label. Mark
Hamill
Hamill
Jared
Leto
Photographed by Matthew Brookes 3 Sadiq Khan, Politician Of The Year, wears Hugo Boss. Sadiq
Khan
Kurupt
Kurupt
FM Photographed by Charlie Gray 4 Jared Leto, Actor Of The Year, wears Tom Ford. FM
Zayn
Cillian Malik
Murphy
Anthony
Photographed by Gavin Bond 5 The Grand Tour, TV Personalities Of The Year, wear Moss Anthony
Joshua
Joshua +
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+ Bros. Photographed by Gavin Bond 6 Stranger Things, Editor’s Special Award, wear J Crew Stranger
Things
Things
154 pages and Givenchy. Photographed by Brakha X2 7 Zayn Malik, Most Stylist Man Of The Year, 154 pages
of the coolest
Culture . Sport
of the coolest
Culture . Sport Adwoa
Fashion . Tech
Cars . Bars Stormzy wears Hugo Boss and Boss Bottled. Photographed by Doug Inglish 8 Mark Hamill, Icon Of Fashion . Tech
Cars . Bars Aboah
Interiors Interiors
GQ’s Solo Artist Of The Year
The Year, wears Rag & Bone. Photographed by Gavin Bond 9 Stormzy, Solo Artist Of The GQ’s Woman Of The Year

Year, wears Philipp Plein. Photographed by Daniel Sannwald 10 Adwoa Aboah, Woman Of
Story by Dorian Lynskey Photographed by Daniel Sannwald

The Year, wears Hugo Boss and Boss The Scent For Her. Photographed by Mariano Vivanco Interview by Jonathan Heaf Photographed by Mariano Vivanco

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 43

» Sure, we would be the first to recognise that we have occa- From fashion
sionally made mistakes in our choices – and while it would
be invidious here to mention anyone in particular, you know
who you are – we have always attempted to respond gen-
to film and
uinely to the creative swirls around us, as well as trying to politics to
judge the mood of, well, if not exactly the nation, then at
least the parts that take an interest. We have always gone
pop, the
out of our way to celebrate the iconic too, those who have Awards are
climbed the mountains time and again and whose interstellar
status can sometimes be taken for granted – Tony Bennett,
a genuine
Sir Richard Branson, Ray Davies, Little Richard, Tom Wolfe, reflection
Burt Bacharach, Nick Hornby, John Barry, Salman Rushdie,
Tom Hanks, Sir Anish Kapoor and Sir Bobby Charlton for
of success Watch the winners’ speeches
Can anyone’s Men Of The Year speech outdo
instance – and those who have actually helped shape the Will Ferrell’s in 2015 or Amy Schumer’s last
time? No idea what we’re referring to? Check
lives of those in our constituency. out all the MOTY speeches past and present
on the British GQ YouTube channel.
his year, our 20th, is hopefully no different, and is a testament not just to the taste,

T skill and tenacity of those involved, but also to the secret sauce of the Men Of The
Year Awards itself.
As for the event, well, the acceptance speeches, red carpet tomfoolery, backstage
shenanigans, petty jealousies, the arguments and negotiations over dinner placement
and the photographs of the outrageous gowns and tuxedos pressed to within an inch of their lives
would fill a book. A big one. Maybe even two. And that’s without considering the extraordinary
happenings at the unofficial afterparty (Matthew Freud, take a bow). How shall we remember
Why Jared Leto’s
personal style is
a ‘total disaster’
The man himself raises
an eyebrow at his own
sartorial selections,
talks near-death
experiences, Blade
Runner 2049 and
the GQ Men Of The Year Awards? Probably by the small things, the things that we still talk about beards in our behind-
the-scenes video.
around the metaphorical water cooler: the second-degree wife of a first-degree star demanding
a limo with bulletproof windows to drive her the 200 metres from her hotel to the venue (What
did we do? Get her the car, of course. Did it have bulletproof glass? Obviously...); the globally
acclaimed singing superstar who publicly admonished another winner from the stage for being
disrespectful to his daughter; the legendary New York artist who – more than slightly refreshed
– fell asleep under his chair; Daniel Craig and Pierce Brosnan trading acting techniques on either
side of Charlize Theron over dinner; the look of complete incomprehension on the face of Yoko
Ono when confronted by Take That; and, of course,
the year when a certain presenter who we had flown
in from Japan cried off sick 90 minutes before she
Take a trip with Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon
was due on stage (her assistant calling to say that
Watch the GQ interview on our YouTube
she might start feeling a little better if someone were channel and try to work out whether the two
to come to her hotel room with £5,000 in cash). My titans of comedy hate, love or lust after each
own favourite MOTY memory is the year I faced a other. It’s like an extra episode of The Trip,
with added dinner jackets.
stand-up row with Harvey Weinstein after I had
the audacity to trim his acceptance showreel by 30
#GQAwards
seconds. Hell, he still turned up the next year. And
On the night, our
even sent me flowers. legendary Instagram
Anyway, congratulations to all our worthy booth will be in
winners and thank you to our host this year, all full swing, ready to
catch the moments
our wonderful presenters and especially to our that no one else will.
Events Director, the perennially incorrigible and For our exclusive
coverage, follow
unflappable Michelle Russell. us at @BritishGQ
Happy Birthday, MOTY. G

Win the night: Dylan Jones and

Sadiq Khan, who also took home
Politician Of The Year in 2016
Photograph Getty Images

Meet our Woman Of The Year

She’s sexy, funny and fiercely honest. Watch
Follow us GQ’s Jonathan Heaf sit down with supermodel
@britishgq Adwoa Aboah to talk men, mental health and
@dylanjonesgq Dylan Jones, Editor much more besides – all on camera.

46 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017

 Contributors

Dorian
LYNSKEY
In this issue, the sonic scope of
GQ music critic Dorian Lynskey
spans grime (Copper Dog
Breakthrough Solo Artist Of
The Year, Stormzy), rock (as
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
scoop Band Of The Year) and
John BALSOM pop, with a dissection of solo
Mob drama Peaky Blinders, set on the streets of Birmingham in the artists in this month’s Drop
Twenties, is one of the BBC’s most popular series. Its success is in large section. “Nick Cave and
part down to the brilliant Cillian Murphy, who plays gangster Tommy Stormzy represent two rare
Shelby, which is why we crowned him TV Actor Of The Year. Shot in achievements,” says Lynskey.
Manchester’s Victoria Baths by photographer John Balsom, Murphy “Exceeding expectations and
looked suitably menacing in long coats and tailored trousers. keeping creative fires burning.”
Alastair
CAMPBELL
This year, Chelsea manager
Antonio Conte won his first
Premier League title and, in
turn, our Men Of The Year
Special Achievement Award.
Alastair Campbell interviewed
him. “I loved when he said
he was born with a ball in
the belly of his mother and
falls asleep and wakes up
thinking of football,” says
Campbell. “It’s an odd
statement, but seems so
natural coming from him.”

Jonathan HEAF
The Blade Runner sequel is finally here, with
a sinister villain, Neander Wallace, played by
GQ’s Actor Of The Year, Jared Leto. Features
Director Jonathan Heaf interviewed Leto at
his home in Los Angeles. “It was a former
US military bunker: the antithesis of where
you’d expect a movie star to live,” says Heaf,
“almost as impressive as his majestic beard.”

Charlie GRAY
Photographer Charlie Gray shot three
Men Of The Year for this issue, with
Breakthrough Actor James Norton in a
vintage Mercedes Gullwing and Comedians
Of The Year Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan
in a greasy spoon. “And Shooting Politician IN ASSOCIATION WITH

Of The Year Sadiq Khan was a special

honour,” says Gray. G

48 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017


Why your next car will be electric
Thanks to eco innovations and new pressure from the bright sparks in government, battery
power is poised to overtake your old ride, as the combustion engine splutters to a halt
or the past two decades
F a storm has been brewing,
creating the perfect
conditions for the electric
car to kill the internal
combustion engine. The car that could
end the gas guzzler is the Tesla Model
3, which I believe will be as important
as the Ford Model T in the history
of the automobile. Here’s why.
1. Better batteries
In all-electric cars, range, acceleration
and cost are all determined by the
battery. That’s been the case since
the very first electric car, invented
in 1837 by Robert Davidson, a
Scottish chemist. The battery on
this monstrous locomotive weighed
tonnes, giving it a top speed of 4mph
and a range of a mile and a half.
Electric car sales peaked in 1910, but
by then the first Ford Model T had
FOREWORD
STORY BY Conrad Quilty-Harper
already rolled off the production line,
consigning them to niche tasks such
as powering milk floats, golf carts and
moon buggies.
Almost 100 years later, the
comeback started with the
quirky little General Motors EV1,
which caught the attention of
environmentally conscious celebrities
living in California. Its heavy
lead-acid battery gave it a limited
but usable range of 70 to 100 miles,
though it still managed to inspire
maniacal loyalty among the small
group of wealthy hippies who
leased it. Unfortunately, it was a
disastrous business failure and
General Motors decided to recall
all the cars, crush them and dump
them only a few years later.
Around the same time this was
happening, two events occurred:
Blackberry released the first device
that we would recognise as a
smartphone and an entrepreneur
named Elon Musk made $165 million
from Paypal’s sale to eBay. These
events were important milestones
in the history of the electric car and
its eventual dominance over the
combustion engine.
The most consistent complaint
about the smartphone is the battery
life, which often requires frequent
charges. Since the early noughties,
money has been poured into
developing the storage capacity of
batteries and since then they have
improved at a rate of six per cent a
year. After spotting this burgeoning
compound effect and realising General
Motors’ mistakes with the EV1, Musk
started a company called Tesla.
High voltage: Tesla’s In 1996, the best batteries meant
Model X is the car
company’s answer that the EV1 could travel about 100
to the luxury SUV »
miles. Ten years later, Tesla’s first car
OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 55
 GQ FOREWORD
» could travel more than 200 miles.
Today, you can order a Tesla Model S
100D with a range of 335 miles from
one charge. Extend that another few
decades and batteries will be powering
vehicles for 500 miles for roughly the
same price. This inexorable progress
is what has made Tesla’s offering
possible. Can any car company who
ignores this survive the next 20 years?
2. Your car is killing you
If the carrot leading us all towards
a future of electric cars is better
batteries, the stick is an increasing
awareness of the danger caused by
fossil fuel-driven cars. The reality
is that your car, along with everyone
else’s, is poisoning you – especially
if it’s a diesel and especially if you
reside in a city – and that’s all down
to its internal combustion engine.
This incredibly popular machine –
more than a billion sold – has been
so radically successful because of its
efficiency. For convenient and flexible
personal transport, there’s simply
no better deal than a car driven by
fossil fuels. Most modern petrol- or
diesel-powered cars are purported to
achieve 50-60 miles per gallon, which
means you can go 200 miles without
stopping at a cost of about £20 in fuel.
This bargain is so brilliant that society
has chosen to ignore the lingering cost
of poisonous carbon dioxide, nitrous
oxide and the particulate emissions
that come with it. That trade-off is
linked to 40,000 early deaths in the
UK every year as a result of pollution.
It’s a devil’s bargain that has
become less sustainable as more
people become aware of the problem
and demand representatives who
will do something about it. Michael
Gove’s announcement that all
petrol and diesel engines will be
banned by 2040 follows a similar
pledge in France; in Norway and
the Netherlands, politicians have
committed to only allowing zero-
emissions vehicles by 2025. Mayors
in London, Paris, Madrid, Athens
and Mexico City are all taking steps
to block diesels from their cities.
3. China is driving demand
In January, Beijing’s pollution was
measured at 24 times the level
recommended by the World Health
Organization and smog made it
impossible to see landmarks that
otherwise dominate the skyline. This
56 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017
Tesla’s has resulted in incredibly strict rules
that will force car manufacturers to
top model make electric models account for
can beat a at least 12 per cent of their sales
in China by 2020. This directive
£1 million from the world’s biggest market
supercar for zero-emission cars (and cars full
stop) will soon make it impossible for
from manufacturers to ignore the demand
0-60mph for electrification. China has already
banned bikes with petrol engines
from its urban centres, instead
putting 230 million electric two-
wheelers on the road.
Although it might sound like a
shock, a lot of very well paid people
have been predicting that this would
happen for a while now. Analysts
at financial services company UBS
believe electric cars will cost roughly
the same as combustion-engine
models by 2018. They go on to
say, “All-electric cars are the most
disruptive car category since the
Model T Ford.” Dutch bank ING
says that by 2035 every car sold
in Europe will be electric and that
between 2017 and 2024 they will
“become the rational choice for
motorists in Europe”. Morgan Stanley
expects electric cars to corner 70 per
cent of the European vehicle market
by 2050.
It’s not just analysts either.
Bob Lutz, the man who killed the
electric car at General Motors in the
Nineties now says, “I’ll always owe
[Elon Musk] a debt of gratitude for
having broken the ice.” He’s since
converted to the cause and helped
GM launch the plug-in Chevrolet
Volt, saying, “The electrification of
the car is a foregone conclusion.”
Even in traditionally conservative
newspapers such as the Times
and the Telegraph the debate has
moved from complete indifference
to electric cars to “Why would I ever
buy an all-electric car?” to “How
will we ever redesign the national
grid to accommodate them?” Most
anti-electric critics now believe the
inevitable will happen. About the
only person who’s not fully onboard
is Jeremy Clarkson.
Driving a petrol or
diesel car in the city is
slowly poisoning you
There are still some valid
criticisms of all-electric cars – chief
among them the carbon cost of
mining lithium for the batteries,
which relies on dirty, coal-fired
power plants and unsafe working
conditions in India – but price and
availability are no longer limiting
factors. Initially, the mass shift to
electrification of cars will be led by
Tesla, which is predicted to sell
between 200,000 and 400,000
all-electric cars next year, a massive
increase on 2016, when it sold only
76,000. Volvo has staked an early
claim to the electrified future,
announcing that all new models
released after 2019 will be either
partially or fully electric. The bigger
beasts of the car industry, such as
Toyota, VW Group and Ford, have
already indicated similar plans.
4. Quite simply, electric is best
If you can afford a luxury car – and as
you’re reading GQ, you probably can
– the chances are the next time you
step into any dealership, you’ll be
able choose an electric model. Jaguar,
one of the bigger investors in green
technology in cars, puts the electric
I-Pace SUV on forecourts at the end
of next year and the all-electric Mini
goes on sale the year after that. Even
the iconic black cab is about to get a
plug-in option.
Personally, my money’s with
Tesla, for good reason. Ever since I
took a test drive in the original Tesla
Roadster in 2008, I’ve wanted one.
The current top-of-the-line Tesla can
beat a £1m supercar from 0-60mph
and has enough space in the back
to help you move house a few hours
later, all without burning a single
fossilised dinosaur. After multiple
test drives with various models,
I’ve enjoyed the peace of mind that
comes from not having to sit behind
a giant lump of metal churning out
fumes. Technology-wise, I still marvel
at the fact that, unlike any other car,
it can improve itself automatically,
thanks to 4G software updates; that
the 17-inch touch-screen display is,
in my opinion, yet to be bettered five
years later; and that the autonomous
driving mode has always worked,
even in traffic.
Now that Tesla’s Model 3 is available
for £27,000, I can afford to take part
in this electric revolution. I suspect
you’ll be joining me very soon. G
60 YEARS OF ADVENTURE
AND DISCOVERY
this month: fifa 18 kicks up a gear p.65 nina dobrev p.69 the dad rules p.74 meet the slashie p.76

Sonic gloom: Faris Badwan

returns as The Horrors’
frontman for their fifth album

Faris
Badwan
P O R T R A I T BY

DAVID BAILEY
THE

RISING
S TA R

This isn’t quite how Faris Badwan pictured his life turning out. Born in
Bexley to a Palestinian father and English mother, as a child he desired
nothing more than to play in goal for Blackburn Rovers. “I wanted to
be like the other kids,” he says, sitting in a bar in London’s Holborn. “I
wanted to be blond and have freckles and be called James.”
Instead, Badwan grew up to be a 6ft 6in Marjane Satrapi illustration,
his boxer’s nose emerging from a storm-cloud of black hair. He gave
up on football and formed The Horrors with his friends in Southend-
On-Sea, releasing their debut album, Strange House, in 2007.
“We couldn’t play back then,” says the 30-year-old. “But that’s
why I enjoyed it.”
Three subsequent albums of increasingly professional shoegaze
won them fans worldwide, turning Badwan into an unlikely indie icon
and landing him in situations that he could never have predicted.
“One of the most surreal things in my life happened in Tokyo,” he
remembers. “People had told me how accommodating Japanese »
OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 63
 DETAILS

» audiences are,
but I never realised
it would extend to
them allowing me to
walk on their heads.
When I realised that
was possible, I didn’t
go back on stage.”
Despite the
acclaim, last year
the band almost
split after a decade
together. “We
weren’t enjoying it
or getting on.” Did
he consider leaving
The Horrors to go
solo? “It’s weird,
I look around and
it doesn’t seem to
have worked for
a lot of people,” he
THE
Fifa 18 is leagues ahead
says. “The thing is, VIDEO The premier football sim is back to command the field,
I’ll always do things GAME netting major upgrades to your next night in
and probably some
of that will be on
As the reputation of
my own. I’m terrified
football’s governing
The It just
of boredom.” incredible got (even
For now, it’s a body deteriorates,
moot point. While that of Fifa’s namesake journey more) real
recording their video game series only Fifa 17 introduced a For the past few years,
seems to improve. hugely popular story Fifa has tracked the
new album, V, The
Last year’s edition mode. In this, you took real-world football
Horrors rediscovered
sold 1.1 million copies a young, promising season, matching
themselves. The
in its opening week player, Alex Hunter, each week’s fixtures
band adopted an
alone, and that from after-school and injuries via online
industrial sound,
popularity isn’t limited In its stride knockabouts through Finishing updates. Fifa 18
which presented an Last year’s game school
to fans. Professional to his first signing (to extends this to pro
opportunity for them was built on a new
footballers also race a club of your choice) Fifa has long players’ performances.
to recapture their technical foundation,
to the shops to find and on up through supported new Stats will be tweaked
original anarchic the Frostbite Engine,
out how their real- the big leagues. This players with dynamic throughout the season,
spirit. “I was unhappy world performance which meant a year’s game picks up and effective tutorials accurately reflecting,
that we removed a has been transposed seismic upgrade in the story’s threads as that explain the say, how up-and-
lot of the instinctive, to the virtual pitch by graphics. Now, it’s in Hunter continues to basics of the game. coming stars such as
spontaneous stuff developer EA Canada’s use alongside motion- rise through the ranks, Its newest edition Kylian Mbappé perform
on the last record,” army of data analysts. capture technology now playing alongside extends this support in real life. Simon Parkin
he says. “I like music Fifa 18 promises an to create an array a broader cast in ever to intermediates and Fifa 18 is out on
that’s human and expansion to, and of running styles more diverse locations. veterans with training 29 September.
primal. That’s our deepening of, a game appropriate to each features that adapt to
strength. We’re that, year by year, player. You must now the difficulty level at
not considered, becomes ever more anticipate strides in which you play. For
technical musicians, beautiful. Here’s a order to time passes those competing at the
but we can still be four-frame preview... and shots, while the game’s highest level,
in The Horrors.” unique gaits of Lionel for instance, there will
Kevin Perry Messi and Cristiano be support in learning
V is out on Ronaldo are all realised the intricacies of the
22 September. on screen. new volley system.

An interiors trend you need to know about

If you have even the slightest pretensions towards design creds, there’s a term you should
learn: Jesmonite. Invented in 1984 by the British materials maven Peter Hawkins as a kind
of lightweight concrete, this gypsum-acrylic mix has been gaining popularity in construction
thanks to its chameleon-like abilities: it can imitate any surface finish in any colour. Now,
it’s coming to your living room. For proof, take a look at this year’s London Design Festival,
an annual celebration of creative thinking. Among the special commissions, one-off events
and hundreds of exhibitors that comprise its 15th annual outing, Jesmonite is a dominant
theme. Our favourite example is the “Haunted Chandelier” (left) by Slovenian-born designer
Lara Bohinc. Drawing on a host of inspirations, from mandrake plants and stalactites to
hanging gardens and caves, it is a Jesmonite-and-steel creation that can hold up to 30
candles and has a distinctly masculine edge. Appropriately, it’s in situ at the Mandrake
Hotel (20 – 21 Newman Street, London W1). Go see how it breaks the mould. Tom Dooner
London Design Festival 2017 is on from 16 – 24 September. londondesignfestival.com

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 65

 The
Insta
classics
Happy-snap your Instagram
feed by following the
’grammers behind three posts
we hit ‘like’ on this month

THE

DESIGN
ARCHETYPE
Make yourself a home @SHITHEADSTEVE

Alice Rawsthorn builds a case for the Norwegian vision of a prefab future
Prefabs are back –
in a good way. As
the demand for
housing continues
to outstrip supply,
designers, architects,
builders, local councils,
charities and property developers
are racing to produce prefabricated
homes that can be constructed at a
fraction of the cost of conventional
buildings – and the best come with
some serious style.
Prefabrication has a proud design
history. The great Victorian engineer
Isambard Kingdom Brunel devised
a military hospital as a kit of ready-
made parts to be built in Turkey
during the Crimean War. Some of the
finest examples of modernist design
were the prefabricated homes devel-
oped in response to the post-war
housing crisis by designers such as
Jean Prouvé and Charlotte Perriand
in France and Richard Buckminster
Fuller in the US. So what’s their
contemporary equivalent, the design
archetype of the new prefab boom?
The natty Muji hut, which goes on
sale in Japan next spring for ¥3 million
(around £20,000), is a possibility, but
at just nine sq metres it’s too small.
The best contender is the larger, more
sophisticated Gapahuk, designed by
Snohetta, the Norwegian architect
firm behind Oslo’s opera house and
the expanded San Francisco Museum
Of Modern Art.
Described by Snohetta as a “social
cabin”, the Gapahuk (the Norwegian
word for a simple wooden structure)
occupies 100 sq metres and includes
a living area, kitchen, bathroom and
three bedrooms. Manufactured by
Rindalshytter, its components are
shipped to whichever mountainous,
lakeside, wooded or coastal location
its owners have chosen, to be assem-
@FUCKJERRY
bled and fitted out in four months.
Snohetta designed the Gapahuk
to be made from wood and have a
pitched roof angled to form a porch
that accommodates solar panels.
The first kits (£155,000 each) were
delivered in Norway last summer.
Rindalshytter has received enquiries
from all over the world, including the
UK, and has commissioned a smaller,
less costly version from Snohetta.
It’s an instant design classic. @FUCKJERRY

Do something different this month. Tune into these new sounds...

GQ

BAND into
TV On The Radio?
into
Yeah Yeah Yeahs?
O - M AT I C
try try
Re-Tros Wolf Alice
This Beijing-based post- One of Britain’s most
punk trio have become one searing live bands
of China’s biggest and most channel yet more of
into into
innovative bands. This year, their energy and invention
The Doors? Nina Simone?
they have their sights set on into this truly excellent
conquering the West.
try second record.
try
into
Before The Applause
LA Witch Visions Of A Life is out on
Benjamin Clementine
Primal Scream? Sounding and looking The singer and pianist
is out on 15 September. 29 September.
try like the bar band in a uses the story of his
Inheaven Quentin Tarantino flick, own journey from
Bassist Chloe Little and this Californian group have homeless teen to
guitarist James Taylor each recorded a debut full Mercury Prize winner as
take turns on lead vocals of sex, drugs and a prism for examining
as this four-piece mix noisy garage rock. the world. KP
rock’n’roll with dreamy pop. LA Witch is out on I Tell A Fly is out on
Inheaven is out now. 8 September. 15 September.

68 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017


NINA
DOBREV
From teenage soap star to
the lead in sci-fi reboot Flatliners,
the Bulgarian-born Canadian is
jump-starting her Hollywood career
Photograph Mark Seliger/Art Partner
Started from the bottom:
Nina Dobrev first came to
fame alongside Drake in
Canadian soap Degrassi
DETAILS
THE
WOMAN
T O W AT C H
After the fall of the Berlin
Wall, Nina Dobrev’s family
left the Bulgarian capital,
Sofia, to start a new life in
Toronto. Dobrev was just
two years old, but the
memories are still clear.
“For the first few years we
lived with another family
in a two-bed apartment to
save on rent,” she recalls.
“For me, that was normal.”
From there, Dobrev grew
up with the full immigrant
experience. “We weren’t
allowed to speak English
at home and we’d eat weird
Bulgarian food.”
Feeling like an outsider
only hardened her
determination to perform.
First she channelled that
urge into gymnastics,
then, at 17, she got her
acting break in teen soap
Degrassi alongside a
pre-superstardom Drake
(“He hasn’t changed a bit”).
Next came The Vampire
Diaries along with a host
of supporting film roles,
including The Perks Of Being
A Wallflower. Now, the
28-year-old is taking the
lead in rebooted cult sci-fi
horror Flatliners. What does
she think of Hollywood’s
obsession with reboots?
“Any new idea is always
more interesting to watch,”
says Dobrev. “The thing
about Flatliners, though,
was that the original was
before its time. With
advances in technology and
what doctors can do now,
it could use a remake.”
The original helped forge
Julia Roberts’ career. Is
Dobrev hoping for the
same? “Nobody will ever
compare to Julia Roberts!”
she says. But you wouldn’t
bet against it – her journey
is just getting started. KP
Flatliners is out on
29 September.
OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 69
 B R I N G YO U R

‘A’
GAME

No.34
Give a killer foot
massage
Masseuse to the stars Dot Stein, aka
Dr Dot, counts everyone from Kanye
West to Gwen Stefani among her
satisfied customers. Here is her
signature foot routine (repeat each
move at least three times)...
1 Assume the position
Ask your partner to lie down with their
feet just off the end of the bed. Sit in
between their legs with your feet on the
ground. Start with their right foot: turn to
your right and place it on your right thigh.
Warm some massage oil in your hands.

The vinyl revival remains in rude health.

Dylan Jones selects an overlooked classic to hunt
out next time you’re flicking through the crates
Young Neil’s greatest hits are greatest Neil Young & Crazy
the stuff of legend – at least Horse album is Ragged
among the converted. Young Glory, an LP that contains
is a Marmite artist and there four solid-gold epics:
are as many who recoil from “Country Home” (7.05
his thin, whiney voice as minutes), “Over And Over”
2 Heeling hands 3 Make like a lobster
those, like me, who find (8.28), “Love To Burn” (ten)
Interlace the fingers of your two hands. Curl your thumb towards your palm like a

Photographs Getty Images Illustrations Dave Hopkins; Dale Edwin Murray

nearly everything that voice
attempts (even the less
successful stuff) fascinating.
Of course, like any true
Young fan I like the Crazy
Horse material more than
anything. I like the Harvest
period enormously and “On
The Way Home” on Live At
Massey Hall 1971 takes some
beating. Nevertheless, it’s
Crazy Horse who really kick
up the dust, Crazy Horse
who can make you feel as
though you’re sitting on the
edge of the world, imported
beer in hand, stick cigar
resting on a rock, watching
all the madness below.
And, for sure, the
classics are great outings:
“Cinnamon Girl”, “Cowgirl
In The Sand”, “Down By
The River”, “Cortez The
Killer”, “Like A Hurricane”,
“Powderfinger” etc. Yet the
and “Love And Only Love”
(10.18) – 36 minutes of aural Squeeze their heel between your palms lobster claw. Put all four fingers on the top
carnage that could change (“It’s really a good feeling just to have of the foot and crush the thumb knuckle
your life completely. someone squishing your heel,” says Stein). into the arch. Next, brace your fingers
It was around this time Shortly afterwards, do the same thing against the outside of the foot and drag the
that Young started to be to their toes. knuckle from the inner arch to the outer.
known as “The Godfather
Of Grunge” (sloppy drums,
unreconstructed chords,
plus lank hair, anti-designer
jeans, trucker’s T-shirts,
sneakers etc), though
Ragged Glory was actually
recorded in 1990, way before
grunge’s commercial high
points, Nirvana’s Nevermind
and Pearl Jam’s Ten. After
the success of this release
(his first great album after
a decade in the experimental 4 Stimulate the sciatic 5 There’s a twist at the end
wilderness), Young On the heel, the holy grail is to stimulate Apply oil and place both hands around
embraced his own guitar the sciatic nerve. Bend your index finger, the foot, one above the other as if wringing
histrionics, subjecting his brace the thumb on the side of the heel out a towel. Moving one hand clockwise
audiences to mammoth for power and work the larger knuckle and the other anticlockwise, work up from
one-note solos and acres into the centre of the heel. Don’t be afraid the ankle to the toes. Finish by giving each
of feedback. to push hard. toe a slow but firm tug. drdot.com

Augment your life: Three substitutions to make this month

Ditch: Pick up your: Forget: Order: “Almost- Kill: Behold: The

Dre’s Beats M-Ears
Most artist-endorsed earphones are bass-heavy
numbers from hip-hop acts. For a different vibe,
try M-Ears (£49.99. metersmusic.com), designed
with the U2 bassist (and, yes, GQ columnist)
Adam Clayton. They’re not bulky cans, but slick,
high-end-at-low-cost in-ear headphones from
Meters Music, which supplies amps to Sir Paul
McCartney, Foo Fighters and, you guessed it, U2.
Deliveroo ready” meals
These days every meal is just a cyclist away. But it
hardly makes for a balanced diet. The latest trend
is “almost-ready” meals, which combine delivery
convenience with the healthiness of home-cooked
food. Each box contains ingredients for a specific
recipe and there are lots of options. Companies
include Gousto and Hello Fresh, and Amazon has
just filed a trademark for its own meal-kit service…
The cravat bandana’s return
Granted, you probably don’t wear a cravat,
because, well, you’re not Nicholas Parsons. But
the bandana is making a comeback, as evidenced
by its appearance at this year’s London Fashion
Week Men’s and the Florence fashion shows. Don’t
wear it on your head (á la Hulk Hogan). Rather, tie
it around your neck, long or short, as a casual tie
to complete your summer outfit. Stuart McGurk

70 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017

 Photographs James Mason

Jermaine Davis Dougie Poynter Sam Harwood

Nick Hopper and

Jasmine Hemsley
Jaime Winstone

Vanessa White

Wolffe

Justin Osuji Isaac Carew

Will Vaughn Ella Hunt

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DETAILS

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 73

Ronan Kemp Charli XCX Harvey Newton-Haydon
 BOOK
THE

The
TO READ

GQ
We need to rules
talk about men How to dad
Some hard-won
With Peep Show now over, Robert Webb has been
advice from a
thinking about men. The comedian and writer’s new
book, How Not To Be A Boy, is part literary memoir –
new(ish) father
recounting his relationship with an abusive father, his
mother’s death and coming of age – and part political Only a fool doesn’t
manifesto on masculinity. We met him to discuss keep a “blocker” hand
mental health, fatherhood and literary ambitions. in their pocket while
carrying an infant in a
GQ: Why How Not To Be A Boy? papoose. Your chances
of re-procreation,
RW: I’m not famous enough to do an actual depend on it.
autobiography. I read Caitlin Moran’s How To Be
A Woman and I wondered if there was room for a Bribe regularly and
unapologetically.
complementary book from a male perspective. To Children are immune
start with, it was going to be a wry survey on men’s to threats.
magazines and things like Top Gear, and then I
realised I had no interest in writing that book at all. It’s OK to use your
child as a social
But gender conditioning in men is under-discussed. crutch. Consider
“You’re looking tired”
GQ: Men’s magazines. Are we the baddies? as an acceptable way
How Not To Be A Boy by Robert
to teleport yourself
RW: It’s not that. We did a sketch called “Man’s Hour”. Webb (Canongate Books, £16.99)
is out now. out of any situation.
It was like, “We’re going to talk about films that touch
on men’s issues. Well, all films, really. Can we really GQ: One of the main focuses is a taboo about men You will never be
talk about testicular cancer again?” Men don’t have discussing mental health. approached by more
beautiful women
“issues”. But, actually, start with the way we’re told to RW: It feels very brave to say I’m seeing a therapist than when you’re
stop crying as children. Once you start thinking about again – why should it? It’s astonishing. You don’t with your child.
gender conditioning, you see it everywhere. have to be suicidal to seek help. I just became Enjoy fatherhood’s
secret bonus
inexplicably miserable most weekends. I wasn’t
with impunity.
‘It feels very brave to say taking responsibility for my health in the way that
my family deserved. I had a lot of trouble giving up There is one toy
I’m seeing a therapist again, smoking and moderating my drinking. So it’s worth that allows you to

but why should it?’ taking responsibility. I think in some ways I’m trying
play without ever
leaving the sofa.
to father myself. Gentlemen, I give
GQ: Did becoming a father change your view? you the helicopter.
RW: I didn’t want to be one of those guys who only GQ: Are there plans for another book?
If tedious drug
gets it when they have their own daughters, but I RW: It was a two-book deal, so there’s an idea for a anecdotes define
probably am. You start seeing the world through their novel. And I’d like to write more novels. Working with conversations
eyes. You go to a baby store and immediately the shop David [Mitchell] was brilliant, but while we were doing with irritating
twentysomethings,
assistant comes over with this look, like, “Do you Peep Show we saw more of each other than two people tedious effluence
know how many months old your baby is?” I was who are not in love ought to. We’re still really good anecdotes define
there. I can count. friends. I miss him, really. Oliver Franklin-Wallis conversations
with irritating
thirtysomethings.
Despite its confusingly European name, Dinings has continually
been one of the finest places in town to set chopsticks to sushi Fatherhood is no
ever since it opened in Marylebone back in 2006. This off- excuse for Crocs.
the-beaten-track Japanese is hardly a grand affair compared There is absolutely
to the haute izakaya of Mayfair: Dinings comprises two no excuse for Crocs.
floors that are confined and sparsely furnished. Yet there’s
a cosmopolitan cachet to raw fish that endures even in less- A word about
than-blingy surroundings, and it draws beau mondes across “sharenting”: no
the threshold of Dinings week after week. Of course, that’s self-respecting man
because the raw fish in question is terrific. Yes, there are hot should Instagram a
THE options on the menu (don’t miss the wagyu with truffle and snap of his offspring
ponzu jelly, right), but the traditional sushi dishes, such as fatty from a public
POWER “O-toro” tuna are the stars of the show. A new branch of Dinings account. Your child
LUNCH has just opened in Knightsbridge. It’s just as well they made it is not a social media
considerably bigger. 22 Harcourt Street, W1. dinings.co.uk O The power seat is No6 engagement strategy.
Matthew Jones

74 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017


Underground hit: The
Ned’s gold-standard
basement bar, The Vault
Don’t call an Uber, book a crash pad
Need a wallet-friendly place to stay in town? Behold the city’s trendiest new asset:
the luxury bolthole you can reserve on a whim
Napoleon Hotel
9 Christopher Street, EC2.
napoleon-hotel.com
The crash pad: This one’s a
bit of a secret. The recently
renovated Napoleon Hotel
comprises three adjacent
bars – Black Rock, The
Devil’s Darling and Sack –
and a single 40 sq metre
luxury suite.
USP: A dumbwaiter will ferry
cocktails (and breakfast)
from The Devil’s Darling up
to your room.
Room for a friend? With
its super-king bed, roll-top
bath, kitchen alcove, seating
corner and work station, this
is, in fact, a suite. And, with
a giant drinks trolley full
of wacky bottled cocktails
(try the Peanut Butter Old
Fashioned) it feels a little
like a bar, too.
Prime location for: Michelin-
starred food and sky-high
views at Jason Atherton’s
City Social.
Price: £180 per night.
Illustration Ricardo Fumanal
THE
LONDON
SCENE
Mimi’s
Soho Hotel
56-57 Frith Street,
London W1.
mimishotelsoho.com
The crash pad: There
are four “tiny rooms” at
Mimi’s, and they really are
miniscule (six sq metres).
But, with their red-velvet
curtains, burgundy wood
panelling, 40-inch flatscreen
televisions and rainforest
showers, you may well
not mind its size.
USP: The Frith Street
location puts you right
in the thick of things.
Room for a friend? The
beds are doubles, but good
luck getting dressed in the
morning without head-
butting each other.
Prime location for: All
that Soho has to offer.
Our tip: go see award-
winning comedian Adam
Hess’ new show, Cactus,
at Soho Theatre.
Price: £95 per night.
The Ned
27 Poultry, EC2. thened.com
The crash pad: Among the
252 bedrooms at this hot
new members’ club, there
are 15 Twenties-themed
“Crash Pads” (their official
name). All include spacious
marble bathrooms.
USP: Forget minibars,
these rooms come with a
vintage drinks cabinet full of
delicious bottled cocktails.
Room for a friend? At 17-19
sq metres, these rooms are
far from claustrophobic.
There’s space for a queen-
sized bed, rattan bedside
tables and a large window.
Prime location for: Well,
The Ned. Your room grants
access to the members-only
rooftop pool, with its DJ
sessions and spectacular
views of St Paul’s, plus
the intimate Vault bar
in the former bank’s
original basement.
Price: £200 per night. Under-
thirties get a £50 discount.
Sanctum
Soho Hotel
20 Warwick Street, W1.
sanctumsoho.com
The crash pad: At 13 sq
metres, you don’t get much
room to manoeuvre, but you
do get a Nintendo Wii and
Onkyo sound system.
USP: The spacious hot tub in
this five-star hotel’s rooftop
garden. But there’s a minibar
and New York-style wet room
in your bedroom if you don’t
fancy venturing outside.
Room for a friend? The
bed is king-sized and there
are mirrors at every turn to
add illusory metres to your
room’s dimensions.
Prime location for: Hitting
up the recently renovated
Borderline nightclub – or, if
hip hop and R&B are more
to your liking, there’s Cirque
Le Soir off Kingly Street
where VIP sightings
are guaranteed.
Price: £200 per night.
Eleanor Halls
OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 75
DETAILS
THE
RUMOUR
MILL
by
alex wickham
Tory MPs have taken to
comparing Theresa May
to the former Yugoslav
dictator Marshal Tito.
They say that May, like
the communist leader,
has held her party
together with a tight
grip. When she leaves
office they fear the
Tories will Balkanise,
splitting into separate
parts, just as Yugoslavia
did after Tito’s death.
Tony Blair and Peter
Mandelson were widely
believed to have been
behind calls to set up
a new centrist party
in the wake of Brexit
and Corbynmania.
I hear they have a rival.
Pugnacious Vote Leave
chief Dominic Cummings
has held conversations
about forming a new
party seeking a more
open, less chaotic Brexit.
Tory grandee Sir
Nicholas Soames’
remarkable weight loss
has sent fellow MPs
green with envy. Though
there is one downside
to his transformation
that isn’t making
anyone jealous. Sir Nick
has had to have all his
hand-tailored suits
altered, landing him
with a bill for £5,000.
Keep an eye on Tory
rising star Victoria
Atkins. Vicky, as she
is known, is a former
barrister who has
quietly impressed
colleagues since joining
the Commons in 2015.
“She’s like Theresa May
with a personality,”
says one admiring MP.
Friends tip her as the
dark horse of the next
leadership contest.
 DETAILS
Hack of all trades: Slashies
split their time between
a string of occupations
The slashie is
unsure of his place
in the world. Hence
the constant sound
of his nervous
Old-
fashioned business
accoutrements
Who uses a business card
anymore, other than oil
executives? Well, the slashie,
that’s who. He is in a constant
state of “pitching his next
startup” to whoever
he’s sitting
next to.
HOW TO
SPOT...
Remember your answer
to that most pressing of
questions: “What do you
want be when you grow
up?” Although, as a
naive and badly dressed
school leaver, you may
have offered up various
notions of apologetic
grandeur (“A hedge-
fund manager?”) or
glamorous philanthropy
(“An NGO working for
Sean Penn in Haiti?”),
the correct and honest
answer for many years
should have been “I
don’t have a clue. PR?”
76 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017
Hybrid
wardrobe
Is he a pro surfer or
a CEO? Does he work
in fashion retail or is he a
freelance marketing strategist
for Tesla? Mixing smart
separates with skatewear,
his uniform is a bad
mashup of styles
and moods.
Itchy
palms
Faddy
energy.
wellness literature
Remember how hot
French girls used to carry
around a copy of Oedipus
by Voltaire? Well, the slashie
carries around I Quit Sugar
by Sarah Wilson or
The 4-Hour Workweek
by Tim Ferriss. 
Insufferable.
The slashie
Why have one job when you could have two? Or three? Or four?
Jonathan Heaf counts the ways of the multihyphenate careerist
Oh, how one longs for loved above all else – good enough for anyone
such times of rudderless in my case magazines – young or old – just to
ambition. When I was – you stuck at it, clocking have one job. Or even
growing up, it was up the required 10,000 two. Welcome to the
perfectly acceptable to hours until you hit golden era of the slashie
dither. Try advertising “getting away with – a person who is
– sure. Get your foot in it”. Now, since the a something-slash-
the door of the music emergence of millennials, something-else and,
industry – no problem. influence rs and digital occasionally, slash-
Get work experience at natives, it’s no longer something-else again.
the local paper – OK. Of course, patient
The working world was In LA, I was zero for the slashie is
competitive, but if you the model-slash-actor,
could support yourself
introduced a handsome man who
for a few years, you to a noise has aspirations of being
could figure it all out.
Still, when one came
architect/ a thesp. Someone, for
example, such as Jamie
across that thing one sand artist Dornan pre-The Fall. Or
David Gandy in his pants
in that perfume ad. Or
Fabio Lanzoni. In fact,
it was the tousle-haired
Lanzoni who was the
first to acknowledge
his slashie status with
a cameo in Zoolander, in
which he is seen picking
up his very own Slashie
Award. “You consider me
the best actor-slash-
model... And not the
other way around.”
The film industry has
long been a fan of the
slashie. The writer-
slash-director, for
example. But now the
slashie trend has jumped
from being a legitimate
signpost to indicate your
varied roles within one
or a sister industry to
merely bolster a range
of nothing jobs you’re
not really very sure
about. Or good at.
On my last trip to LA,
I was introduced to
a freelance noise
architect/nutritional
strategist/sand artist.
As far as I can work out,
none of these things
are real jobs – or they
certainly shouldn’t be.
Of course, experts
indicate that the rise of
the slashie is due to the
fact that so many young
people now must have
a range of jobs in order
to eat. But perhaps it’s
also an excuse not to do
any real work at all. The
slashie is able to conjure
an Insta-career, or
careers, turning one’s
half-baked ideas or
dalliances into a sellable
business strategy.
After all, have you ever
met a neurosurgeon/
architect? Unlikely.
Illustration Jonathan Allardyce
Because those that are
either brain surgeons
or master builders
know the value of a life
dedicated to the pursuit
of excellence in their
chosen field. Rather
than, well, a side hustle.
Luxury makes a difference.
No.1 SAVILE ROW I BATH I BIRMINGHAM
CHESTER I LIVERPOOL I WINCHESTER

gievesandhawkes.com
 DETAILS
THE

ENTREPRENEUR

James Park
The cofounder and CEO of the £6 billion activity tracker company Fitbit, which now
has more than 23.6 million active users worldwide, reveals what he has learned

Trust your gut

Based San Francisco
Age 40 “I dropped out just before
finals because I got an
internship at Morgan Stanley.
EDUCATION As an entrepreneur, you
have to take risks. But as
an engineer, there’s always
Outside the New York Stock Exchange, 2015
1990-1994 a backup.”
University School,
Cleveland, Ohio
Don’t rush Harvard College
1994-1998
“Epesi was not successful – so many Computer science,
things went wrong. I was only 22 Harvard College, Massachusetts
at the time, very inexperienced,
and I didn’t really know what I was
doing. I realised I had some more CAREER IN BRIEF
growing up to do. I needed more
time and to meet more people.”
1998
Morgan Stanley, working on
Watch, learn (and copy)
quantitative trading analytics
“When the Nintendo Wii came

Story by Eleanor Halls Photographs Christian Peacock/The Forbes Collection; Getty Images; Mariko Reed; Rex
1999 out, I was interested in its sensors,
Cofounded B2B
infrastructure software company
as well as how it turned gaming into
Epesi Technologies something friendly and active. This
was technology with positive
2002
Cofounded digital photo-sharing
impacts. I wanted to put this magic
service Wind-Up Labs into something more portable.”
From left: James Park with cofounder 2005
Eric Friedman in 2015; the Fitbit Blaze
Director of product development,
Hire up CNET Networks

“We started Fitbit with

2007
only two employees: Cofounded Fitbit with
a monumental task. You Eric Friedman

don’t want to over-hire 2008

before you’ve nailed your Fitbit launched at TechCrunch At TechCrunch again in 2015;
(right) the Nintendo Wiimote
product, but a few more
2015
hands would have helped.” Fitbit went public Get enough capital

2017
Revenue in range of £1.2bn
Go public or go home
“Going public is good for
investors and employees.
Ours was the largest
From left: The Fitbit app;
consumer electronics
the San Francisco HQ IPO in US history.”
80 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017
“In software you can make
mistakes and learn from
them cheaply; in hardware
every mistake is expensive to
fix and takes much longer. If I
could go back, I’d make sure
we were better capitalised to
cushion our mistakes and
sleep sounder at night!”
 real watches for real people

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 this month: pirate earrings p.86 cryptocurrency p.94 the belgian slipper p.96 mega yacht bingo p.98

This is for the

style lodestars.
The agitators. The
peacocks. This section
believes in combining an
aesthete’s eye with an
inner rebelliousness. From
killer opinion to white-hot
trends, these pages are not
about following tradition,
but beating your own path.

New
Welcome to GQ’s…

House
Rules
Jonathan Heaf
Photograph Alpha

EDITED BY

Puff piece: Hunter S Thompson in

his office in Aspen, Colorado 1991
– see our guide to dressing like
a writer on page 88

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 85

Earrings: Seriously good
BAD TASTE
By Alfie Tong
Follow in the footsteps of
rock’n’roll’s rebel kids with
a style statement that ignores
polite society and puts
the earlobe back en vogue
1. Earring by
SERGES DENIMES, £69.
sergedenimes.com

2. Earring by
THOMAS SABO, £129

Earrings a pair. thomassabo.com

The late, great Glenn O’Brien, former Interview
magazine editor, wrote in his book, How To Be A
Man, “I suppose there can be a piratical rakishness to a
certain type of fellow with a ring in his ear and a gleam
in his eye, but mostly earrings seem like a big mistake.”
Men’s jewellery – mewellery? – is a contentious issue.
Almost as much as that portmanteau. Classicists will
maintain that the only acceptable jewellery on a man is
the watch or signet ring. One fulfils a practical purpose in
an elegant fashion while the other signifies gentility and
class. “Mewellery” – stick with us – on the whole seems
to hark back to an ancient time when men had to flaunt
their wealth by gilding their body with it. It is the most
nakedly conspicuous form of conspicuous consumption.
So earrings are a mistake. But, for the right man, we
believe it could be the best mistake you’ll ever make.
Mistakes are often the difference between a merely
well-dressed man and one who can be considered a style
icon (see Gianni Agnelli and countless other purveyors
of Italian sprezzatura). Mistakes maketh the man. Or, at
the very least, means he won’t be forgotten in a hurry.
And in a world where almost anyone with money and
a Wi-Fi connection can buy oven-ready “good taste”
straight off the internet, earrings could be just the thing
for those who want to stand out. Sometimes in fashion, a
little bit of silly, can go a long way. It shows confidence.
could be
the best
mistake
you’ll ever
make
Double cross: Billy Idol rocks 3. Earring by
SIMON CARTER, £30.
a piercing and so can you
At Asos. asos.com
Speaking of piratical rakishness, O’Brien could well have been thinking of Keith
Richards of The Rolling Stones, or perhaps Lenny Kravitz, or Johnny Thunders of The
Heartbreakers, all of whom have made rocking earrings into personal style statements.
Richards often wears either a simple ring or one made from a wolf’s tooth, which he’ll
accessorise with that infamous silver skull ring and a wrist festooned with bracelets.
As a general rule, avoid stones, precious or otherwise, and opt for simple rings in
metals with a matt finish. Kravitz also goes in for this low-key approach by wearing
moderately sized gold earrings. Inspiration also be found in actor Tom Sturridge, too.
He’s able to carry off a dangly hoop’n’ear ornament with some serious aplomb.
Meanwhile, pointed wolf teeth, hoops with little skulls, feathers and other motifs
are for the most daring only. But then an outfit without risk is a uniform. After all,
Kiefer Sutherland made a whole generation of women swoon in The Lost Boys with
his ear plumage. On a similar rock-goth tip, Billy Idol gets away with the most daring
“mewellery” – last time, we promise – manoeuvre of all: the classic silver crucifix. Time
to test out your rebel yell and let your ears do the talking.

86 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017

 G New House Rules

By Jonathan Heaf
Where do fashion
editors

wash
I know an editor of a certain
mens’ title – not this one – who
has a way of dealing with the
build-up of dirty laundry at his
home. He simply waits. Then,
on confirming his attendance
in LA for some juicing
conference or other, proceeds
to pack the entire contents of

their
his linen basket into a separate
suitcase. He flies. He checks in.
He calls down to the concierge
to ask them to collect his case
of smelly smalls.
Twenty-four hours later he
has a suitcase full of clean
clothes to take home, while
the hotel bill is handled by his

smalls?
clueless publisher. Taking into
consideration the cost of the
flight, plus the five-star hotel’s
extortionate laundry fees (as
of June the Sunset Tower in
Hollywood charges $30 for a
pair of socks), that has to be
the most expensive express
this side of Qatar.
In an effort to avoid being
So what to do? Well,
rinsed by hotels, journalists
according to the New York
are going local when it comes
Times, fashion editors are
to their personals...
getting wise. As the biannual
four-week long fashion week
seasons takes them to London,
Paris, Milan and New York, in
an effort to save money – or
at least keep what is left of
their diminishing budgets for
the cocktail float – they are
proposing a little pragmatism.
Who knew, right? Rather than
putting their Commes Des
Garçons coats, Thom Browne
Photographs Advertising Archives; Mark Kean; Albert Sanchez

shorts and Palace T-shirts

through the expensive hotel
system, those wise enough are
sneaking out to the local
laundromats and getting their
briefs cleaned between shows.
Nick Sullivan, fa shion
director at American Esquire,
confessed that while staying
at the Ritz in Paris, he took his
dirty bag of secrets to the
Laverie Automatique. Another
does the same in Milan.
Fashion editors being
Briefs encounters:
conscious of budgets? Photographer Mark Kean pays
Whatever next, journalists homage to Levi’s 1985 laundry
with a two-drink limit? advert with Nick Kamen (left)

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 87

G New House Rules

How to dress like... Talese, a pioneer of New

Journalism, once said of
his bespoke suits, “I’m

a wr ter
dressing up for the story.”
Thoughtful style com-
mentary is a speciality
of literary giants. Indeed,
there is a tradition of it in
the US. Wolfe’s essay on
the semiotics of bespoke
buttonholes, “The Secret
Vice”, and Talese’s piece
about his tailor father,
“The Scion, The Stitch And
The Wardrobe”, are clas-
sics within their respective
canons. In both you will
find great wit and joy in

Tom Wolfe
the art of dressing well –
T H E WAY T H E Y W E A R
lovingly and eloquently
conveyed. You’ll also find
deep truths, not just of
Style and substance clothes, but of men and big cashmere cardigans.
have much in their place in the world. They also love bespoke
common, as these Yet somehow it’s consid- details and care deeply
men of letters and ered beneath “thinking” about craftsmanship. A
AA Gill

silk-lined suits prove men to care about style,
much less write about it.
By Alfie Tong
“In literary and academic
circles it’s possible to be
new suit is often a reward
after they’ve finished
a book. I think getting
dressed properly helps to

Karl Ove Knausgaard

Pompous! Reactionary! But stylish? Why, yes. ‘too well dressed by half’”, get them into the discipline
Contrary to the dishevelled scruff of popular says York. “People tell me of writing, often at home.”
imagination, sharp dressing very much goes hand- I look ‘dapper’ and it’s For many writers, words
in-pen with sharp writing. intended as a put-down. It’s are the clothes they dress
AA Gill, who died last year, is a prime example. Peter a particularly English trait.” their thoughts in. The act
York, himself a writer and a good friend of Gill, recalls, More fool them. “All the of coining an interesting

Magnum Photos; Getty Images; Writer Pictures

“Nick Foulkes told me that there was a man who had writers I’ve known have phrase is similar to putting
his Doug Hayward jackets lined in Hermès silk scarves. loved clothes,” says Audie an outfit together. Both

Photographs Camera Press; Elliot Erwitt/

I had to meet him. Adrian’s clothes were works of art.” Charles, creative director are a means of responding
To Gill, we can add Tom Wolfe, Bret Easton Ellis, Jay of Anderson & Sheppard, to the world, juxtaposing
McInerney, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Hunter S Thompson, tailor to journalists and different elements and
Gay Talese, F Scott Fitzgerald and many more. Whether writers including Gill and playing with clichés.
it’s designer labels in American Psycho, Huntsman suits in McInerney, as well as GQ’s After all, it was literary
The Bonfire Of The Vanities or shirts in The Great Gatsby, Michael Wolff and Vanity idol Oscar Wilde who once
clothes provide plot twists and reveal character and status. Fair’s editor-in-chief, wrote, “It is only shallow Gay Talese
And they do so not only in the novels of these writers, Graydon Carter. people who do not judge
but also in their real lives. Wolfe in particular, with his “They all seem to love by appearances.” A toast
white suits and high, tab-collared shirts, dresses as corduroy and soft, com- to writers, then, and their
distinctively as his florid and ornate prose would suggest. fortable clothes, such as decadent vanity.

‘You pretentious lush!’ Writer’s block? Five ways to dress your way out of a literary slump

1. Cigarette holder 2. Eye patch 3. Shotgun 4. Deck shoes 5. Pink pashmina

OK, so anyone who is
anyone is going to know
you’re biting Hunter S
Thompson’s infamous style
here, but who cares? There
are far worse writers to
emulate. Take Irvine Welsh,
for example, who dresses
perpetually like
an undercover
cop from the
Nineties.
(A bad thing.)
It was James
Joyce who rocked
an eye patch, not
because he was
after a sartorial tic, but due
to his failing eyesight. Still,
what a look, right? Combine
with an ivory smoking
jacket, baby-blue shirt and
a bruising scowl – a look that
is part dandyish scholar, part
wordy pirate. No editor will
mess with your copy again.
I mean, not a real one.
But the worst thing about
being a writer is when
your audience don’t take
you seriously. Beat junkie
genius William S Burroughs
thought it best to pack some
steel. Pair with a fine
piece of tailoring
and watch the
good reviews and
fan girls come
tumbling in.
Writers, memorable
ones anyway, are
meant to be rebels.
That means next
time you attend any event
that requires strict black
tie, style up a traditional
tux with some shoes
most people would wear
only on the beach. Never
explain. Never apologise.
If somebody mentions them,
start shouting loudly.
Is there anything quite
so foppish as an oversized
scarf? Imagine, it’s your
book launch, you’re on
the smoking terrace, you’re
wearing a Kilgour blue suit
with a white Dior shirt
and draped around
your shoulders is
a hot pink slice of
material. Female
fans will melt into
your absurd deviancy.

88 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017

#YOURMOVE
swatch.com
 G New House Rules
Miuccia Prada used

Corduroy!
brown corduroy to great
effect for her Autumn/
Winter collection, mod-
ernising the material with
leather detailing on the
pockets – Gigi Hadid and
Zayn Malik seemed to
approve for their recent
appearance in US Vogue.
This season, the grand-
master of modern Italian
(Not just for seedy supply teachers) preppiness, Br unello
Take note this autumn, the class favourite

Zayn Malik and Gigi Hadid in Prada

has never looked better
By Jonathan Heaf
flammable tracksuits or
jackets the colour of ageing
Tupperware, our history
prof swanned around like
Cucinelli, has also taken
corduroy and refined the
material into something
that looks and feels more
like modern luxury – a
vibe the designer describes
as “casual sartorial”.
“Informal chic is a pre-
dominant trend in male

Fantastic Mr Fox
Robert Redford in All fashion at the moment, so
The President’s Men, with our collection focuses on
authority and a temper. casual sartorial,” Cucinelli
This autumn, corduroy is tells GQ. “Your look always
back in favour with many has to start with a jacket
designers. When treated fit that highlights the
with a disciplined cut physique. Corduroy is
I used to have a history he used to wear all year – think Wes Anderson’s perfect for this autumn
teacher called Mr Brighton. round. It wasn’t a carpet- suits or the replicas made – a sports-luxe fabric par
He was part-time, from what thick, chain-mail-heavy, for his Fantastic Mr Fox excellence. Its lightness is
I remember, and had a habit s a g g y- i n - t h e - c r o t c h – it’s a material that can fantastic for movement
of mumbling. He also used suit. Nor a fusty number give superb narrow shape, and it’s always important to
Photographs Advertising Archives; Getty Images;

to fly into terrible rages, where the raised “wale”, while also being blissful take pleasure in the touch
not least when hapless day- or ridges, had been worn to wear through a chilly and feel of the fabric.”
dreaming students got crucial down at the contact points working day in September. If chestnut or chocolate
historical dates wrong. He (elbows, backside). hues feel too retro for your
once turned over an entire No, this suit appeared suiting needs, there’s good
desk – textbooks, pens and almost bespoke. Fitted, news: the new corduroy is
Jacket by BRUNELLO
Inez & Vinoodh; XPosure

a half-eaten Mars bar went skyward – when a classmate sharp and with hemlines about trousers in lavender,
CUCINELLI, £1,960.
failed to remember when precisely the Archduke Franz that neither puddled at the brunellocucinelli.com fine pin-chord blazers in
Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated. Harsh? Well, hardly ankles nor were frayed. blushing pinks and even
compared to what Mr Deaton the rugby coach used to do He was the most stylish suiting in a washed teal –
to us. (And I never forgot 28 June 1914 again.) man in school because perfect for history teachers
For all his failings in academia, what Mr Brighton did of it and while every who want to look like any-
have was a beautiful, chestnut-coloured corduroy suit that other male teacher wore thing but history teachers.

The unstructured, heritage, cross-body man-attaché**

*OK, it’s a bumbag. So, the bumbag/fanny pack/urban pouch comeback is happening. Again.
With the recent surge of Nineties nostalgia – including collections from Gucci, Balenciaga and
Valentino as well as Louis Vuitton’s AW17 campaign – it seems this polarising tourist trend will
be around for some time yet. The hands-free approach has been sported by some of the world’s
coolest figures, from Jared Leto and Matthew McConaughey to A$AP Rocky and Skepta.
Why? Well, practicality for one. The former fashion faux pas is a welcome antidote to all those
oversized backpacks. For men who object to carrying phones and loose change in the pockets
of their skinny trousers, the bumbag offers a streamline silhouette. There are many ways to wear
the look – just so long as you can out-peacock some initial sniggers from the style Philistines.
A popular, no-frills approach, which has recently stormed the GQ offices, is wearing it to the
front, over your shoulder. Less bumbag then, more gun holster. Carlotta Constant

Clockwise from left: Hermès Autumn/Winter 2017; A$AP Rocky; Skepta; Jared Leto

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 91

G New House Rules
1

Harry Styles
Remember when David
Since when did 2 Beckham had the golden
balls to start rocking

BIKER KEYS
a chain’n’wallet combo?
Although some sallow-
faced hipsters groaned,
part of what Becks had
hit on made total style
sense – why not make
the keys to your road hog
part of your look? Even if
3
your “hog” happens to be

become a
a five-door Volvo estate?
Although the trend
originated from bikers
who needed to secure
their keys while out on
the road (and was soon
appropriated by skaters/
emo kids), one should
heed the mistakes of
such style mavericks.

thing?
Anything too long and
dangly – too chainy –
looks like something
Fred Durst would have
worn in the nu-metal era;
anything with too many
keys or trinkets attached
will make you look either
like a peacocking jailer
or a five-year-old’s school
4
backpack. For best results
follow Pharrell: choose
5 a single, well-suited key
Could a mass of metal be the missing hook (his is a yellow,
link in your look? Unlock your potential diamond-dusted climbing
– think Pharrell Williams rather than hook, natch) and attach
Fred Durst – with our gilt-edged guide to your right-hand belt
loop. Clip in and try to
Photographs Josh Caudwell; Getty Images; Rex; Xposure

act natural.
Pharrell Williams

1. Jacket, £1,670.
Belt, £390. Both by
Styling Jake Pummintr Assistant Simon King

By Jonathan Heaf
BRUNELLO CUCINELLI.
brunellocucinelli.com
2. Trousers by THE KOOPLES,
Brooklyn Beckham

£195. thekooples.co.uk
3. Loop keyring by
ASPINAL OF LONDON,
£30. aspinaloflondon.com
4. Arrow keyring by
LANVIN, £245. lanvin.com
5. Snake keyring, £205. Tiger
keyring, £205. Both by GUCCI.
At matchesfashion.com
 G New House Rules
Brunchtime rush:
Dine before 1pm for a far The It-brush
finer service experience
A crowdsourced wall of almost
1,000 items of 20th- and 21st-
century consumer products at
the new Design Museum features
the usual blah blah – Apple,
Rimowa etc – and exactly one
tool you can trust: a toothbrush.
It’s by Curaprox, it’s from
Switzerland and its multi-hued
(not tutti-frutti) colours can
be accounted for by the fact
it launched in 1972, the creative
zenith of “learning is fun!” Buy
one and don’t forget to floss. BP

If you have to stop for sustenance, why not do it in style? Choose an early sitting
for extra breathing space, snappier service and much more select company

A few years ago, Piers Morgan invited

The me to lunch. He requested we meet at
business a now-defunct Italian, Carpaccio, just off
Fulham Road in London, and suggested a dining
case for... time of midday. Noon? “Who on earth eats lunch
at noon?” I thought as I traipsed westward on that

eating
balmy summer’s day. Well, apart from Piers and
myself, it turned out Charlie flippin’ Watts, that’s
who – the man, lest we forget, who half a lifetime
ago, described drumming in The Rolling Stones as
“five years work and 20 years of waiting around”.
Except he wasn’t – waiting around that is. He
was halfway through his minestrone as I arrived
(courteously early) and was gone soon after in a

lunch
raffish blur of full bespoke and rolled-up Evening
Standard. Now, sitting down at 11.30am might
seem a little extreme (and possibly the province of
someone who wishes to evade detection by fans),
but noon seems a good time to get on with the one
necessary interruption in an otherwise productive
working day. Go early, my friend, and the dining
room will be yours, the staff attentive and the

early
servings swift. Arrive at the all-comers convening
hour of 1pm and you’ll take your turn checking in
with the maître d’, jockey for your table and wait at
least 15 minutes for the water sommelier to notice
your dry-mouthed cries for help. Arrive at noon,
and you’ll also be leaving just as the real shower
arrives, the culinary tyre-kickers and self-styled
bon viveurs intent on extending their “working
By Bill Prince
lunches” into the early evening. Brrrr.
OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 93
 G New House Rules
Cryptocurrency is for losers,
right?
*(Yeah. Soon to be filthy rich losers)
Get this: anyone who
invested £300 in Bitcoin six
years ago will now be sitting
on a cool £13.8 million. If
you did exactly that and are
currently reading this over
a glass of Armand De
Brignac aboard your 100ft
superyacht, then bully for
you. If, however, you don’t
understand what Bitcoin is,
let alone know how to get
hold of any, it’s time to gen
up. There could well be
more money to be made and
chances are that someone
you know has already
bought in. Got fomo?
Here’s a quick-start guide...
$2,500
$2,000
$1,500
$1,000
$500
$0
2009 2010
A brief history
of Bitcoin
Since the creation of
the first Bitcoin in 2009, June 2011
the cryptocurrency has WIkiLeaks begins
had a roller-coaster ride. to accept Bitcoin
Herewith, a timeline... for donations
94 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017
*
What exactly is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is a digital currency
whose every coin and transaction
is tracked on a huge database
called the blockchain. Rather
than existing in one place, this
database is held by all Bitcoin
users. Like any currency, it
has a value in terms of others
– dollars or pounds – and, as
people have become interested in
its potential, Bitcoin’s value has
soared. It has been the best-
performing currency globally
every year since 2010 (apart from
2014 when it was, err, the worst).
Price of gold (per oz)
2011 2012 2013
June 2012
Bitcoin exchange
Coinbase opens
February 2012
Bitcoin Magazine
launches
September 2012
Bitcoin
Foundation
starts ups
How do I buy some?
Good news: you don’t have to
buy a whole Bitcoin – at the
time of writing, that would cost
you £1,900. Instead, you can
snap up as tiny a fraction of
one as you please. The most
user-friendly method is to
download a free mobile app
called Coinbase. You can transfer
local currency to your Coinbase
“wallet” via a credit or debit
card and buy or sell Bitcoin at
the click of a button for a small
fee. Coinbase also lets you
invest in two rising-star “alt
coins”: Ethereum and Litecoin.
Alt coins?
These are cryptocurrencies other
than Bitcoin and there are
hundreds of them. Some have
been set up as a joke, such as
Dogecoin (because: geeky
internet memes), but others –
including Monero, Ripple and
Dash – have the potential to
go far. Ethereum, which recently
won backing from Microsoft and
JP Morgan Chase, is up 900 per
cent this year.
= 1oz
March 2017
For the first time, one
Bitcoin is worth more
than an ounce 
of gold
2014 2015
January 2015
Coinbase raises
December 2014
$75M
Microsoft
begins accepting
Bitcoin for games
and apps
in venture
capital funding
What are the risks?
Buying cryptocurrency is a
crapshoot. It’s highly volatile:
the last time the US stock
market fell by more than 10 per
cent in a day was back in 1957;
Bitcoin has seen more than 10
per cent wiped off its value 38
times since January 2012. A
cryptocurrency could also be
obliterated overnight. Should
major governments regulate
hard against it or hackers
manage to break its security,
that’s your money up in smoke.
What’s more, criminals have
been stealing from online
wallets (though that is
avoidable: keep your
cryptocurrency offline if you
own a significant amount).
How much could I make?
Depends on who you listen to.
The doom mongers say that
we’re in a cryptocurrency bubble
that’s about to burst (indeed, the
market has taken a downturn
Photographs Alamy; Getty Images Disclaimer: This article should not be taken as, and is not intended to provide, investment advice.
recently), while others believe
a single Bitcoin could be worth
Please conduct your own thorough research before investing in any cryptocurrency. All information correct at time of writing.
$500,000 by 2030. A handful of
GQ staffers have already made
a small profit (count that as our
full disclosure). If you end up
hitting pay dirt, make ours
a double. Charlie Burton
Price of Bitcoin
2016 2017
August 2016
120,000 Bitcoins
stolen by hackers
from the Bitfinex
exchange
November 2016 April 2017
Swiss rail Japan makes
operator SBB Bitcoin a
upgrades ticket legal currency
machines to
sell Bitcoin
Online store www.richard-james.com Shop +44 (0)207 434 0605 Bespoke +44 (0)207 287 9645
G New House Rules

THE‘GREED IS GOOD’ SHOE

Lapo Elkann
Stepping out in a
Belgian slipper is no
longer the preserve By Alfie Tong
of fading playboys.
Now even the edgiest
style set are giving
this classic shoe a
run for its money
The Belgian slipper, with
its ridiculous little bow on
the front, is a rather silly
and effete-looking shoe.
And that’s a good thing.
No, really. We mean that
in the best possible way.
It could be argued that Bernie
after qualities like
“superlative comfort”, Madoff

“elegant silhouette” and
“superior craftsmanship”,
the reassuring whiff of
ironic playboy flash is
the difference between
a perfectly nice shoe and
an icon.
The Belgian slipper falls
into the icon category (see
also the Gucci loafer and
the Tod’s driving shoe).
This is the anti-Corbyn,
master-of-the-universe,
greed-is-good shoe. Bernie
Madoff, the notorious
Ponzi scheme rip-off
merchant, was said to have
owned 300 pairs of these
bad boys. And like the
Mario Testino
was said
to have
owned “fashionable”, finding
favour not only with
300 Upper East Side wasps
(its traditional base)
pairs but also downtown
designers who wear them
on their skateboards.
In London, start-up
shoe company Baudoin
& Lange is hoping to
create a Belgian loafer
phenomenon in the UK,
Take a bow: Belgian Shoes while Neapolitan tailoring
has been making their slippers house Rubinacci also Photographs Getty Images; Matt Martin; Roger Stillman

Gucci loafer, it has recently,
and quietly, become
Slippers by BELGIAN SHOES, from £335. belgianshoes.com
for more than 300 years makes its own version,
or go to Belgian Shoes
for the original.
John Rushton, London
stockist of Baudoin &
Lange’s interpretation
(unlined for extra comfort),
says, “It’s a shoe that you
either love or hate, a bit
like the Gucci loafer.
Those that love it have
style and those that do
not, don’t!” Dress for the
bank balance you want,
not the one you have.

96 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017

 Your Exclusive G
British GQ. Winner of 66 major awards – The world's leading men's magazine

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 G New House Rules UP

Mega yacht bingo! MedMen

Weed shop in Los Angeles;
Nothing says Indian summer like spotting a billionaire’s plaything smarter than an Apple store.

Mains
Skepta’s new range of wavy
garms launched earlier this year.
Boy better know…

SAILING
Noel Gallagher’s Roxy Music
RISING SUN GUILTY VENUS LAP 1 Next LP sounding very
YACHT A
Bryan Ferry, apparently.

Rowans Bowling,
Music Russian
Greek
Laurene Finsbury Park
magnate oligarch Powell Jobs Fiat heir Fashion’s latest venue for
OWNER David Andrey
billionaire
(wife of the Lapo Elkann
Dakis Joannou an ironic night out.
Geffen Melnichenko late Steve)

John Ray designing

Length: Digital camo
for Thomas Pink
SPEC OF Length: 35
Cost: $590 142.81 Length: designed by A seriously stylish appointment.
metres of
FLOATING million. Staff of metres.
kaleidoscopic 78.2 metres. Garage Italia We await greatness.
PENIS 55 and room for Designed by Cost: €100m Customs
paint job by
EXTENSION 18 guests Philippe
Jeff Koons George Osborne’s Evening
Starck
Standard front pages
At least someone is having fun.
Underwater Anish Kapoor Seven Mac
Onboard
BOYS’ basketball
observation artworks in a screens to It’s fully Juicero
TOYS pod with 30cm- gallery-white control the customised
court
thick glass open space bridge
The new Nutribullet.

Photographs Action Press/Rex/Shutterstock; Alamy; Getty Images; P Anastasselis/Rex/Shutterstock; Rex; Xposurephotos.com

BAROMETER
Bruce His wife, Maurizio Diesel boss
Harrison
DECK Springsteen, Aleksandra’s Cattelan,
Ford,
Renzo Rosso,
HANDS Leo DiCaprio, Maltese Sonic Youth’s Gianluca
will.i.am
Tom Hanks dog, Vala Kim Gordon Vacchi

Jack
Another
Warner’s A $750 billion
MY OTHER former estate
boat, An art
technology
A Fiat 500, also
BOAT IS... in Beverly
Motor foundation
company
customised Shirt suspenders
Yacht A You deserve to never
Hills
have sex again.

Clunky thick-soled
fashion trainers
T H R E E WAYS TO W E A R : A W H I T E T U X E D O M A ST E R T H E M O N O C H R O M E L I K E
Cool or just high-vis stroke shoes?
M c CO N AU G H E Y W I T H O U R T R I O O F D I N N E R JAC K E T R U L E S A N D R E G U L AT I O N S

Amazon’s Dash Buttons

THE DOUBLE THE TRENT Support your corner shops
THE TRAD
instead, you lazy sod.
The white tuxedo is having a There’s something wickedly Can’t abide the bells and whistles
comeback. Another one. Sure, rakish about wearing a double- that go with the usual dinner- Black knee socks
all British GQ’s Men Of The breasted tux; switch up the party accoutrement – the cuff with sandals
Year honourees are wearing colour from black to ivory links, the cummerbunds, Edgy style so wrong it’s… wrong.
them throughout this issue, and you’re going to be the other guests? Well, here’s
but there’s something else. the life and soul at any a thought: what would
Maybe it’s a way of ensuring awards do. Sure, it’s Trent (Vince Vaughn) Velocity Black
A lifestyle concierge app
a continued abstinence September now, but from Swingers wear to
from red wine, maybe here’s the secret a big occasion? Like, say, powered by “influencers”? Did we
it’s because you keep about white tuxes: the reopening of a Vegas learn nothing from Fyre Festival?
looking at clips of the naffest time to casino? That’s right, a white
Matthew McConaughey wear them is a) in suit. Think Mick Jagger DJ Khaled’s son’s
collecting his Oscar summer or b) at wearing Edward Sexton trainer collection
in 2014 and thinking someone else’s at his wedding or More crepes than Nike.
“spirit animal”, or wedding. Make it Morgan Freeman in (He’s one.)
maybe you’ve simply as skinny as you Bruce Almighty. For
had enough of being told possibly can, throw sleaziest results wear Burner phones
you look like a waiter. a printed scarf into with an unbuttoned black You’re not a spy. You’re
Whatever it is, go white the mix and make your shirt with Cuban collar,
a Hollywood actor.
or go get me a Berry Bros way to the vodka luge a thin gold chain and
No3 and tonic. with confidence. gradient Aviators. G
DOWN
Illustrations by Bill Hope
98 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017
 HOW WE LIVE

OUR STUFF
This month: Robin Key, Photographic Director
A peek inside the life luggage of GQ’s plugged-in staff

PORTRAIT BY Benjamin McMahon

Stimulation Gear
Bar: Ned’s Club at App: VSCO
The Ned, London (left) Pen: Ystudio
To drink: Kurimi at Phone: iPhone 7 Plus
Ruby’s Bar & Lounge, London Watch: Larsson &
To eat: Kodbyens Fiskebar, Copenhagen Jennings (pictured)
Spirit: Fortaleza Añejo Tequila (below) Camera: M10 by Leica (below)
Hotel: The New York Edition Bike: L’Eroica by Bianchi (above)
Shop: VooStore, Berlin (below) Audio: SuperConnect by Revo
Holiday: Puglia, Italy (above) Headphones: B&O Play (below)
Brunch: Rochelle Canteen, Coffee: Theo French press
London (pictured) by Stelton (above)
Gym: Third Space,
London

Style
and grooming
Jacket: Ami (pictured)
Denim: APC (pictured)
Trainers: Reebok (below)
Go-to T-shirt: Margaret Howell
Emma Williams With thanks to Rochelle Canteen

Skincare: Parsley Seed Anti-Oxidant Culture

Photograph Getty Images/iStock Grooming

Facial Hydrating Cream by Aesop Music: Big Thief; Thundercat;

Candle: Oil by Tom Dixon (above) Waxahatchee; Nils Frahm;
Luggage: Globe-Trotter (above) Beach House (above)
Bag: Want Les Essentiels On the bookshelf: The Noise Of Time
Sunglasses: Ami (below) by Julian Barnes; Middlesex by Jeffrey
Fragrance: Bergamote 22 Eugenides; The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch
by Le Labo (below) Photo books: Basic Forms Of Industrial
Buildings by Bernd & Hilla Becher; Tulsa by Larry
Clark; Neighbors/Nachbarn by Collier Schorr
Binge watch: House Of Cards (left);
Stranger Things; Big Little Lies
Exhibition: No Joke by Roger Ballen
and Asger Carlsen
Museum: Foam, Amsterdam
(above) G

100 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017

ORIGINAL SINCE ’55
#BeAnOriginal | originalpenguin.co.uk
 Boost a bathroom’s clean white backdrop with a
spray of plants and splashes of bold, bright colour

EDITED BY
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PHOTOGRAPH BY
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1 Mirrors by Caravane, from £37 each.
caravane.fr
2 Basin by Ex-t, £1,080. ex-t.com. Shaving
brush, £30. Razor, £35. Both by Wild & Wolf.
wildandwolf.com. Tap by Ritmonio, from
£322. ritmonio.it
3 Planters by Thelermont Hupton, from
£10 each. thelermonthupton.com. Plants
by Phillo, from £6 each. philloflowers.com
4 Bath, £2,825. Taps, £1,570. Bath rack, £300.
All by Victoria + Albert. vandabaths.com.
11 Speaker by B&O Play, £299. beoplay.com.
Soap by Wild & Wolf, £10. wildandwolf.com
5 Prints by Lane, from £45 each.
lanebypost.com
6 Radiator by Bisque, from £408.
bisque.co.uk
7 Flooring by Element 7, £280 a sq m.
element7.co.uk
8 Bin by Soak & Sleep, £28. soakandsleep.com
9 Planter by Urban Outfitters, £15.
urbanoutfitters.com
10 Towel by Jonathan Adler, £98.
uk.jonathanadler.com
11 Stool by Made, £69. made.com G
OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 103
;OL9HUNL9V]LYLUOHUJLKI`6]LYÄUJO

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 E D I T E D BY MATTHEW JONES

STORY BY Jason Barlow PHOTOGRAPHS BY Dominic Fraser

Two-and-a-half million pounds buys the fastest vehicle on the road –

so why are Britain’s slowest streets its favourite haunt? To find out, GQ took
the Bugatti Chiron on a head-turning tour of London’s W1

The Chiron moves so

quickly that strange
sensations occur in the
pit of your stomach
108 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017
 Pride and joy: The tourists of
London’s Carnaby Street swap shops
for snaps of the new Bugatti Chiron

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 109


I
n the pioneering days of motor-
ing, cars were such an infer-
nal nuisance that legislators
demanded a man walked ahead
while waving a red flag. Such
were the perils of an automobile that
could do 10mph.
More than a century later, we’re ser-
enaded by the modern equivalent: the
YouTuber brandishing a smartphone.
Central London being one of the key
global destinations for hypercars, the
latest, the Bugatti Chiron has been a
mobile electromagnet for the past hour
in Carnaby Street. It’s a car of such vast
shock value and presence that tourists
have literally been falling over them-
selves to get a closer look. You can’t
blame them: chances are, they’ll never
see another one in their lifetimes.
110 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017
Now, as we ease the Chiron, all
£2.5 million and 1,479bhp of it, into
the gloopy, mid-morning traffic, plot-
ting a course across Mayfair to The
Dorchester hotel, we’re followed
the whole way by that peculiar breed
of auto paparazzi that have staked out
one corner of the internet. The Chiron’s
top speed might be 261mph – the limit
of the tyres’ capability, not the car itself
– but right now it’s doing one of the
other things it’s very good at: going
as slowly as is dramatically possible.
In an Instagram world, this is manna
from heaven.
But it might also make the Chiron
the world’s most singularly pointless
vehicle. Most cars are actually over-
engineered and even the humblest
airport rental has depths none of its
Blue steel: The Chiron passes
the valets’ test, having been
parked outside The Dorchester
users will ever locate. So ponder the
lengths to which Bugatti has gone to
make a car with 1,479bhp work in
every market around the world that
its parent company, Volkswagen, sells
cars in, and one that delivers the endur-
ance of a Golf in an Arctic blizzard or a
desert in Dubai (more likely the latter).
The Veyron, the Chiron’s remarkable
The predecessor, was described as the auto-
Chiron’s motive world’s “Concorde moment” by
James May on an episode of Top Gear,
engine but for various reasons – some emotion-
does al, others fiscally pragmatic – mankind
unholy stepped away from that supersonic
achievement. Bugatti, though, has come
things back for more.
to fuel So what is it like? You get asked
that a lot when people find out you’ve
and air driven a Chiron and the answer is simple

yet also surprisingly complicated.
It’s monumentally fast, of course, but
so much more besides. The day before
we rocked London, GQ had six hours
in the countryside to acclimatise, in
the company of Bugatti test driver
Andy Wallace. Now retired, Wallace
was a phenomenally accomplished
racing driver, a winner at Le Mans in
the famous Silk Cut Jaguar XJR-9LM
in 1988, who set a world record for
the fastest production car a decade
later in the McLaren F1 (240.14mph).
Now he does customer handovers for
Bugatti, a whole new hair-raising career
dimension, for which his gentle but
wry demeanour is well suited. “It’s a
pity we’re not on a runway today,” he
tells me. “The Chiron really comes alive
above 150mph.”
This is a car that needs a runway.
It only gets into its stride when most
other cars are done. Even so, anything
that can accelerate to 62mph in 2.5
seconds, 124mph in 6.5 and 186mph in
under 13.6 seconds is perfectly capable
of rearranging vital internal organs on
a normal road. That’s a standard part
of the road tester’s lexicon, but the
Chiron moves so quickly that strange
Window shopping: The Chiron
captures attention on London’s
Brompton Road
sensations genuinely do occur in the
pit of your stomach. It’s mostly pleas-
ant, although the rapidity with which
traffic up ahead arrives in the wind-
screen is terrifying to begin with.
The experience is dominated by its
engine. In the Chiron, you’re always
aware that something vast and other-
worldly is doing unholy things to fuel
and air right behind your head. It’s
eight litres in capacity and features 16
cylinders and four turbochargers, like
the Veyron, but uses so many new com-
ponents that it becomes more than just
an evolution. The turbos, for example,
are now much bigger and to avoid the
chronic lag that would normally result,
exhaust gases are fed through two of
them below 3,800rpm, after which
the other two join the party. There’s
a new, beefier crankshaft, but it’s no
heavier than before and the conrods
are also stronger but weigh the same.
No fewer than eleven radiators help
cool the beast.
The car’s structure is more remark-
able still: its chassis is made of carbon
fibre with a layer of aluminium honey-
comb in its core and the body panels
are all carbon, too. Engineers talk in
CARS
terms of torsional rigidity and Wallace
tells me the Chiron is as stiff as a Le
Mans Prototype One World Endurance
racing car. This probably explains at
least some of those strange sensations
(and also accounts for, oh, about £1m
of the £2.5m cost of the car).
It would be a shame if the Chiron’s
oily bits and colossal numbers over-
whelmed its status as a design object.
The project was overseen by the talented
Achim Anscheidt, who has somehow
reconciled aesthetics with the extreme
aerodynamics that govern a car like this.
The big C on the Chiron’s body side is
clever and the spine line directly refer-
ences the Thirties Type 57 Atlantic (if
you’re going to pay homage to some-
thing, it might as well be this – just ask
Ralph Lauren). The interior is the work
of a young Frenchman called Etienne
Salomé, who maxed out on the material
quality while ensuring the Chiron’s cabin
is future-proofed. So forget about central
touch screens and apps that will order
next Tuesday’s lunch and revel instead
in milled aluminium indicator stalks and
a level of detail so obsessive the audio
volume controls on the steering wheel are
specially coated and the button for the
interior light trimmed in leather. “I even
inquired about removing the airbag logo
on the steering wheel,” Salomé tells me.
His efforts reward you even as you
crawl through London’s streets. The
quality is immense, the experience all-
consuming. A car this powerful shouldn’t
be so absurdly docile, as it shows lesser
pretenders in Knightsbridge how it’s
done. Sure, you don’t want to kiss any
kerbs (the wheels and tyres are very,
very valuable) and God help you if you
chance upon any of the capital’s noto-
rious width restrictors. (I once loaned
Boris Johnson a brand new Aston Martin
and he nerfed all four wheels in one go.)
But the seven-speed, dual-clutch trans-
mission is as smooth at walking speed
as it is at 200mph, despite having to
harness the same amount of torque as
an 18-wheeler. Or a jumbo jet. It is, in
every sense, astonishing.
The Chiron also goes round corners
more smoothly and satisfyingly than
the Veyron ever did and sheds its vast
speed with the same savage implaca-
bility with which it accelerates. Does
any of this really matter to the 500
people who’ll actually end up owning
a Chiron? Probably not. They’ll be too
busy enjoying the ultimate statement
car, one that does its best work, para-
doxically, at precisely 0mph.
OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 111
 CARS

Mercedes’
spa day
on wheels
The new amped-up
AMG S-Class is a
603bhp back rub
STORY BY Matthew Jones
his is the new Mercedes-

T 
AMG S63 S-Class – a car
that doesn’t just tell you that
you’ve “arrived”, but tells
you that you’ve arrived at
the GQ Men Of The Year Awards (we
only supply our winners with the very
best transportation). And like every
model in the history of the S-Class, it’s
as much a glimpse into the future of
the automotive industry as it is a car.
Even though this is “just” a midlife
refresh, there are still a lot of new
developments as Mercedes pushes
towards its goal of making fully auton-
omous vehicles in just three years. The
new S-Class now uses even more navi-
gation and road data to do the driving
for you, so it can slow down for round-
abouts and tight corners, keep you
within the speed limit and make sure
you never crash along a potholed road
too quickly again.
Yet for a car that can do so much of
the driving itself, it gives you plenty of
reasons to take the wheel. The engine
Class in session:
The S63 – now with
built-in hot-stone massage
might have dropped down in capacity
from 5.5-litres to 4.0, but power’s up
by an impressive 27hp, so you can hit
62mph in a mind-bending 3.5 seconds,
helped in no small part by a new nine-
speed transmission and fully variable
4Matic+ all-wheel-drive system.
Then there’s the spa. The AMG has
been fitted with “energising comfort
control”, which gathers the car’s climate
control, massage, fragrancing and enter-
tainment functions and focuses them
on a selection of moods. Choose from
options such as “joy” or “vitality” and
It’s as it sets the lighting to a befitting colour,
much a pumps out a specially designed fra-
grance, gives you a suitable rubdown
glimpse (with optional hot stones – yes, really)
into the and plays music intended to enhance
future as your mood. All of which means that you
may arrive in the new S, but you might
it is a car not want to get out.

Tinie brings the stars out

Tinie Tempah is one of Britain’s most stylish sons and, through his boutique cultural
consultancy, Disturbing London, cofounded with chief collaborator Dumi Oburota,
he’s setting his sights on the car industry.
Tinie and his team have produced a pair of concepts to showcase their vision for
Photographs Dominic Fraser

a Disturbing London Smart car, which is based on the 89bhp Smart Fortwo tuned by
Brabus. The two models, a coupé and a convertible, are both finished in deep matt-black
and rose-gold paintwork and feature an arctic-grey interior designed in collaboration
with Oliver Spencer, an uprated media package and, that most useful of urban
automotive accessories, parking sensors.
The two cars, which inspire models now available to buy, are an expression of what
Oburota calls a new kind of luxury. “We wanted to bring [Smart] to an audience galvanised
by exclusivity, limited runs and a nomadic lifestyle. This is how new luxe is perceived. It is
G
muted; it is exclusive; it is complex but simple.” And it’s yours for £15,895. MJ

112 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017

The Ducato is the
flagship of the Fiat
Professional range,
which has been getting
better and better
throughout its 35 years

Chuck Norris
The legend returns GQ joins television’s most
famous Texas Ranger and Fiat
Professional’s next-gen vans
on the set of a new campaign

WE’RE on set in a kitchen in a metal-rod
factory on the outskirts of Ljubljana. In
shot, a cowboy is deftly slicing vegetables.
The camera cuts to a drop of water that is
threatening to fall from the kitchen tap.
Next, a close-up of the cowboy’s face. It’s
Chuck Norris. He scowls at the drop and it
slinks back up inside the tap. A slogan
appears: “Chuck Norris’ sink never leaks.”
According to meme mythology, Norris is
the man to whom “a lie detector machine
confessed its darkest secrets”, the man who
“built the hospital he was born in” and who
“gave Death a near-Chuck experience”.
Once a legend of action films and
television, Norris has now been
immortalised online. It’s this viral power
that persuaded Fiat Professional to bring
him onboard as the face of a new ad
campaign for its commercial vehicles – the
Ducato, Fullback, Telento, Fiorino and
Doblò Cargo – and GQ is here for an
exclusive peek behind the scenes of the
week’s filming near the Slovenian capital.
“The idea behind the campaign is that
you’re either Chuck Norris, who can
do everything effortlessly, or a real
professional – in which case you need a Fiat
Professional vehicle,” explains the
communication manager.
The creative minds behind the concept,
including the campaign’s hashtag
#BeChuckOrBePro, have just left a meeting
with Norris and are delighted by the
encounter. “When I told him I did kung fu,”
says one, “he got up and wanted to throw a
few punches with me.” This is the start of a
lasting partnership between Fiat
G Partnership
Like a real ranger, Chuck Norris
immediately appreciated the new
Fullback, the Fiat Professional 4X4
pickup truck able to take on any
challenge thanks to the 185cm
truck bed, the 4x4 electronic
selector and a 180 CV engine
Professional and the Way Of The Dragon
star, who embodies the brand’s values of
determination, reliability, dynamism, public
empathy and strength.
Later that week, Fiat Professional shoots
an action movie with its new ambassador.
The star this time is the Ducato, the only
van on which Norris can rely to get the
job done.
Behind the wheel of the Ducato, Norris is
chased by four world-renowned stuntmen
on motocross bikes, creating the kinds of
special effects more commonly seen on the
star’s iconic American series Walker, Texas
Ranger: wheelies, off-road racing and
breathtaking crashes. Norris’ wife, Gena
O’Kelly, who is also his hair and make-up
artist, watches from behind the cameras
and jokes, “It’s been almost eleven years
since the internet turned my husband into
a superhero. Now he’s starting to really
believe it.”
The Ducato is powered by Fiat’s Multijet
180bhp engine and offers more than 10,000
configurations. Its 2.1 ton payload and 17
cubic metre capacity is “best in class”. Fiat
Professional is an FCA brand, created to
engineer and produce commercial vehicles.
 W Transformer Pro by Asus
With a rear support that lets you
adjust the screen angle and a big-
buttoned keyboard that comes
complete with a mouse trackpad, the
Asus ventures far into laptop territory
and has the physical heft to match.
£1,099. asus.com

REVERT
TO TYPE
The latest iPad and its
competitors come equipped S Pixel C by Google
with smart covers and The Pixel has perhaps the most
satisfying keyboard attachment,
lightweight keyboards a sturdy magnetic flip-up flap,
– meaning your next tablet and as such is the best here for
actually typing on your lap. The
is also your next laptop ten-inch screen is ideal and it’s
the most affordable on test.
E D I T E D BY
From £479. store.google.com
CHARLIE BURTON
& STUART McGURK
P H OTO G R A P H BY
MITCH PAYNE

X iPad Pro by Apple

The new 10.5-incher
is a perfect travel
companion. It’s bursting
with features – an
absurdly bright and
responsive display, a
64-bit chip that makes
editing 4K video
effortless – and even
with the 4mm-thin
keyboard it remains
sling-it-in-your-bag
light. Bring on iOS 11.
From £619. apple.com

116 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017

 W Miix 510
by Lenovo
Like Microsoft’s Surface
Pro, the fold-out stand
feels awkward on your
lap and the battery life
was one of the worst
on test. The keyboard
is good, but does feel
cheap compared to the
others. The main thing
here is price – just £650,
including the keys. G
£650. lenovo.com

X Surface Pro
by Microsoft
The latest Surface from
Microsoft is by far the most
powerful option here – it’s
essentially a formidable
laptop disguised as a tablet.
The felt-like keyboard
feels great, but will divide
opinion, and at over 1kg
all-in, it’s heavier than
Apple’s MacBook. It’s also
not cheap. However, the
battery is outstanding.
From £929. microsoft.com

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 117

 WHAT I WEAR

MY
Rollneck
“The way tops from Cos are cut is great. I’m thin
and tall, so this one falls nicely on my body.”
£55. cosstores.com

STYLE
Business is blooming for
Wish list

Clutch
“I can’t wear a bag while
florist and entrepreneur carrying flowers, so it’d be nice
to have something like this.”
Ronny Colbie, who talks us By Prada, £870. prada.com
through his essential picks
PORTRAIT BY Florian Renner

Wish list
Sunglasses
“I only ever buy mirrored sunglasses.
I like the way the lenses on this pair
work with the rustic wood.”
By Finlay & Co, £120. finlayandco.com
Trousers
“The dark blue denim means I can
work on my flowers then go straight
to a meeting without smartening up.”
By Homecore, £125. homecore.com
Jewellery
“I always wear two necklaces
because I like the way they hang on
my chest and make a statement.”
From top: Necklace by Sam Ubhi,
£400. samubhi.com. Chain, £45.
Pendant, £150. Both by Monica Vinader.
At Liberty. libertylondon.com
Watch
“There’s always a time
limit on everything I do.
This Omega has got so
many functions on it that
I can keep track of it all.”
£3,120. omegawatches.com

Wish list

Jumper
“I’m obsessed with
Jeremy Scott at Moschino. Wish list
He’s probably one of our Watch
last brave designers.” “I like the idea of
£650. At farfetch.com having a functional
Story by Tom Dooner

watch that can be

dressed up. This
Shoes Cellini Moonphase by
“I used to love this style in Rolex does both and
the Nineties, so I found these, looks amazing.” G
which are super comfortable.” £19,650. At David M Robinson.
By Massimo Dutti, £65. massimodutti.com davidmrobinson.co.uk

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 119

 CE
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Launched back in 2002 – just as Louis Vuitton was starting out on its voyage of
m

horological self-discovery – the Tambour’s contemporary-classic “drum”-shaped case

offered a novel twist on an otherwise conventional container (rather like a Vuitton trunk, in
fact). Fast-forward to 2017 and the sides of the new 42.5mm Tambour Moon are crescent in shape
and now feature a patented quick-release mechanism that allows the wearer to swap out a range of
different straps (sold separately). Four pieces have so far been unveiled, including a GMT model with a choice
of matt-black or silvered dial in either stainless steel or steel and pink-gold, a chronograph in stainless steel and
a skeletonised flying tourbillon created in LV’s own manufacture, La Fabrique Du Temps. But for once, the pièce de
résistance is not a mechanical timepiece, but the maison’s first smartwatch, dubbed the Tambour Horizon, for its elegant
inclusion of numerous traveller-friendly features. Chief among them is the “My Flight” feature that alerts you to departure
times, gate numbers and terminals, and GPS-enhanced versions of its celebrated city guides. There are three case finishes to choose
from and the opportunity to “monogram” a selection of signature Louis Vuitton dials – after all, why wouldn’t you? BP G

120 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017

 Coniston, made on last 325, has been a mainstay for 20 years
6WLOOPDGHLQ1RUWKDPSWRQ(QJODQGXVLQJWKHÀQHVW6FRWFK*UDLQ

MADE IN ENGLAND | SINCE 1879

LONDON BIRMINGHAM NEW YORK BRUSSELS PARIS

JERMYN STREET BURLINGTON ARCADE, NEW ST 11 EAST 55TH STREET RUE DE NAMUR LA MADELEINE
BURLINGTON ARCADE COLMORE ROW RIVE GAUCHE
KNIGHTSBRIDGE LE MARAIS
ROYAL EXCHANGE
CANARY WHARF
CROCKETTANDJONES.COM
E S TA B L I S H E D 1 9 0 3 - T I G E R O F S W E D E N . C O M

F L A G S H I P S T O R E , 2 1 0 P I C C A D I L LY,
LONDON W1J 9HL
 E D I T E D BY BILL PRINCE
TRAVEL
this month: from palermo to taormina, the heart of the mediterranean opens up

Secret
Palermo is the spiky capital of Sicily, but the
buzz of the backstreet food markets and
chaotic squares are all part of its frenetic
charm. Visit the Cappella Palatina church for
Italian design. The champagne bar on the
terrace and the sensational Donna Franca
Florio restaurant are fresh and modern
highlights. In contrast, the rooms and

Sicily
Unearth the wild edge of the
Italian island steeped in history,
luxury and rugged beauty
Photograph Getty Images
its mosaic, the Teatro Massimo opera house
for its architecture and, if you don’t scare
easily, the catacombs for the mummified
bodies of Palermo residents past. To regroup,
the Grand Hotel Villa Igiea is only a stone’s
throw from the city’s commotion and a
mixture of serene sanctuary and old-school
reception are staunchly traditional – dark
wood, heavy fabric and thick, patterned
carpets. Embrace the old-school, though. In
the heart of the Wild West that is Palermo,
»
it’s strangely comforting.
From £300 a night. 43 Salita Belmonte, 90142.
+39 091 631 2111. villa-igiea.com

Urban myths:
Palermo offers visitors
respite and revelry

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 123

 TRAVEL

72 hours in
Taormina
Don’t just take the G7’s word for it: this polite, manicured enclave
on the wild and energetic island of Sicily is the perfect base for an
Italian adventure. It’s easy to see why Ernest Hemingway once said
Taormina is “so pretty it hurts to look”. Crates overflowing with local
citrus fruit are stacked on street corners and the crumbling ruin of
the third-century amphitheatre injects some authentic, rough charm.
It even delivers when you turn your back, thanks to unbroken views
over the Ionian Sea and the imposing volcanic behemoth that is
Mount Etna. True, Taormina is not the real Sicily – the rest of the
island is rugged, raw and complex – but for visitors hoping for a true
Sicilian experience, it is a gateway to a beautifully imperfect island.

Where to stay Where to eat and drink

Villa Carlotta
Due to its precarious position on a hairpin
bend high up a winding cliff road, parking
at this boutique hotel is a case of sticking
the handbrake on and hoping for the best
British Airways as the valet makes a mad dash to whisk the
flies from London
Heathrow to car away. But it’s worth it. Through the tiny
Catania, Sicily, entrance, the 23-room property opens up,
from £53. ba.com Tardis-like, into a hidden gem. Built into the
cliff-face, the hotel has unrivalled sea views,
with mainland Italy to the left and Mount
Etna to the right. From the restaurant terrace
(above) to the garden rooms that twist and
turn down to the pool, Villa Carlotta balances
rustic Italian charm with relaxed luxury.
From £255 a night. 81 Via Luigi
Pirandello, 98039. +39 094 262 6058.
hotelvillacarlottataormina.com
A ten-minute taxi ride from the town centre,
Villa Ducale (villaducale.com) is perched along
one of the many hillside roads on the outskirts
of Taormina. The views are something else, but
it is the food that makes this boutique hotel
unmissable. The chef, Lino Capitano, has created
a menu inspired by his Sicilian childhood and
has had the courage to keep his dishes so simple
there’s little room for error. The meatballs
cooked in lemon leaves are a must-try, as is the
signature tuna steak and the homemade fusilli
pasta with pistachio pesto. Osteria Rosso Divino
(osteria-rosso-divino.com) is a good casual
option and don’t miss O’Sciality (osciality.it)
Chew the scenery for ice cream. As for drinks, the bar at the
(from top): Villa Belmond Grand Hotel Timeo (belmond.com)
Ducale’s terrace; its just next to the ancient amphitheatre is
tomato, olive and
anchovy salad perfect for truly special sundowners.

All about Etna Next stop

From the coiffed beauty of Taormina to the
moody, jet-black moonscape of Mount Etna,
there’s a reason travellers clamber over the
old lava flows, caves and craters that pepper
this vast volcano. A powerful reminder of the
destructive force of nature, the Etna experience
is worth signing up for. Or learn about the 700
bee keepers of Zafferano, a village on the
mountain under the active volcano. Wine tours
are also available for those keen to take things
at a more leisurely pace. legendarysicily.it
How about an entire volcanic archipelago?
For a different perspective and a break
from the hustle and bustle of the city, the
Aeolian Islands are just a hydrofoil sailboat
away from mainland Sicily. Out of the
eight, which include Lipari and Stromboli,
Vulcano is the easiest to get to – around 40
minutes by boat from the port of Milazzo.
Don’t be too alarmed by the sulphuric smell
as you dock, it doesn’t pervade the entire
island and it doesn’t reach Therasia Resort.
With a view of all seven other islands from
its bar and infinity pool, this 96-room hotel
offers a combination of deep blue waters
Photographs Getty Images

Go with the flow An excursion you can’t refuse
(from top): Mount Etna;
the village of Savoca, You could easily fall on the hilltop village of Savoca without ever
where The Godfather realising its significance. North of Taormina, it is the home of Bar
was filmed
Vitelli (barvitelli.it), which is as famous for being the bar where scenes
from The Godfather were shot as it is for its lemon granita. The church
here is also where Michael Corleone’s wedding was filmed and, in the
year that marks the film’s 45th anniversary, it’s worth a visit.
as far as the eye can see and an iconic
rock formation on the horizon that really
does take the breath away. There are two
restaurants on-site, one of which, Il
Cappero, has a Michelin star. Emily Wright G
From £274 a night. Isola Di Vulcano, 98050.
+39 090 985 2555. therasiaresort.it

124 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017


t is undoubtedly true that
I  inactive men also get hurt
– a lack of serious exercise
causes muscle atrophy,
cardiac decline and
intestinal defects that make
every bowel movement a lucky
dip. Obesity strains joints, ruins
knees and hips and makes
osteoarthritis and future trouble
with your ticker highly likely.
The feckless, the fatty, the unfit
man who is content to put on
a kilo a year for a decade will
spend his later life in stiff-
limbed, constipated agony. That
carb-crazed, beer-swilling couch
potato will one day know as
much about knee pain as any
serious runner. The bitter irony
is that the active man must deal
with the pain of injury in the
here and now.
Serious exercise promotes
skeletal-muscular strength and
cardiovascular health, increases
libido, makes you look good,
feel good and sleep well. But
bits of you will break. This is
guaranteed. You don’t have to
be a professional athlete. You
don’t have to be a marathon
man or triathlete. Any man on
the kind of exercise regime
where he spends more hours
every week in the gym than he
does in bars and restaurants will
suffer from injuries.
The health and fitness
industry rarely addresses the
subject of injuries, as though we
can all reach peak fitness and
then just stand back and admire
our abs in the mirror. But
physical fitness is not like that.
The man who trains hard will
break, strain and tear body parts
that he has never even heard of
until the time he breaks, strains
or tears them. Injuries are a
crash course in the fundamentals
of anatomy and physiology. You
don’t know what you’ve got
until you crock it.
For example, I had never
Illustration Ricardo Fumanal
heard of plantar fasciitis –
inflammation of the plantar
fascia ligament that connects
the toes to the heel bone –
until the summer I decided
skipping barefoot would be a
grand idea and suddenly I could
no longer walk.
LAST MAN STANDING
All pain is
growing pain
No matter how many hours you spend in
the gym, your body is always vulnerable
to injury. But don’t give in to frustration
– it’s only the toughest physical trials
that teach us who we really are
And I had never heard of
bursitis – inflammation of the
bursa (a fluid-filled sac) that
encases your elbow – until my
arm got a severe knock and my
elbow filled with black blood.
And I had never heard
of medial epicondylitis –
inflammation of the tendons
on the inside of the elbow
– until they were killing me.
None of these injuries would
have occurred if I had been at
home eating pizza on the sofa.
All of them were stubborn,
painful knocks that refused to
go away. And although some of
them were not complicated to
Why do we fix, all of them took months for
the symptoms to disappear.
work our Injuries are not merely
painful. Injuries are time-
bodies hard? consuming, depressing and they
So we can can stop you sleeping. Why do
so many of us work our bodies
stay young hard in all those simulations of
manual labour? So we can stay
forever young forever.
SLUG
nd then an injury
 A makes you feel old
overnight.
My back went.
My back – so
strong for so long – was racked
with pain that seemed to have a
mind of its own, migrating from
the base of my spine to the back
of my neck. It had never given
me a moment’s pain in my life,
but then it seemed I would have
to live with this pain forever.
It was more than just the
pain. The injury was tiresome,
humiliating, an endless drag. My
back was so stiff that I could not
put on a pair of socks.
A degree of perspective was
in order. I had not broken my
spine or my neck. I was not in
a wheelchair. Even as I failed to
put on a pair of socks, I was
aware that there were many
people in the world worse off.
I recalled that Bear Grylls
had once broken his back in
three places after an accident
while freefall parachuting
in Africa. I turned to his
autobiography, Mud, Sweat
And Tears, for inspiration on
how to heal. But even Grylls
admitted to some long, dark
nights of the soul.
“People often say to me that
I must have been so positive to
recover from a broken back, but
that would be a lie,” he writes.
“It was the darkest, most
horrible time I can remember.
I had lost my sparkle and spirit
and that is so much of who »
OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 127
 LAST MAN STANDING
» I am. And once you lose that
spirit, it is hard to recover.”
I wasn’t in a back brace. I
wasn’t in a wheelchair. And yet
no injury feels trivial when it
totally disrupts your life, when
it incapacitates you, when it
stops you from sleeping, when
it gets you down, when it makes
you feel unmanned, when it
makes you believe life will never
be the same again. Injury is like
poverty or a failing relationship.
It is only trivial when it is not
happening to you.
he medical
T
  professionals will tell
you that all injuries
fall into two distinct
groups – overuse and
trauma. Injuries can creep up on
you or they can happen in one
moment, like Hemingway’s
description of going bankrupt
in The Sun Also Rises.
“How did you go bankrupt?
“Two ways. Gradually and
then suddenly.”
My back felt like both. It
went gradually and then it went
suddenly. I had taken a dig to
the ribs in the gym, a short left
hook that slipped under my
guard. Nothing that I had not
experienced before, something
that had always gone away by
itself in the past. And then, a
few days later in a Tokyo hotel,
I reached for a suitcase that was
just beyond my grasp. And then
my back was gone. Gradually
and then suddenly.
It transpired that I had torn
my internal intercostal muscles,
the skeletal muscles that lift
your ribs and expand your chest
cavity every time you breathe
out. Here was yet another part
of my body that I had never
heard of until I broke it. Who
knew you needed muscles to lift
your ribs with every breath you
take? And the injury hurt like
hell, the kind of pain that
invades your fitful dreams.
But the pain was the least
of it. The worst of it was the
feeling of hopelessness. I tried
everything: Harley Street
doctors; deep-tissue massage;
physiotherapy; osteopathy; and
pills galore. None of it made any
128 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017
difference to the pain that had
taken up residency in my back.
And then, sensing my
mounting desperation, one of
my specialists shyly suggested,
“You might try this...”
It was a yoga move:
“downward-facing dog”, the
one where you start on all fours
and then slowly lift your butt in
the air, lengthening your spine,
your arms and your hamstrings.
It worked. Pain began to drain
from my back.
Someone else – another
apologetic specialist at the end
of another unsuccessful session
– showed me two more yoga
moves. “child’s pose” and
“upward-facing dog”. They are
all very easy; anyone of any
age, fitness or flexibility could
do them. And they worked.
After all that time and money,
all those trips to Harley Street,
my back was healed by some
basic yoga moves. The pain went
away as if by magic (yoga poses
deliver nutrients from nearby
blood vessels to the spinal discs
– it’s not magic at all).
And here is how you heal
most injuries. You never give up
hope. You keep an open mind.
Discovering
you’re not
the man you
want to be is
worse than
physical
discomfort
You try to master the pain. You
remain smart, tough and you
modify your fitness regime.
And you tell yourself, “I will
get through this.” And I did.
Then I did my knees in.
ou will also get ill.
 Y Regular exercise
boosts blood
circulation, cell
growth and the
immune system, keeps your
heart healthy and your bones
and muscles strong. But
bacteria, bugs and viruses still
get through and the immune
system can’t cope with high-
intensity work-outs when you
are sick. Training when ill will
only make you sicker.
Coaches in endurance sports
such as triathlon and cycling
abide by the “above the neck”
rule, also known as the “above
the shoulder” rule. If you have
a head cold or blocked sinuses,
then keep going at a reduced
level of intensity. But if you
have a virus, joint pain, the
running squirts or chesty cough,
then take time out to recover.
Unless you are about to fall off
your perch, you can always do
something – stretching, walking,
light weights. Any non-
strenuous movement in fresh
air is good. Mother was right.
Dave Smith, former GB and
Olympic cycling coach writes,
“Let your symptoms be the
gauge as to what’s a feasible
amount of exercise to do [when
ill]. Allow as long as you were ill
for to get back to where your
training was before. In order
to stay illness-free in future,
ensure a sound diet, wash your
hands and allow adequate
recovery from training. Take
steps to keep stress levels down,
ensure you get quality sleep
and – after really hard sessions
– try to avoid disease-carrying
objects, such as people.”
The body has an endless
capacity to heal itself. Aches
and strains do go away. Illness
and injuries can disappear
without any help. The “rice”
formula – rest, ice, compression
and elevation – will make most
knocks and niggles disappear.
But sometimes they don’t.
When that happens, you can’t
do the same thing that you
have been doing. But that
doesn’t mean you do nothing.
“Just because you strained
one of your quads or tweaked
your lower back doesn’t mean
you can’t train the other 600
or so muscles in your body,”
writes Ciaran Fairman on
bodybuilding.com. “Making a
complete departure will lead to
a greater loss of muscle mass,
strength and fitness, setting
your recovery back further.
Instead, get creative and try
to train the rest of your body.”
When coming back from
injury, attitude is everything.
Eighteen months after
breaking his back in three
places, Bear Grylls became
one of the youngest climbers
to scale Mount Everest.
I have two friends who
pulverised their shoulders while
skiing. Both came back stronger
than ever. One rehabilitated
with t’ai chi and the other with
swimming. The psychological
impact of injury – discovering
you’re not the man you want
to be – is far worse than any
physical discomfort. Rest,
rehab and rethinking are the
ways to recovery.
But attitude is the key.
The fittest man I know –
Fred Kindall, my personal
trainer – recently had a
serious injury. Kindall sold
his Porsche 911 and bought a
racing bike then – guess what?
– came off in spectacular
fashion, flying through the air
before fracturing his clavicle
(the collarbone).
As Kindall embarks on his
long road to recovery, he looks
healthier and happier than ever.
He recommends never letting
your injury dominate you.
“Own your injury,” he suggests.
In this life of surprises,
injuries and illness are the
setbacks we never see coming.
They age, weaken and
dishearten us. But self-pity
never healed a broken bone.
When a part of your body
breaks down, you will learn just
how strong you really are. G
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In the raw: Half-naked
chef Anthony Bourdain
relaxes with Iggy Pop at
the singer’s Miami home

‘Cooking will
never be as
powerful as
the song
you lost your
virginity to’
Anthony Bourdain
132 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017
 IGGY POP

LUST
FOR
Together, hot-shot chef Anthony
Bourdain and rock legend Iggy
Pop are old friends at the top of
their games and show no signs
of slowing. GQ plays stooge as
this never-say-die double act
shoots the breeze about music,
mortality and mob executions
STORY BY Esma Annemon Dil

PHOTOGRAPHS BY Max Vadukul

LIFE OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 133


crime scene on the block before makes us
run late. It’s a benign looking street, lined
with bungalows and lush gardens in Miami’s
El Portal neighbourhood, where Iggy Pop has
a little place he uses for work and hanging out.
He chuckles when we mention the homicide.
“Yeah, that happens. It’s quite real out here.”
Anthony Bourdain is smoking by the stream in
the backyard. He has already tossed his shirt,
displaying jiu jitzu-toned abs and tattoos, and
is telling the story of how they met a few years
ago on holiday. “I’ve been a fan of Iggy And
The Stooges since the beginning and was so
starstruck it took me three days to walk up to
him and introduce myself. Then we had him on
my show [CNN’s Parts Unknown] and we ate
health food together. I didn’t see that coming
as a kid.” We’re sitting outside in the sun, it’s
hot and humid and I’m tempted to put my
feet in the water. “We’ve seen some alligators
swim by over the years, but chances are low.
Anyway, maybe you want a beer instead?”
Iggy asks, still amused. It’s so easy with them,
no publicists controlling messages, no agendas,
just two guys telling it like it is.
AB: I’m increasingly curious about the
subject of contentment. I mean you’re still
touring now, right?
IP: Yeah. I’m actually going tomorrow.
AB: You just released one of the best-
received albums of your life, had what
looked to me like a really triumphant tour
and there you are out on the road again.
Are you always hungry?
IP: I’m starting to get areas of professional
contentment, but that stops at the county
line; it does not do anything for me
personally except that it solves a problem.
The problem being: for years I was
struggling – first to prove that I had any
talent, then to create some skills and finally
to fulfil it reasonably. But then once I got
there it was, “OK. I did that, but I want to
be happy.” And that’s a whole different
134 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017
deal. It’s kind of like a dance. Being active Bods and rockers:
The jiu jitsu-toned
seems to help. I’m 70, so sometimes a little Anthony Bourdain
voice is going, “Just take it easy.” and inveterate
stage-diver Iggy Pop
AB: Can you take it easy?
IP: I’m a little worried about that. There
was a time when I wanted to get out of
the Western world. I went down to Grenada
and looked at a place, and I realised that
if I lived in a Grenadian manner I’d be
nothing but a blah. I’m going to need
constant bodyguarding, guns and money
to join the community there. Otherwise you
just got a bunch of fat, old white people
dying together, overeating, drinking. Not
very attractive.
AB: No.
IP: So I’ve actually decided consciously
to have a little bit of a shorter life. I don’t
really want to sit around till I’m 90.
AB: There is a difference between us.
I asked you once what gives you
satisfaction and you said when a total
stranger comes up to you in the street and
tells you how much your music meant to
them personally and how they love your
work and how important it was to them.
That really surprised me. I have a real
problem being content. When I finish a
book I get that same sense of sort of loss
and sadness. Is it possible for you to be
happy for an extended period of time?
IP: Well, I’m not continually blissed out.
Sure, I get my bliss personally. In other
words, I don’t get my bliss by listening over
and over to people in the street thinking,
“Boy, is it that good?” Even though every
time I hear it that’s what I think. But I get
it in human situations. There is this little
voice that is going, “The reason you’re able
to enjoy your life now is that you made it
in rock’n’roll and people are giving you
free visas all over the place. Dude, you are
being spoiled!”
AB: But you paid the cost...
IP: I paid the cost.
AB: I saw you on the last tour with Post Pop
Depression and I saw the performance in
New York and I’ve seen you many times
over the years. The room was filled with
‘I’ve actually
love. How did that feel?
IP: It felt pretty amazingly good and
decided to
have a shorter
Gutter credit hereplease Gutter name here
relaxing. I played New York a lot since,
what, 1969? I’ve been there again and
again and again, knocking on the door.
I could tell things were cool in the room. life. I don’t
Everything was cool.
AB: I noticed something else: when you
inadvisably leap off stage into the audience
really want to
you always pick the biggest guy.
IP: Yeah! The absolute best is in an area
sit around
where everybody is packed in and can’t
move. But if you can’t get that, just the
till I’m 90’
biggest target. And the one that’s » Iggy Pop
Gutter credit hereplease Gutter name here

IGGY POP
 IGGY POP
» farthest from the floor, because what
you don’t want to do, where it gets
dangerous – and sometimes this happens
– you see my boots and then my head is
down near the floor. And the danger is that
your spine... You could have a bad time on
the way up. That has nearly happened.
AB: Not one of the basic skills that they
teach you in rock’n’roll school.
IP: No. I dislocated one of my shoulders
trying to dive on a sour-faced little
ten- or eleven-year-old kid at an
amphitheatre. One of these sheds on a
horrible tour I did in the Nineties called
the Roar Tour, where RJ Reynolds Tobacco
hired me to flog stuff to the youth. So
I did the tour, but the audiences were there
for a band called Sponge. We were out in
rural Ohio between Columbus and Akron,
and this little kid was just looking at me
like, “You’re not Sponge.” And so I thought,
“I’ll show you, you little prick. I’m going
to stage-dive you.” And he moved and
I hit the cement hard. And my arm came
out at this angle and it wouldn’t move.
And they couldn’t get it back in and we
were an hour from the nearest hospital.
My guitarist claims I was speaking in
tongues. By the time the doctor jammed
it back in, it had been out too long. It just
hung for about six weeks. He said, “Well,
50/50 you get it back. You’re pretty old.”
I was in my fifties. I was a little scared, but
it came back finally.
AB: You’re still jumping off stage?
IP: Well, yeah, a lot less. Less and less.
I had to do it a lot on that tour to balance
the suits, you know?
AB: Is love possible?
IP: My answer would be part-time only,
not full-time. Because what happens is
everything that goes with our freakiness
– the egomania, the whoring, the
unreasonable focus on one’s self and
one’s own tiny problems of articulation
and style and all this crap – will eventually,
if it doesn’t eat the other person, cause an
atrophy of that other person.
AB: I love the story about how when
[Italian film actor] Marcello Mastroianni
died, all his ex-wives and ex-girlfriends
showed up at the funeral.
IP: The death thing is a real hard one to
think about. Will I be deaf? Will I be blind?
Will I get an ulcer?
AB: I’m hoping for a mob-style execution.
IP: Yeah, that sounds like something
you could get.
AB: Or eating some very expensive
sushi. You know, I’m eating sushi at Jiro
in Tokyo and then somebody slides up
and bang! I would not be unhappy with
that as my last meal.
136 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017
IP: I would like something fairly quick.
AB: You don’t want to be hit by, like, an
ice-cream truck. Then caught up in the
wheel well and dragged down the street
with the ice-cream truck playing happy
music. This is my worry.
IP: That’s true, we have a good [truck]
here, called El Suavacito.
AB: I’ll give it a wide berth.
IP: And he has the music, like Mister
Softee music.
AB: That isn’t what I want to hear as
I bleed out.
GQ: Anthony, are you banned from
any countries?
AB: There are a couple of
places that I would feel
very uncomfortable going
‘Food has
back to. I think Romania
is not too happy with me
really come
because the show we up. And
made there went very
badly for us and ended
rock’n’roll
up being a comedy
classic that was harshly
has really
unflattering to Romania. gone down’
Nothing against Romania, Iggy Pop
but just the way our local
contacts tried to alter reality to make
Romania look like a wonderland free of
all problems. And it went disastrously
wrong. I was on the front page news as
a covert agent of Mossad and the KGB.
In Turkey, there have actually been
statements from government figures there
claiming that some of the visiting celebrity
chefs work for the CIA or intelligence
services. That’s not an atmosphere I feel
too comfortable with. And the last time
I was in Russia...
IP: I could see you working for the CIA.
AB: Can you see me passing the
background check?
IP: Ha!
AB: I was in Russia and it was a very
unflattering show as far as Mr Putin is
concerned. And my dinner companion
was shot to death on the front lawn of
the Kremlin shortly afterwards. I would
probably be served some plutonium tea.
Boris Nemtsov, who was the opposition
leader, was having dinner with me and
I asked him, “Aren’t you afraid?” I mean
people who’ve angered and insulted
Vladimir Putin seem to be dying with
some regularity. Bad things happen to
them. And he said, “No, I’m too well-
known. It would be too embarrassing.”
Then, as if to prove otherwise, he was
not just shot, but he was shot right outside
the Kremlin. So, yeah, Russia probably
not. I would be very concerned about
the food I’m eating there, for instance.
A little radioactive plutonium in my sushi
would concern me.
GQ: Is food the new rock’n’roll?
IP: Food has really come up. And rock’n’roll
has really gone down.
AB: Here’s what I think the difference
is: first of all, every chef I know, if they
could play guitar or bass or play in
a rock’n’roll band, would walk away from
cooking in a hot second. Cooked food and
cooking is not the new rock’n’roll and
never will be. It’s a very powerful epiphany
to taste something that evokes your
childhood or an emotional moment. That’s
a very, very strong feeling. But it will never
be as strong as the song
you lost your virginity
to. We experience food
differently. We experience
food in a very different
way now with social
media. You almost can’t
eat without Instagraming
it. It’s like otherwise it
didn’t happen. You know,
when you’re eating
truffles you want to make
sure that people who
aren’t eating truffles see that.
IP: Not me.
AB: And chefs used to complain about
this thing of people taking pictures. Now
I’ll sit down with ten chefs, out come ten
cellphones. And they’re all hashtagging me.
I’m like, “I’m right across the table. What
are you tweeting at me for? I know what
you are eating.”
IP: When I chose music, I never cared
about any of that. I never cared. The
idea for me is that anybody that’s really
any good at it, the music thing, would
do it for free. Howlin’ Wolf often gigged
for a fish sandwich – a fish sandwich,
you know?
GQ: Anthony, you are on Twitter and
don’t hold back when it comes to politics.
How do you deal with the trolling?
AB: I get attacked, but sure, I mean,
look, when most of the people who
attack you invariably can’t spell, that’s
always satisfying. And I just don’t really
care. I don’t really have a reputation to
lose. I don’t see myself as an advocate, I’m
not particularly political. But I am acutely
sensitive to the ridiculous. Anything that
is ridiculous and hypocritical; I can’t resist
a good dick joke, let’s put it that way. And
the opportunity for dick jokes has increased
exponentially in recent months.
GQ: Iggy, you’ve said before that you and
your band were true communists because
you shared everything.
IP: Yes, you could say that. I once had a»
 IGGY POP

» beautiful offer for a film I couldn’t do I’d say, of Bauhaus loft space in Berlin for they love. Nobody wants to fuck it up
from a German director, a lady. It was a couple of hundred bucks. It was painters, because they won’t be able to eat at the
about people who lived in a commune hash dealers, weird. The most beautiful restaurant any more.
that was so communal everybody shared thing about Berlin was there was still an old GQ: When did you go to Libya?
a wardrobe. I lived like that for a bit. ballroom on the Ku’damm. And once a week AB: Not too long after Benghazi. And
Nobody had enough money to really make an organ player would come in there and the everyone was cool, super happy to see us.
it in normal life. But you’d have more fun old people would come and dance. And I “Oh, America! Thank you, Nato!” Everything
together anyway. And you could pool your would sit, you would pay two marks to get was great. And then literally the next day
money and get by. And you had enough to in, and just watch and listen to music. And everybody was just sort of, I don’t know
smoke dope, take psychedelics and drink there was a place, the Resi, an old place what the word is, moving away from us as
a little, maybe, and pay the rent. And then where you could dance. And then on the if we were, like, targets. And shit started
go out. stage there was a water show. It was a happening. We have unarmed security
AB: I reached a point very early workers’ social club. And it had a huge in places like that and they were super
on where I realised that dance floor ringed with suspicious. Every night it was, bang,
I constitutionally don’t
really want to share my
‘I’m often booths, your good,
spacious German booths,
bang, bang on the door, pack your bags,
get your passport, be ready to leave at any
yogurt, I certainly don’t angry. Some not a cheap little SoHo moment. And we’d have to have a meeting
want to share my drugs French restaurant rip-off. every morning between the crew to vote
and I’ve been, I guess, of Iggy’s best AB: Right. whether we were going to continue with
to just about every
communist nation on
music was IP: No, a good spacious
booth. And each booth had
this madness.
GQ: The risks must be in the back of your
earth at this point. And
I can’t think of a place
angry. It’s a a pole with a number on it.
And then you had a pad of
mind. In your books and shows there’s an
angry voice.
where, if we are talking valid feeling’ paper and a pen. And what AB: Well, I’m often angry. I think some of
communism, where it’s Anthony Bourdain do they call those vacuums? Iggy’s best music was angry music. I think
not at least as grotesque AB: Oh, where you send it’s a valid feeling. A lot of Raw Power and
as the most grotesque examples of those messages through a tube? Fun House in particular, when I was an
nationalism, of the right. Maybe that’s IP: Right. So you could write, “Booth angry young man, those songs, some of
why I tend to love messy, dysfunctional number 89, you look pretty good...” those songs, I needed to hear those songs
countries that change governments AB: A pneumatic tube. very, very badly. I was very unhappy, angry,
every year. I love Italy, because it seems IP: “...Would you like to have a dance?” But frustrated. You’ve got to be careful about
to barely work but somehow stays the without having to go through the what you do with that anger. I think fear is
same. Dysfunctional but glorious because embarrassment. It’s very German, you a much more dangerous emotion. I think
they can’t really change and they can’t know? Have you been to Dresden? what we are seeing in America is more an
get anything done. It’s still there for us AB: I haven’t. ugly reaction to fear than anger. Anger is
and a romantic and wonderful and IP: No, me either. I hear that seems to be a byproduct of fear.
delicious place. having... it’s full of cost-conscious, hardline GQ: Iggy, before I forget, my friend Lorca,
IP: A small communal group, for a short, young Germans now. One thing that kept Leonard Cohen’s daughter, said I should
finite period of time, can make a really good Berlin afloat when I was there was the definitely tell you that he treasured the
piece of art. Either functioning as a film West German government gave a lot of Polaroid you both took.
unit or as, sometimes, art groups. And then money to the educational institutions. IP: Leonard! I didn’t know that. That’s a
a leader will emerge, divisions will emerge. The students were basically these grumpy great thing to hear. He’s a nice old boy.
It’s not practical. I don’t want to share my German draft dodgers. A lot of them were AB: Leonard just passed, yeah?
yogurt anymore. like, “I don’t like anything. Give me some IP: Yeah. You know he tried to hook me up
GQ: I would also like to talk about Berlin. more hash.” I lived the same. They would with a three-way.
You both had experiences there, how long generally live in these Hinderhof flats GQ: I want to hear the story from you.
did you live there? with coal ovens. David Bowie had a nice IP: Somebody wrote in a classified that they
IP: It feels like it was either three years apartment in Schöneberg. I lived with wanted to meet a man with something like
or the better part of three years. From the him for a while. He put in an expensive the finesse of Leonard Cohen and the raw
butt end of ’76 through ’77, ’78 and ’79 is heater. And, later, after two winters, I put power of moi. So he said, “Solicit it. We call
a haze to me. I knew more painters when one in too. her up and get her over here.” But, you
I was there. I knew Rainer Fetting, Salomé GQ: Anthony, tell us about Beirut. know, I was married.
and I knew Martin Kippenberger pretty AB: There is this thing about Beirut where GQ: Too bad. G
well. Kippy was an alcoholic, agitating, there is this willing suspension of hostilities

More from G For these related

troublemaker, you know? And he was for other purposes. Like you go to these
like Kippy Kippenberger. He looked like fish restaurants by the shore and you’ll
Ziggy Brzezinski. He looked like George go in and there will be a guy that used stories visit GQ.co.uk/magazine
C Scott in Dr Strangelove. to run a Christian militia over there,
AB: Oh, wow. Ms Hezbollah over there, a woman in full The Last Lad (Jonathan Heaf, September 2017)
IP: And Kippy had to toot about everything. hijab or a burka, then women who just Stormzy: ‘If It Doesn’t Add Up I Give It To God’
And he always had a bottle of Sekt in his came from the beach in a bikini and threw (Tom Lamont, July 2017)

hand, 24 hours, alcoholic. But he had a something on. Like gangsters from different Iggy Pop Pays Tribute To Lou Reed
(Iggy Pop, October 2013)
beautiful loft, he had a good 10,000 sq ft, crime families all eating in a restaurant that

138 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017

 the recipes O the hotel O the book O the bottle O the restaurant O the pub O the neighbourhood

E D I T E D BY BILL PRINCE & PAUL HENDERSON

Food stylist Maddie Rix Grooming Julia Bell using Giorgio Armani Beauty Stylist Lima O’Donnell

The Chef

Naked ambition
Eighteen years after GQ launched the man who put men in the kitchen, Jamie Oliver
is back to keep us out of it – with spectacular recipes that take no time at all
P H OTO G R A P H BY PEROU

Tuxedo by Alexander McQueen. alexandermcqueen.com. Shirt, £100. Tuxedo studs, £118. Cuff links, £88. All by J Crew. jcrew.com

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 143

 The Chef

Jamie Oliver
bites back
It’s been 18 years since Jamie
Oliver wrote a monthly food
column for GQ. He was
discovered by the magazine after
being randomly spotted by a
television crew filming in London’s
iconic River Café, where he was
working under Rose Gray and Ruth
Rogers. The first series of The Naked
Chef was yet to air, he was dyslexic
and no one knew who he was, so
writing for the magazine was, in his
own words, “a big f***ing deal”.
Today, aged 42, he has no fewer than
42 restaurants in the UK alone, 22
books printed in 36 languages and
five children in tow.
“I was so green [when I started
writing for GQ], really young, and they
took a total punt on me,” he says, when
I meet him at the branch of Fifteen in
London’s Old Street. “I have never been
a good writer and I’m a terrible speller
and went to special-needs throughout Five a day: Oliver’s smoky
secondary school. Then I’m asked to go chorizo salmon dish extracts
for a coffee and they want me to write a heavy hit of taste from a
handful of ingredients
for GQ. I was gobsmacked.”
He recalls that he hadn’t yet done
The Naked Chef – “I was sort of
filming it and there was a hubbub
wants tasty, worldly food, but wants
it quickly.”
‘When we Oliver recognises that he essentially
grew up on television, an experience
around me but, you know the drill, it Oliver admits that social media has started, he describes as strange. “People are
doesn’t mean anything” – but he was
determined to do a good job. To
connected him to his audience in
groundbreaking ways, so he feels
cooking forever coming up to me who might
have just watched The Naked Chef for
illustrate the point, he remembers more in tune with what people want. was for the first time and then all of a sudden
sitting next to a young boy on a plane
recently who talked to him about
And one of the most significant
changes he has noticed since he
girls. By they get a 42-year-old Jamie Oliver
and it’s a bit of a disappointment.”
being dyslexic. “I was explaining how started is people’s attitudes to series But 20 years of cooking hasn’t
you can overcome certain things,” he
tells me. “I said, ‘Look, dude, I used to
cooking. To be a part of the food
world is achingly trendy these days,
two, affected his waistline and he’s kept
in excellent shape. “It can be hard
have a Dictaphone with a little tape but that was not the case when he cooking because my job is to taste all the time,”
and I used to read all my recipes into started in the Nineties. got you he admits. “I go to the gym and they
it and then I’d give it to a secretary “I think it was indirectly connected ask me, ‘How’s your week been?’ I say,
and she would type it up and it was to GQ and sex,” he says. “When we
girls’ ‘It’s been really good, but I had to do a
all Kool & The Gang.’ And he asks started in the mid-Nineties, cooking ravioli tasting yesterday. And we just
me, ‘What’s a Dictaphone? What’s a was for girls. But when series two of changed the cheese menu so I’ve been
cassette?’ I felt so old! But in the GQ The Naked Chef came out, cooking checking out the Wensleydale.’ I’m not
days, that’s what I did.” got you girls and everyone benefited a super vain, ripped type, but I can fit
Fast-forward nearly two decades from that. When I started out, men into a decent suit and I think I’m in
and, despite the challenges of hated me for three years because I fairly good nick.”
dyslexia, his latest book, 5 Ingredients: was being used in rhetoric back home O 5 Ingredients: And he takes topping off nearly
Quick & Easy
Quick & Easy Food, was written in with their missus telling them, ‘If Food by Jamie
two decades with a GQ shoot as a big
just three months. “Think of the Jamie can do it, why can’t you?’ Then Oliver (Penguin compliment. “GQ are interested when
greatest songs; some of them are it switched as soon as those blokes Random House, you’re breaking out and this is the
£26) is out now.
the simplest ones. And speed is sexy. started getting laid a bit more. I think first thing I’ve done for them in 15
Jamie’s Quick
My biggest seller ever is 30-Minute The Naked Chef did a great job of And Easy Food years, so I guess that means I’ve
Meals, because the modern person shifting barriers.” is on Channel 4. weathered the storm.” Cass Chapman

144 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017


The Recipes
Harissa chicken traybake
Boost a roast with North African flavour in this one-dish wonder from 5 Ingredients
Ingredients
4 peppers, variety of colours
2 red onions
1 x 1.2kg whole chicken
4 heaped tsp rose harissa
Pinch of sea salt and black pepper
Splash of red-wine vinegar
4 sprigs of fresh mint
Method
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Deseed the peppers and tear
into big chunks, peel and quarter
the onions and break apart into
petals, then place it all in a 30cm
x 40cm roasting tray.
Carefully cut along the underside of
the chicken so you can open it flat,
then score the legs. Place in the tray
with the harissa and a little sea salt,
black pepper and red-wine vinegar.
Toss well, getting into all the nooks
and crannies of the chicken.
Roast for 50 mins, or until gnarly
and cooked through. Pick over the
mint leaves before dishing up.
Cherry chocolate
mousse (serves 6)
Lay it on thick with this smooth but simple
Black Forest gateau in a glass
(serves 4)
Ingredients
200g dark chocolate (70 per cent)
1 x 400g tin of black pitted
cherries in syrup
200ml double cream
4 large eggs
2 tbsp golden caster sugar
Pinch of sea salt
Method
Melt the chocolate in a heatproof
bowl over a pan of simmering water,
then remove to cool for 10 mins.
Meanwhile, simmer the cherries and
their syrup in a nonstick frying pan on
a medium heat until thick.
Whip the cream until it forms very
soft peaks. Separate the eggs, add
the yolks to the cream with the sugar
and whisk to combine. Add a pinch
of sea salt to the whites and, with a
clean whisk, beat until super-stiff.
Fold the cooled chocolate into the
cream, then very gently fold through
the egg whites with a spatula.
Divvy up the mousse between six
bowls, interspersing with cherries
and syrup throughout, and finish
with a few nice cherries on top.
TASTE
Small bites
Where we have been
eating this month...
Mei Ume
East-meets-East at London’s Four
Seasons, where Mei Ume offers
modern Japanese and Chinese cuisine.
Standout dish
Let the sweet-and-sour Iberico pork
do battle with wok-fried Hereford
beef fillet with black pepper sauce.
10 Trinity Square, London EC3.
020 3297 3799. meiume.com
Machiya
Introducing authentic homely
Japanese dishes to London, this
south Soho gem also serves obscure
regional whiskeys, sakes and cocktails.
Standout dish
The minced chicken skewers with
Burford Brown yolk dip.
5 Panton Street, London SW1.
020 7925 0333. machi-ya.co.uk
Chick’N’Sours
Carl Clarke’s crispy chicken and sour
cocktails hit in London’s Haggerston,
comes to the West End.
Standout dish
Kick off with the nachos with kimchi
cheese for an umami sucker punch.
1 Earlham Street, London WC2.
020 3198 4814. chicknsours.co.uk
OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 145
 The Bottle
Worth a punt: Cambridge’s
Tamburlaine sites boutique finishes
in the city’s business district Kék Bakator
Feeling Hungary? Drink this...
Wine Car Boot, run by
2016 GQ Food & Drink
Award Sommelier Of The
Year Ruth Spivey, is a massive
public outdoor party, where the
drinks are as good as the tunes.
It’s also the best place to discover
exactly what’s fresh and new
in wine, like fledgling importer
Rawland Wines, headed up by
Roland Szimeiszter, sommelier
at Marcus Wareing.
Szimeiszter’s quest is to
champion the small wineries
of central and eastern Europe,
currently underrepresented in the
independent shops and restaurant
wine lists of the UK. “We believe in
growers known for their respect for nature
and low-intervention technique, focusing on
indigenous grapes to capture the sense of origin,”
he says. His pick for GQ is a lively, aromatic Kék
Bakator from Bencze Családi Birtok in Hungary, a
white wine vinified with skin contact in the manner
of a red and aged for over a year in ceramic
amphorae. Amy Matthews

O£20.50. At rawlandwines.com

The Book

Tamburlaine The Hotel

Sweet
Reboot your system at this luxury stay in Cambridge’s ‘Silicon Fen’
by Yotam
Ancient Cambridge has a much younger sibling, an upstart growing up around the
train station that serves as a hub for its business builders and budding tech titans
Ottolenghi
alike. Still just a short walk from the mighty King’s College is the new Tamburlaine and Helen Goh
hotel, a venue that wants to impress and succeeds. The Israeli-British
It’s a business offering filled with boutique touches, with spacious rooms that chef stirs up
benefit from generous natural light. The Steam Deli is an original touch, as is the seasonal treats
impressive first-floor Library that overlooks the reception. From the leather-
bound comfort of this nouveau-Edwardian redoubt you can work or enjoy a Yotam Ottolenghi’s blackberry and star anise
coffee or a post-meal drink. The same can be said of the slightly ridiculous (in a friands, though seemingly designed for high-
summer, Brideshead-style picnics on red-
good way) Garden Room, complete with golden-age glamour that leads into the checkered blankets, would bring as much joy
best thing about the Tamburlaine, the brasserie-style dining room. to the office kitchen in October, when rain beats at the
Tamburlaine is named after the play by Corpus Christi alumnus Christopher windows and espadrilles are put away until next year.
Marlowe, who once said, “You must be dieted, too much eating will make you Such is the transcendent magic of the Israeli-British chef’s
cross-continental oeuvre. His dishes – and in particular the
surfeit.” GQ will not be taking his advice yet. This great space evokes an ocean
desserts collected in his latest book, Sweet (produced with
liner, with brass, wood and deep leather seating, where mixologists will make long-time collaborator Helen Goh) – would suit a winter
you a Sophia – a burst of gin, violette liqueur, lemon and champagne – to get you evening wonderfully; the rosewater sorbet is spring in a
started before you sit down to crab and cucumber cannelloni or wood pigeon bowl and surely there’s not a season in the calendar when
breast. GQ was lucky enough to taste the truffle gnocchi and the rib-eye, while the saffron-laced millionaire’s shortbread wouldn’t work.
Mimicking Ottolenghi’s sugar and spice alchemy isn’t always
the iced lemon meringue parfait was the perfect end to the challenges of such easy – the loveliest things rarely are – but it is always, no
a balanced menu from such a well-balanced hotel. George Chesterton matter the month, worthwhile. Holly Bruce

OTamburlaine, 27-29 Station Road, Cambridge CB1 2FB. 01223 792888. thetamburlaine.co.uk OSweet by Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh
(Ebury Press, £27) is out on 14 September.

146 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017

 TASTE

The Roundup
Flame on: Temper fires up
a new grill in London’s
financial district Three old favourites with
new faces in the kitchen
Hutong Bob Bob Ricard Bibendum
Level 33, The Shard, 31 St 1 Upper James Street, Michelin House, 81 Fulham
Thomas Street, London SE1 London W1 Road, London SW3
hutong.co.uk bobbobricard.com bibendum.co.uk

The Restaurant

Temper City The setup: The Shard’s The setup: After stints with The setup: The iconic
Nose-to-tail barbecue gets a boost from high and mighty Chinese Gordon Ramsay, Shane Michelin Man-decorated
restaurant welcomes sifu Osbourne and Phil Howard, Bibendum is 30 years old
curry and gin In a new EC2 meat and greet (master) Fei Wang as its Anna Haugh finally has an and has been given a new
new head chef for his first executive-chef role worthy lease of life, a new kitchen
Since 2016, Neil Rankin has been the major post outside of his of her talents, creating and, in Frenchman Claude
master of an open fire pit at Temper, Soho. homeland. Expect bold and a new menu at the David Bosi, a new head chef
punchy flavours. Collins-designed racy and and business partner. The
He hauls in whole locally-sourced animals
Eat this: You might know romantic Bob Bob Ricard. results are as exceptional
from small, sustainable farms, butchers them on as they are expensive.
Hutong for its brilliant Eat this: Try the fun and
site and transforms every inch of their flesh into soft-shell crab, but Wang’s refined beetroot and goat’s Eat this: With three
a celebration of all that is sticky, smoky, rendered version of Sichuan-style cheese gateau (£11.50), courses for £85 for dinner,
and blackened. Goat, cow, pig and lamb are piled deep-fried lobster with fresh followed by a panko- keep it classic with veal
chilli and dried garlic (£80), crusted sole with pea purée sweetbread, the tripe and
onto charred flatbreads, folded into tiny tacos, served might top it. (£25.50). Close the show cuttlefish gratin (with pig’s
with lamb-fat corn kernels or dipped in a rainbow with a flaming vanilla ear and ham cake) and wild
Drink that: It would be
of sauces. There’s also mescal. A lot of mescal. remiss of you not to try the crème brûlée (£11.50). strawberry vacherin.
Having more than earned his barbecue stripes, Old Peking Fashioned (£16), Drink that: Ask nicely for Drink that: The wine list is
Rankin has now turned his attentions to the City. a duck-infused Hennessy a negroni (£14), then press epic, but keep things robust
with roasted sesame syrup, the champagne button and and on-brand with a bottle
But this second Temper, which opened in July, chocolate bitters and a order a glass of Moët Brut of the 2010 Château La
has a spicy twist. “It shares the same ethos for sesame-seed pancake. Impérial (£15.50). Gasparde Bordeaux (£55).
sourcing meat and the theatre of the central grill,
but that’s where the similarity ends,” he tells GQ.
“Temper No1 was all about tacos and mescal: this The Pub
one is about curry and gin. We’re taking inspiration
from every corner of the globe – from India, Sri Hand & Heart, Nottingham
Lanka, Thailand, Japan and my local chip shop.”
Cave in to peer pressure and order a round at this underground hit
The curry rule book, it seems, has been gleefully
tossed into the fire pit. loveable pubs, due to its quirky cave setting
The menu still features grilled and smoked options: and Camra-endorsed roster of real ales.
Although its location – a ten-minute hike
whole duck, lamb skewers and fish. But these appear
Photographs James McDonald; Patricia Niven; Tim Winter

from the city centre – makes it a pilgrimage

alongside imaginative curry dishes, such as laksa
lamb-belly stovies, dashi chip-shop chicken and
crispy egg with katsu, paired with breads and fresh
vegetables. Then there’s the gin: “Lots and lots of
gin. Big G&Ts and punchy martinis,” says Rankin.
In fact, a whole gin cocktail menu has been created
especially for the restaurant.
Temper City is an all-day affair, running from
breakfast (eggs with peshwari naan soldiers and
bacon congee), via a thali-style set lunch, through
to those spicy nose-to-tail dinners – all cooked,
of course, on the chef’s now-signature oak and
charcoal grill. Jennifer Bradly
OTemper City, 2 Angel Court, 30 Throgmorton Street,
London EC2. temperrestaurant.com
If the cluster of pubs carved into the
sandstone cliffs below Nottingham’s beloved
castle are anything to go by, the city has
a rich pedigree when it comes to drinking.
Among this coterie of storied hostelries
– including one claiming to be the UK’s
oldest – the understated Hand & Heart has
established itself as one of the city’s most
OThe Hand & Heart, 65-67 Derby Road, Nottingham NG1 5BA. 01159 582456.
thehandandheart.co.uk
for passers-through, the former brewery’s
2008 reinvention has turned it into an
inner-city destination for ale aficionados
and date nights. Stepping past the low-
key entrance and cosy bar, complete with
piano, its subterranean sandstone cave has
a conspiratorial quality to it, with reclaimed
furniture, fairy lights and rough-hewn leather
sofas adding to its rustic appeal.
A lengthy drinks menu includes a coppery
house ale from Derby’s Dancing Duck
brewery, which comes accompanied by
locally sourced, homemade food, standout
Sunday roasts and a folk-led live-music
schedule, making the Hand & Heart a worthy
visit for any band of merry men. Ben Olsen

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 147

 TASTE
The Neighbourhood
Cromer, Norfolk
Once as stale as the variety gags at its pier
theatre, this seaside town is showcasing menus
with ambitions far beyond the nostalgia circuit
Train: London Liverpool Street to Norwich then local service to Cromer on
Greater Anglia, from £18 return. greateranglia.co.uk
Time: Around three hours.
After a brisk stroll
Above: The along the sand and
view of the
pier from No1 shingle beach, climb
Cromer; (left) up onto the main
its lauded cod promenade and grab the upstairs
and chips
bay window seat overlooking
the pier at (1) No1 Cromer
(1 New Street, NR27 9EP. 01263
512316. no1cromer.com), long
the providers of the best cod
and chips in town, alongside
crab burgers, local Moongazer
ales and insanely addictive
deep-fried “popcorn” cockles.
Tucked away at the edge of
the town centre, it’s worth the
extra five minutes’ walk to get
to (2) Henry’s Coffee And
Tea Store (2 Church Street,
Above: Henry’s
Coffee And NR27 9ER. 07881 943770),
Tea Store
serves infused a Victorian corner site with
sausage rolls huge windows, red leather
(right) armchairs, teas from the Nelson
& Norfolk company and pure
pork nirvana in the form of the
saffron-and-black-pudding-
infused sausage rolls made by
Cromer lifeboat worker Charlie
Hodson, who has also appeared
on Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch.
Come evening time and the
rambling warren of rooms that
makes up the ivy-covered
Georgian pile (3) The Grove
(95 Overstrand Road, NR27 0DJ.
From above:
01263 512412. thegrovecromer.
co.uk) is at its most alluring.
Cromer’s The
Grove; its This is thanks to the soft amber
Norfolk quail;
inside The Red lighting and Michael West’s
Lion Hotel perfectly executed menu,
which lets native ingredients
(such as Norfolk quail and
soufflé made with Dapple
cheese) shine without foams,
emulsions and pretences.
Stop in for a nightcap at the
(4) The Red Lion Hotel (Brook
Street, NR27 9HD. 01263
514964. redlioncromer.co.uk),
whose brick walls boast
photographs of lonesome
Norfolk landscapes by David
148 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017
Morris and a bar heavy on
local real ales, such as Edith From top: Breakfast
at Virginia Court
Cavell, a hoppy number Hotel; its bar;
made by the Wolf Brewery strawberries at
in nearby Attleborough. the Cromer
Farm Shop
Bed in for the night at the
endearingly quirky (5) Virginia
Court Hotel (9 Cliff Avenue,
NR27 0AN. 01263 512398.
virginiacourt.co.uk). A slice of
Twenties Edwardian suburbia,
from the outside it looks like
somewhere Felicity Kendal
might retire to. Step inside,
however, and rooms hit the
contemporary mark with
claw-foot baths, Nespresso
machines and marble tiles.
After breakfast, do some Right: Venison
cooks on the
stocking up on the local open fire in
produce that packs the shelves The Gunton
at the (6) Cromer Farm Shop Arms’ dining
room (below)
(15 Tucker Street, NR27 9HA.
01263 513677. cromerfarmshop.
co.uk). The Norfolk sea lavender
honey from Stalland Apiaries
is a delight, but the biggest
surprise is just how subtle
and satisfying a glass of the
Bacchus Reserve, made by
local vineyard Winbirri, is.
Your final stop should be
(7) The Gunton Arms (Cromer
Road, Thorpe Market, NR11 8TZ.
01263 832010. theguntonarms.
Cromer, Norf
co.uk), just six miles from
Cromer on the edge of a huge
deer park. The venison is,
ol
k
as you’d expect, just the
right side of gamey and 1
showcased in the form of 6
devilled liver on toast. Ch u rc 4
St ree h
Make this the precursor t North
Lodge
to a slab of beef rib or 2 Park
sirloin cooked over an
Norwich Road
open fire in the centre of 5
the pub, while the skull 3
Photograph Alamy
and antlers of a huge elk
s
look on, almost, but not Cromwel ile
Road
l 6m 7
quite, approvingly from
above. Rob Crossan G 2 0 0 ft
visitnorthnorfolk.com
 FUNCTIONALITY IS
PART OF OUR FAMILY
#MyVictorinox
95/96 New Bond Street, London
SHOP ONLINE AT VICTORINOX.COM @Victorinox

MAKERS OF THE ORIGINAL SWISS ARMY KNIFE | ESTABLISHED 1884

Green light
Bring some military precision to your home this season with camouflage
colours and the cutting-edge design of the Samsung Serif TV
PHOTOGRAPHS BY Graham Atkins-Hughes
STYLING BY Florence Rolfe

TECH SPEC
The Serif TV includes
a beautiful back cover,
made with magnetic textile
to hide the TV’s ports and
a discreet pocket to
keep the cables tidy.
Find out more at
samsung.com

Painted walls by Little
Greene. From £42.
littlegreene.com. Desk by
Birgit Israel Collection,
£7,780. birgitisrael.com.
Armchair by Ochre,
£1,854.ochre.net.
Pen pot by Smythson,
£195. smythson.com.
Desk lamp by Talisman
London, £1,150.
talsimanlondon.com.
Waste bin by Balineum,
£689. balineum.co.uk.
Cushion by Beata Heuman,
£120. beataheuman.com.
Sheepskin rug
by Loaf, £65.loaf.com
Berluti
Lanvin
Bottega Veneta
G Partnership
ilitary green has long
been a staple colour
for menswear design,
and this season it has
also proved to be a
key trend in home
interiors. It’s a colour
scheme with a
masculine edge and an understated class – and
one which allows your statement pieces
of furniture to really stand out.
Samsung’s Serif TV makes just such a
statement. Crafted to stand alone as a beautiful
piece of furnishing in its own right, it was
co-created with French luxury designers the
Bouroullec Brothers. The acclaimed duo sought
to give this piece of Samsung technology a
certain charm they felt other more conventional
televisions lacked.
The Serif pushes the aesthetic and
technological boundaries of what we’ve come to
expect from a television. It looks great when
viewed from every angle and comes in different
sizes and colours to allow it to sit comfortably
with your own home’s existing style.
Challenging preconceived notions about what
colour televisions can be, it is available in dark
blue, white and a deep shade of red.
The Serif TV is designed to be functional
around the home as well as elegant. Viewed in
profile it has the silhouette of a Roman numeral
“I”, creating a shelf on top of the
television which can be used for books
or for curios collected on your travels.
The Serif’s menu is just as thoughtfully
designed, with a built-in Curtain Mode
that can transform the television (at the
touch of a button) into a digital clock,
plus Bluetooth speakers complete with
understated visualisation, an interactive
photo gallery and a screen mirror for
your smart phone or to give access to
a wide range of apps.
With so many new televisions now
pursuing the ideal of creating an
ultra-thin screen that essentially
disappears in the home, the Serif TV
takes things in the opposite direction. It
suggests that instead of seeking to hide
or disguise itself, a television can become an
eye-catching centrepiece. It has easily
detachable legs, meaning that it can just as
simply be placed on a table or sideboard or
stood up like an easel. The Serif TV is more than
a television, it’s a work of art and a conversation
piece that can really tie a room together.
Find out more about the Serif TV at samsung.com
Green power
Military green may not be the new colour on the
block when it comes to menswear, but with the likes
of Berluti, Lanvin and Bottega Veneta re-energising
the trend, it’s a safe bet to say we’ll all be investing
next season.
 CAPITOL
PUNISHMENT In his old big-business stomping grounds, DONALD TRUMP
knew only one rule: the law of the jungle, kill or be killed.
But now mired in WASHINGTON, DC, new adversaries –
including the FBI and the White House press corp – are
muddying the waters. As the president clings to the top job,
swatting at enemies left, right and centre, can he really
drain ‘THE SWAMP’ or is he simply out of his depth?
STORY BY Michael Wolff

ILLUSTRATION BY Matthew Laznicka

Swat team: As Washington

buzzes with rumour and
speculation, how long can
President Trump hold all his
opponents at bay?

152 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017

 MICHAEL WOLFF

It did not
ever occur to
Trump that the
swamp could
fight back
OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 153
19 Conduit Street LONDON | 833 Madison Avenue NEW YORK | 5-3-20, Minami-Aoyama TOKYO | Ginza Six 3F 6-10-1 Ginza TOKYO

mackintosh.com

The Acela Express is the fast train that runs
between New York and Washington. Except it is
not very fast, making the 200-mile trip in just
under three hours at nearly $600 for a return ticket.
And this summer there were massive, much-delayed
repairs at New York’s Penn Station, which caused
long waits. By air, door-to-door, Midtown New York
to Downtown Washington takes about 30 minutes
less then the Acela and costs almost twice the
price. But the route is also plagued by constant
delays, so it can sometimes take twice as long. In a
robust market, one with especially demanding
customers, you’d think powerful interest groups
– or major machers mindful of their own comfort,
or wily entrepreneurs – would have challenged the
government-funded but private corporation Amtrak,
which runs the train service, or the two carriers
operating out of the main airports and made it
easier and cheaper for the well-connected people
who commute between Washington and New York.
ut, in fact, this aggravating
B
  commute, which everybody who
is anybody in the government or
anybody who needs anything from
the government must frequently
endure, is a cautionary, cold-bath-type lesson
about democracy: in the end, the system is
bigger than you are.
Manhattan-based, I have been riding the
Acela to DC a few times a week for the last
many months to witness a direct challenge
to the proposition of institutional hegemo-
ny: the presidency of Donald Trump. Trump’s
thesis is that one man with heart and guts,
who has not been inculcated into or bought
by the flawed system, and with a lack of ordi-
nary risk aversion, can just blow it all up. Trump
is a man who, for better or worse, stands in
opposition to the institutions that dominate
American political life.
Sometimes, it seems, he stands in such oppo-
sition he doesn’t even know he’s in opposition.
Rich men, after all, are able to transcend the low
and common complications of the bureaucracy
– this is a central point about being rich. Trump,
safe to say, doesn’t commute to Washington by
public transport. (Curiously, Trump, truly trying
to transcend the system, once bought a New
York-Washington air route, which he financed
with loans on which he could not even make
the first payment.)
It is one of his principles, of course, that
the world invariably yields to the logic of a
better deal – and better deals are what busi-
nessman get. Trump has often been warned,
blithely paying no attention, that Washington
is a different sort of place, that a business-like
approach does not necessarily work in DC. But
this seemed unfathomable to him, ridiculous.
Along with Trump, there are few people,
on either the right or the left, who would
defend the system. The system is, everyone
The system is
broken. It’s an
insider’s game,
totally fixed –
it serves itself
MICHAEL WOLFF
believes, broken: it’s an insider’s game; it’s
totally fixed; it serves itself.
Trump codified this into a simple and
vivid idea: the swamp. This is the web of
unelected special interests, scratching each
other’s backs, that maintains power, frus-
trates change and imposes inhibiting, ritual-
ised behaviour on Washington. Indeed, it was
such an obvious and simple target that to name
it seemed almost to destroy it, or at least
shame it. Who, after all, would actually want
to be part of the swamp?
It did not, it would appear, occur to the new
president that the swamp could fight back,
that, in fact, he would spend most of his time
in office defending himself against it.
Indeed, as though to save face, and to not be
seen to be bullied by the fat and lazy swamp,
its name has been altered to “deep state”. The
pitiful bureaucracy, pampered, self-satisfied
and effete, has now become a sinister, protean,
ever-threatening conspiracy. This includes
the intelligence community: autonomous and
interlocking agencies with vast and unseen
powers now unleashed upon the president.
Faced with an almost nonstop drip-drip of
damning leaks since he took office, it might
seem that the president would step back from
his braggadocio. Lesson learned: the swamp
can drag you down. Draining it is beyond
normal engineering capabilities.
ut, in heroic form, or basic incom-
B
  prehension about the nature of the
field of play, the president has held
his ground. He clearly believes that
this is a personality game. The dom-
inant personality wins. A person becomes
dominant by his refusal to back down. Faceless,
unaccountable institutions can be called out.
Indeed, this is the hope and basis of democracy
as per Mr Smith Goes To Washington. Obviously,
in the president’s mind, he’s more Hollywood
than political-science student.
It’s a fundamental point. Everything he’s
ever done in his life has been based on the
force of who he is. His real estate deals and
how he’s begged and cajoled for financing, his
branding innovations, a simple but effective
matter of projecting his own name and like-
ness, his reality TV career, staying in his own
hyperbolic character – all personality.
Trump had hoped to charm the former direc-
tor of the FBI, James Comey. Then, when
that didn’t happen, when Comey remained
immune to this charm, against much advice
the other way Trump defied standard con-
ventions and all the smaller minds around
him and stepped forward and fired him. In
business terms, if you take over a company
and oust its CEO or fire a divisional chief, you
run the place. But in institutional terms, as it
happens, it doesn’t at all work that way. »
OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 155
 MICHAEL WOLFF
» Personalities in Washington disproportion-
ately dominate headlines, making them seem
larger than they are. Comey, himself quite the
press hog, was a bugbear first for the Clinton
campaign and now for the Trump presidency.
Quite logically, he seemed to Trump the man
to take down.
But, it turns out, in a way that Trump, living
his life outside of institutional structures, still
seems not to understand, you can’t just fire
the FBI.
For liberals, usually no fans of the FBI, but
ever more deeply appalled by Trump, this is
wonderful news. Still, it is worth making the
point – one that law-enforcement Republicans
might ordinarily view with distaste, but that
Trump would surely now embrace – that the
FBI is supposed to be answerable to elected
authorities. In the past, FBI directors have
seldom been fired because presidents have rea-
sonably feared that the FBI would then turn
on them. So, in this regard, Trump has shown
some remarkable moxie.
But the world is as it is and you can either be
stupid or savvy. Trump’s firing of Comey set off
all the institutional alarm bells and activated
a mechanism that can’t so easily be stopped
by anyone: an FBI with its relentless agents
(when does the FBI investigate and not find
a crime?); a Department Of Justice with its
righteous career prosecutors (when do prose-
cutors not find something to prosecute?); and
a special counsel who is beholden to no one.
uring my many hours on the Acela,
D
  I have taken to watching The West
Wing, Aaron Sorkin’s drama of an
idealised White House. I do this
both for its irony in the age of
Trump and because there are seven series with
around 22 episodes each. The Trump admin-
istration may be over before I work my way
through the entire show.
Suffice to say that actual West Wing life
has never, under any president, been like
this. The real West Wing, rather than a set of
natty office suites as in the show, is a group
of shabby government offices with a few cer-
emonial rooms. But what the show effectively
does is memorialise a standard of institutional
behaviour, a kind of wonk bonhomie and
pride, informal and yet serious and profes-
sional, to which every administration might
aspire, except this one.
Trump has no interest in talking the talk or
walking the walk of wonky superiority. He has
forsaken all sense of institutional ritual and
propriety. Whatever the White House might be
as a kind of model of institutional behaviour,
he is against it or incapable of conforming to it.
He has defied the very language of poli-
tics. He’s exploded the entire say-nothing,
cotton-mouth, circumlocutory standard. (I
156 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017
Sworn enemy: Former FBI director James Comey
testifies before the Senate, 8 June 2017
Trump still
seems not to
understand:
you can’t just
fire the FBI
know a former congressional press secretary
who delights dinner parities by translating
any view or position into perfectly credible,
high-minded meaninglessness.) For a man
regarded as a notorious liar, Trump rather
often, bizarrely, says what he means.
For a reasonably large part of the electorate
– and whatever offences he commits, Trump
seems able to hold on to at least a safe 35 per
cent approval rating – his is a jihad against the
official norms of behaviour that exclude, seem-
ingly, at least 35 per cent of the country. In this,
he has recognised that the life of politics and
the life of at least some part of the nation have
diverged too far. The West Wing in its relation-
ship to Donald Trump is the difference between
an expensive scripted drama and a down-
and-dirty reality show. The down-and-dirty
reality show turns out to have a lot of fans.
But the thing is – forgetting the rage in
Youngstown, Ohio or the social-media viru-
lence of Breitbart News and even the great
many Republicans in Washington who rep-
resent aspects of those views – Washington
deeply believes in its own mythology, which
isn’t so badly represented by The West Wing.
Washington’s institutional conceit is self-
regard. To have that turned back on itself
in bilious tweets and incoherent rages and
flagrant disregard of literal fact is, it turns out,
probably too much for any self-respecting,
self-important person.
n some sense, the Washington press
I  corps, a study in mimicked behaviour,
may be the ultimate defender of proper
political decorum, arguably even more
its fetish than ideological rectitude.
Its joy is in how well a politician plays the
game. Part of that game is how well a politi-
cian plays the press itself – the press is like a
woman expecting to be seduced. Indeed, the
press, in the past, has been reasonably tol-
erant of administrations that have proved
themselves substantially more right-wing and
militaristic than, so far, the Trump administra-
tion. But no administration in modern history
has disregarded the rules of the game and none
have been so universally reviled by main-
stream media as this one.
Institutions, at the same time formidable
and thin-skinned – rather like Trump himself
– demand respect. It is far from clear, even
if Trump were to revamp, in the face of his
mounting difficulties, his tactics and strategy,
that he could, in fact, deliver this respect – or
even a pretence of it. That, too, is held against
him. Were he wily enough to subvert insti-
tutions, which would involve understanding
them, that would be one thing. But it’s another
just to think they don’t count and that their
purpose and powers can be merely disregarded.
It is perhaps another reason why presi-
dents don’t come from New York. New York
is a power centre arguably greater than
Washington – and certainly richer. Hence,
someone who has mastered New York might
be inclined to believe Washington is a walk
in the park.
But there is a different order of power in
Washington. It is strangely not about money
or even accomplishment. It is about continuing.
Holding firm. Sphinx-like. Political institutions
don’t succeed by adapting to disruption, like
institutions in the marketplace. They succeed
by resisting disruption. And, often, by taking
down those who seek to disrupt them.
Donald Trump is quite an adversary. To count
him out at this stage is clearly not wise. And
the fight has a long way to go. But, so far, the
swamp is winning. G
More from G For these related
stories visit GQ.co.uk/magazine
Photograph Getty Images
The Jeremy Corbyn Files (Michael Wolff,
September 2017)
Truth Is Whatever People Will Believe
(Michael Wolff, August 2017)
Democratic Deficit (Michael Wolff, July 2017)
F I N D Y O U R D A N C I N G F E E T

D U N E L O N D O N . C O M
 Massimo Dutti’s new collection redraws your
autumn/winter wardrobe with bold, clean lines,
blocks of colour and an understated elegance

STYLING BY Holly Roberts

 G Partnership

Blazer (Personal Tailoring), £299 . Trousers (Personal Tailoring), £109. Jumper £54.95.
Opposite: T-shirt, £24.95. Bomber jacket with detachable inner jacket, £179. All by Massimo Dutti. massimodutti.com
 Coat, £249 (Limited Edition). Trousers, £74.95.
Opposite: Jumper, £54.95. All by Massimo Dutti. massimodutti.com
G Partnership
 G Partnership

T-shirt, £19.95. T-shirt, £24.95. Blazer (Personal Tailoring), £299. Trousers (Personal Tailoring), £109.
Opposite: T-shirt, £19.95. T-shirt, £24.95. Cardigan, £64.95. Trousers (Personal Tailoring), £109.
All by Massimo Dutti. massimodutti.com
G Partnership

Cashmere sweater, £139

Hat, £29.95. Both by
Massimo Dutti.
massimodutti.com

Model Joby Barrett at

Supa model management
 This month on

…Premier League opinions and analysis from some of the best

Don’t miss writers in the business, for whenever you run out of your own.
Published on the site every Monday morning.

Be more
…Guyliner. Read
weekly columns
by our resident
sex columnist.
The Guyliner covers
everything from
making “home
movies” with your
partner to how
to react when a
friend comes out.
Essential reading.

Follow
…@BritishGQ on Flipboard, the app
that curates the web’s best editorial
content, including all our stories as
soon as they’re published.

Catch Shop
…our Instagram Story …our 12 best new menswear
videos by following
@BritishGQ. We link
items, selected every Monday
to our top features by Associate Style Editor
and go behind the Nick Carvell. Add to basket
scenes at photo shoots,
menswear shows and before they sell out.
new designer stores.
55 Jermyn Street, London, SW1Y 6LX | 24 Brook Street, London, W1K 5DG
www.johnsmedley.com
 Pal Zileri has really upped its
game with its latest range of
accessories. Our top pick is this
retro-style leather briefcase.
£1,360. palzileri.com
Styling Jake Pummintr Grooming Charley McEwen at Frank Agency using Benefit Cosmetics Model David Frampton at Premier

Inject a little drama into your life and swap your traditional
overcoat for a cape. With this version by Boss you can be sure
to sweep in with style, whatever the occasion.
EDITED BY ROBERT JOHNSTON

Cape, £650. Suit, £650. Shirt, £99. Tie, £65. All by Boss. hugoboss.com. Photograph by Brendan Freeman

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 167


Celebrate the return of the British spy series with
some classic pieces from both sides of the Atlantic
hen Matthew Vaughn’s
W original Kingsman: The
Secret Service was released
in 2015, it was a pleasing
return to that British
staple, the sartorial spy caper. Indeed, in this
instance the look was so important that
the spies were actually named after their
secret HQ – a bespoke tailor on Savile
Row called Kingsman (a thinly disguised
real-life Huntsman).
This inspired Mr Porter to launch a
“Kingsman” range to coincide with the film:
a gentlemanly selection of shirts
and tailoring with input from Expect an
Turnbull & Asser (shirtmaker to
James Bond). The collection was American
so successful that to celebrate the twist on
release of Kingsman: The Golden
Circle (out on 29 September) Mr
British
Porter has once again joined forces looks
168 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017
Kingsman collection,
from £75. All at
mrporter.com
with the films’ legendary wardrobe designer
Arianne Phillips to collaborate on a collection.
The sequel sees Taron Egerton and his fellow
spies travelling to the US, after the destruction
of their HQ, to hook up with their American
counterparts at Statesman – cue Channing
Tatum in a Stetson. So, as with the film, you
can expect some American twists on classic
British looks. For example, the “Statesman”
collection features American brands such as
Golden Bear, which has created a varsity jacket,
with cowboy boots by Lucchese and, yes,
hats by Stetson. In the British corner, Drake’s is
supplying the ties, the cufflinks are
by Deakin & Francis and the knit-
wear is by Corgi.
Whichever side of the Atlantic
you’re more comfortable with, one
thing’s for sure: you won’t be able to
keep these pieces secret. RJ
mrporter.com
Gucci: The bumbag is well
and truly back and it’s no
surprise that one of the
hottest versions is by Gucci.
The brand collaborated with
London-based Spanish artist
Coco Capitán, who has added
her handwriting (which you
might recognise from the
cover of Drake’s album If
You’re Reading This It’s Too
Late) with emotive messages
such as “Common sense is not
that common.” And that’s a
comment we can all relate to.
£796. gucci.com
Beams x
Harvey Nichols: Harajuku is famous
as the epicentre of Japanese style and it was
here that Yo Shitara opened his first Beams
store in the Seventies. Now it is a global
phenomenon and has joined forces with
Harvey Nichols to create the “Tokyojin”
project, with exclusive pieces that showcase
the best in Japanese street style. Jacket
by Buzz Rickson’s, £655. Hat by Câbleami
x Fennica, £180. Both “Tokyojin” at Harvey
Nichols. harveynichols.com
 W A T C H B E Y O N D

BR V2-94 BLACK STEEL · Bell & Ross UK: +44(0) 2076 291 558 · Boutique: Units 48 - 49 Burlington Arcade - W1J 0QJ - London · e-boutique: www.bellross.com
 HOW TO WEAR: The new black tie
An all-black evening suit will always look superb (just ask James Bond),
but even the most classic tuxedo can benefit from a seasonal shake-up.

Bow tie
It’s go big or go home right
now. Wear with a modern
fixed-collar evening shirt
as opposed to a wing.
By Gucci, £120. gucci.com
Shirt
Experiment with a pleated-front
evening shirt in chambray denim
instead of your go-to white.
By Richard James, £155.
At mrporter.com

White jacket
There’s no throwback piece that
looks fresher right now. After all,
there’s a reason the most stylish
Bonds wore ivory dinner jackets.
By Dolce & Gabbana, £1,722.
dolcegabbana.com
Studs
Swap your onyx shirt
studs for something
crafted from the metal of
the moment: rose gold.
By Alice Made This, £160.
alicemadethis.com

Patterned jacket
Upgrade your black blazer
for something bursting
with colour. However, keep
everything else monochrome
Shoes – if your jacket’s shouting,
Try something louche the rest of your dinner
and eye-catching, such suit should whisper.
as these embroidered By Billionaire, £2,120.
velvet slippers. Invest in billionairecouture.com
some black silk socks to
keep it all looking sleek.
By Duke + Dexter, £250.
dukeanddexter.com Wallet
Fashion assistant Jake Pummintr

Don’t ruin the line

of your suit with
a bulky wallet.
Keep your card,
ID and a few notes
to tip with in a slim
Suit by Prada, £2,800. prada.com. Shirt by Gieves & Hawkes,
leather card holder.
£145. gievesandhawkes.com. Shoes by Jimmy Choo, £450.
jimmychoo.com. Bow tie by Givenchy, £114. givenchy.com. By Burberry, £195. At
Pocket square by Boss, £45. hugoboss.com matchesfashion.com

EDITED BY Nick Carvell PHOTOGRAPHS BY Roger Stillman

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 171

 Portofino by IWC, £3,590. iwc.com

Calatrava in white gold by Patek Philippe,

£25,190. patek.com

East West by Tiffany & Co,

£3,525. tiffany.co.uk

THE
MIDNIGHT
HOUR:
When you’re dressed to the nines
and out on the town what you
need on your wrist is simplicity
– elegance aside, you can see
at a glance if there’s time
for one more.
PHOTOGRAPH BY Mitch Payne

172 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017

Ballon Bleu by Cartier, £5,000. cartier.co.uk

Master Control Date by Jaeger-LeCoultre,

£5,150. jaeger-lecoultre.com

LUC XP in white gold by Chopard,

£11,230. chopard.com

1931 Automatic by Louis Erard, £995.

At Jura. jurawatches.co.uk

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 173

 2

JIM CHAPMAN
on autumn’s
best trends:
1
Camo, corduroy and
daytime pyjamas worth 3
getting out of bed for.

ummer is drawing to a close

S
  and it’s time to say, “So long,
short sleeves”, “Bye bye,
beachwear” and “See you
later, sandals”. The silver
lining, for me, is that what’s up next is
by far the coolest season for clothes.
Autumn’s not so chilly that you are
forced to be super practical for fear of
hypothermia, but not so hot that you
sweat out most of your vital fluids by
adding an extra layer. And, of course,
it means there are plenty of new
trends to try out. So, without further
ado, here are the ones I’m looking
4
forward to slipping into this season. the colour orange deserves a little
shout out here. Go for the same
1. Blend in to stand out shade as autumn’s changing leaves.
At London Fashion Week Men’s, lots of
shows made use of camouflage, with the likes 4. Cord is cool
of Christopher Raeburn bringing out a grey duffle At school, my maths teacher lived
coat with highlighter-yellow accents (pictured). in cream corduroy trousers that
Other designers went further and showed head-to-toe he wore almost every day. Perhaps
camo. Don’t just expect the traditional forest green, because of the Mr Bacheldors of
either – look out for white and blue prints too. the world, corduroy has had a bad
rep over the past few years, but
2. Bananas for pyjamas this season it’s back. I recently
5
I recall my man-crush Ryan Gosling bought a beautiful brown jacket
rocking the hell out of a pyjama from Percival, but many shows
top during the Cannes Film Festival featured it in all sorts of ways.
back in 2011. Silk shirts and E Tautz brought out some
nightwear during the day may seem seriously sharp navy trousers and
summery, but when layered with Officine Générale presented a
a beautiful cashmere topcoat – as sartorial option in a pale green
seen at Katie Eary (pictured), as well slim-cut suit (pictured).
as the look I wore on the Dolce
& Gabbana catwalk – it can 5. Art attack
work really well. Whether it’s an official artist-
meets-brand collaboration or a
Photographs First View; InDigital

3. Go green designer going bold with graphic

The big colour this season is a rich,
mossy green as seen at Oliver
Spencer (pictured). It’ll look great
with all your trusty browns, greys
and navy blues, so chances are
you won’t have to buy a load of
other bits to make it work. Also,
prints, art-inspired patterns are
big this season – and the busier the better. Vivienne
Westwood showcased a few pieces that met this
criteria, as did Alex Mullins (pictured), Agi & Sam and
Topman. This is certainly a trend that will turn heads,
so if you are going to invest, you have to own it. Me?
I’m fully committed.

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 175


GROOMING:
In Italy, signature
scents are bestowed
young, passed down
the generations
or many Italian men,
F
fragrance is held in the same
high regard as family.
Signature scents are bestowed
young, often passed down
from older generations, and last
throughout life. The pride and loyalty
Italians feel towards
their colonia is unrivalled and, for an
increasing number of men, Acqua Di
Parma is the maker of choice. Founded in
1916, the brand has experienced an
upsurge of late, due almost entirely to
word-of-mouth marketing – a testimony
to its ability to blend tradition and
heritage with forward-thinking business
savvy.
CEO Laura Burdese is taking Acqua Di
Parma’s newest fragrance, Colonia Pura,
far and wide. Since assuming the role in
October 2016, Burdese has unmasked the
historically reserved brand and introduced
it to a new generation. “The brand was
quite cold,” she says. “I saw my goal to
176 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017
Invest in instant sprezzatura
with a spritz that delivers the
Italian lifestyle. EDITED BY Carlotta Constant
warm it up.”
Box fresh (inset): Woolrich: Few brands
Step forward Will Will Chalker and
family present a transition from great
Chalker, the fine-boned British vision for
Acqua Di Parma
outdoors to urban landscape
Brit model and amateur
boxer. In him, Burdese
as successfully as Woolrich
found something that Acqua Di Parma had and its new shoe range is
never before had in its century-long history: a perfect example of this
an ambassador. “We wanted someone who double life. This traditional-
embodies our values, such as simplicity and style climbing boot has
light-heartedness,” says Burdese, “someone all-terrain credibility, even
who can balance a career and a family, if the heights you aspire to
someone with a real, authentic feeling.” are of the social variety. RJ
As the new face of Colonia Pura –
photographed for the campaign alongside
his wife, Chloe, and their son, Arthur –
Chalker is seen to epitomise the scent’s
masculine combination of crisp bergamot
and light white musk layered over deep
Boots by Woolwich,
notes of patchouli and cedarwood. £430. woolrich.eu
As for Chalker being British, Burdese
says, “It doesn’t matter where you’re from,
this is what we believe is the way of the
true Italian lifestyle.” CC
£91 for 100ml. At John Lewis. johnlewis.com
Aesop: Skin, hair and body experts Aesop
releases the second of its oral-care products
with this fluoride-free sea buckthorn, cardamom Boots by Woolwich,
and wasabi-extract toothpaste. The formula has £250. woolrich.eu
anti-microbial properties that soothe gums and
tackle the buildup of plaque. £9. aesop.com
YOU
CAN’T
BEAT
INFINITY
ACTIVE.

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no limits.
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Available in-store and online at

tmlewin.co.uk/infinityactive
 Should I have creases in my trousers? My cleaning
lady insists on ironing everything and I think she
is ruining my look. Nick Smith, via email
Trousers by Thom Sweeney,
This depends entirely on the trousers in question. Creases
down the front of your jeans make you look about six and
will probably earn you a few old-fashioned looks from
strangers. In my world, jeans are washed seldom and
never ironed. Over-ironing of denim will result in a
shininess that looks as if you have been rubbing oily
palms over your thighs – another thing that might earn
a few old-fashioned looks. When dry, simply smooth them
out by hand and fold. Chinos may require ironing, but they
should be pressed flat rather than have a crease down the
front. A pair of grey flannels or suit trousers, however,
deserve to have a crease that is sharp enough to take your
leg off at the knee, so press them after dry cleaning. You
can have a permanent crease put in the appropriate trousers
so they will continue to look sharp however or wherever you
wear them. There is a treatment available from Supercrease
(supercrease.com) in which a thin line of resin is applied to
the inside of a crease. It works on all fibres, costs around
£3.50 and should last 150 wash or dry-clean cycles. I’m not
sure I approve, as it sounds suspiciously like cheating, but
then I’m a terrible old stick in the mud.
Below: Jacket, £970.
Shirt, £210. Trousers,
£370. Shoes, £580.
Bag, £530. All by
Canali. canali.com.
£395. At mrporter.com
What is meant by “the drop”
in a suit?
Gino, via email
Quite simply this is the difference in
inches between your jacket size and the
waist size of your suit trousers. So, for
example, if your jacket size is a UK 40
and you have a 34in waist then it would
be drop six – which is the standard suit
drop. However, suits by European
tailoring houses tend to have slimmer-cut
jackets so will be cut to have a larger
drop, typically a seven. In this instance, it
might be worth your while considering
going up a size to ensure the jacket isn’t
too snug. Using inches to calculate the
drop is, of course, handy when dealing
with Italian sizing, as this is not a straight
swap into centimetres. In Milan, a drop
six would mean the labels would say
your jacket was a 50, the same as your
trousers. If the drop you’re looking for

STYLE SHRINK:
is well out of this range it means you will
have to see a tailor to make sure your
suits fit you correctly – or think about
a made-to-measure service. And if your
EDITED BY Robert Johnston
chest and waist are around the same size
you will politely be referred to as portly.

Are there particular colour
combinations that shouldn’t
be worn together? JL, via email
There is a saying that red and green should
never be seen (except on an Irish queen).
I can’t find any reason, but I’m betting it is
simply because it rhymes. It’s thought that
Jeans by Stone Island, £165.
At matchesfashion.com
the origins of the rule actually refers to
shipping’s port and starboard lights – as
in, if you could see them both at the same
time it meant you were about to be run
over by a boat. The main caveat when it
comes to mixing red with green is that
it makes the wearer look like a Christmas
tree. Perhaps the most persistent
frowned-upon combination is black and
brown. This seems to be because there
used to be strict dress codes for the city
and the country – the origin of Hardy
Amies’ famous quote, “Brown in town,
how amusing.” Personally I think brown
and black can go very well together, such
as a camel rollneck with a black suit or
chestnut Chelsea boots
with black denim. G

Boots by RM Williams,
£350. rmwilliams.com

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 179

 The G Preview:October
E D I T E D BY HOLLY ROBERTS

Bringing you the very latest in fashion, grooming, watches, news and exclusive events

Junior Retail Editor Michiel Steur

1 Shearling jacket by Giuseppe Zanotti, £2,380. giuseppezanotti.com 2 Coach For Men Eau De Toilette by Coach, £62 for 100ml. coach.com
3 Rucksack by Dior Homme, £1,400. dior.com 4 Bag by Moncler, £940. moncler.com 5 Jacket by Parajumpers, £810. parajumpers.it
6 Trainers by Louis Vuitton, £715. louisvuitton.com 7 Jacket by Stone Island, £425. stonesisland.co.uk
8 Access Smartwatch by Michael Kors, £329. michaelkors.co.uk 9 Document holder by Pal Zileri, £775. palzileri.com

180 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017

 PREVIEW

We love
Emporio Armani
Autumn/Winter 2017
Step into the new season in style with a little help from
Emporio Armani. Whether you’re looking to invest in
your outerwear or splurge on a seasonal must-have,
Emporio Armani have the answer. Our top pick from
the collection? Inspired by classic military styles, these
black calfskin lace-up boots are sure to toughen up
your accessories game. Boasting a classic silhouette
with modern details, these will add edge to even the
most classic of winter wardrobes.

Boots by Emporio Armani, £570. armani.com

Photograph Victoria Ling
 PREVIEW

MK1 by Timex, £69.99.

At endclothing.com

Bomber jacket by
Kent & Curwen, £695.
kentandcurwen.com

Jeans by Ben Sherman,

£75. bensherman.co.uk

Belt by Corneliani, £132.

corneliani.com

How to
Dress for a weekend in the city
Bag by Calvin Klein
WHETHER you’re looking for a weekend away with boutique charm Accessories, £300.
or simply an intimate spot to wine and dine in the capital, Henrietta calvinkelin.com
Hotel has it all. Located in the heart of Covent Garden, Henrietta is
the first London-based hotel from the collective behind the
Sunglasses by
Experimental Group. Boasting 18 rooms – beautifully curated by Billionaire Couture, £880.
design heavyweight Dorothée Meilichzon – and a restaurant led by billionairecouture.com
Michelin-starred Ollie Dabbous, the hotel weaves together the
collective’s passion for food, wine and design. But how do you dress
the part? Those checking in for the night opt for laid-back luxe. Trainers by Tod’s,
£390. tods.com
Start with this Kent & Curwen navy wool bomber jacket to keep
your look cool and casual and team with simple separates. Opt for
dark-wash jeans and add luxury accessories to elevate the look – we
Edited by Holly Roberts

love this taupe leather belt from Corneliani and these khaki
neoprene and leather trainers from Tod’s. All that’s left is to sit back
and enjoy the cocktail menu. Trust us, you’ll find it hard to leave.
Henrietta Hotel, 14-15 Henrietta Street, WC2E 8QH,
London, +44 203 794 5313.

182 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017

 RRORTH
W

P OVE
COMING SOON

£1 R £
00 400
!
AND

PRESENT THE

GROOMING
BOX Featuring GQ’s edit of this season’s must-have
grooming products that create the ultimate daily routine

On sale from 10 October 2017

at mankind.co.uk
For more information see GQ.co.uk and the November issue for additional offers and details
G Partnership

Curates
EDITED BY Aaron Callow

BRINGING YOU THE BEST IN CLASS AT HOME, WORK AND AWAY, THIS IS THE GQ VISION OF LIFE AT THE TOP

HOME

Bedroom painted in
Railings No31 by
Farrow & Ball,
from £24 for 750ml.
farrow-ball.com
 Ottoman by The
Conran Shop, £1,430.
conranshop.co.uk

‘First try a sofa for

comfort, then choose
a balance of texture
and colour to
complement the
rest of the room’
G E O R G E K HACHFE
D IR EC TO R , P OLIFOR M

THE LIVING ROOM

Hi-fi by Ruark, £2,200.

ruarkaudio.com

Sitting pretty
Comfort is king in the land of the
lounge, but be sure you also cosy
up to the right designers

Lamp by Loaf,
£215. loaf.com

Stool by Amy
Somerville, £3,858.
amysomerville.com
 Light shade by Vita
Bed by Poliform, Copenhagen, £70.
£11,700. poliformuk.com vitacopenhagen.com

Chest of drawers by
Porada, £2,220. At Go
Modern. gomodern.co.uk

Floor cushion
by Lane By
Post, £200.
lanebypost.com Dressing table by
Mannmade, £885.
mannmadelondon.com

‘Choose a bed that
has slats with different
tension on each side
to suit you and your
partner individually’
G E O R G E K HACHFE
D IR EC TO R , POL IFOR M

T H E B E D R O O M

Best of the rest

Get your head down in a space that’s up-to-date
with design classics you won’t lose sleep over

Chair by Vitra,
£375. vitra.com

Sideboard by Rubelli Casa, £7,213. rubelli.com

 G Partnership

The house wins

Give your interiors a contemporary
Italian style makeover with Poliform’s
new range of home furnishings
Being passionate about design can be
a time-consuming hobby. Fortunately,
Poliform brings together some of the
world’s leading contemporary designers
under one roof. Spread across three floors
on London’s Kings Road, Poliform UK has
kitchens, wardrobes and everything else
you need to complete your home.
This season, standout items include the
Bristol bookcase, designed by French
architect JM Massaud, and the Marlon
armchair, with minimalist design by
Vincent Van Duysen. Among the highlights
of its just-launched rug collection is the
Dama rug, handwoven in wool and
bamboo silk.
To complement the collection, Poliform
has collaborated with Magic Circus, whose
unique lights are each individually made
with hand-blown glass. Proof that great
design does more than just light up your life.
poliformuk.com

Bristol bookcase, £5,932.

Dama rug, £2,811.
Marlon armchair, £2,874.
Baba coffee table, £979.
Magic Circus light £ 1,260.
All available at Poliform.
poliformuk.com
020 7368 7600
G Partnership

Atacama Wallpaper by
Farrow & Ball, £86 per 10m
roll. farrow-ball.com

Urban Jungle
Enjoy a touch of escapism inside your
own home with this unique tropical floral
wallpaper print from Farrow & Ball
If you’re looking for a way to bring a sense of the natural world
into your home, Farrow & Ball may have just the thing. Its
new Atacama wallpaper, named after the flowering South American
desert and inspired by a brightly coloured fabric found in an old
mill, is an intricate botanical design that will bring pattern and
texture to your walls.
The wallpaper has been handcrafted using Farrow & Ball paint
and traditional block printing methods, which results in a tactile
finish and an almost three-dimensional effect. Atacama is available
in seven different colours, from soft neutrals and muted pastels
through to striking brighter hues. It’s the next best thing to moving
into an Amazonian treehouse. farrow-ball.com
 Vase by LSA, £100.
lsa-international.com

Espresso cup and saucer by

Richard Brendon, £50.
Tray by Hay, from £13.
Print by Lane richardbrendon.com
At Amara. amara.com
By Post, £80.
lanebypost.com

THE ST U DY

Live and learn Pen by Oggetto,

£20. oggetto.com

An office serves a purpose, but

working shapes and colours into
the space will keep you stimulated

Desk lamp by
Anglepoise,
£170. At Amara.
amara.com

iPhone dock by
Native Union,
£110. At Amara.
amara.com
 Kitchen by
Lanserring,
from £50,000.
lanserring.com

Utensil holder by Sagaform,

£37. At Forma House.
formahouse.co.uk

T HE K I TC HE N

The cook report

Kit out your kitchen with good-looking
goods and always remember: you are
where you eat Kettle by Smeg,
£150. smeg.com

m
o lo.co
4 0. evas
l o, £ 1
v a So
by E
Pa n Refrigerator by LG,
£6,500. lg.com

Utensils by Sparq,
£48. At Forma House.
formahouse.co.uk

Glass by QDO, £15 for two. At

Forma House. formahouse.co.uk

Coffee grinder by
Crushgrind, £70.
Coffee machine by Wilfa, £300. crushgrind.com
At Harvey Nichols.
harveynichols.com
 G Partnership

Material Man
Get your hands on the most
innovative and beautifully designed
furniture around with the latest
collection from The Conran Shop
The Conran Shop is known for its exclusive
furniture collections and looking at its new
selection it is easy to see why.
Take the Rondo Chair, which is upholstered with
premium quality Nobilis Tegola leather and was
created after British designer Lucy Kurrein
became inspired by boxers’ punching bags. Then
there’s the Track Walnut Coffee Table and the
Mag Side Table. The latter is made from Pyrolave,
a volcanic stone which is highly resistant to
staining and heat. Both were designed exclusively
for The Conran Shop. Finally, the Blooper Table
Lamp by Mette Schelde is built from steel using
traditional, time-honoured techniques. You won’t
need to look anywhere else. conranshop.co.uk

Track Walnut Coffee table, £1,695.

Rondo Armchair, £4,995. Mag Side
Table, £875, Blooper Table Lamp,
£295. All by The Conran Shop.
conranshop.co.uk
 The return of
The Queen
A quarter of a century on from her ‘annus horribilis’, the revived popularity
of Elizabeth II is a phenomenon felt all over the world. Ahead of its second
series, and proving even our republican cousins on the continent are hooked
on the Windsors’ family saga, MARION VAN RENTERGHEM of French
Vanity Fair visits the set of Netflix’s mega-budget global sensation The Crown
y source wears a black suit
M
  and dull-red tie. He has
specified, as I would expect
of all current or retired
Buckingham Palace staff, that
the interview must be strictly anonymous.
“We didn’t speak to each other; this meeting
didn’t happen,” he reiterates.
The Queen does not like women in her
entourage and the men in her inner circle
are chosen for their absolute discretion,
usually with backgrounds in the army,
foreign affairs or the secret service. She
likes them tall and handsome, too, and
although even the Queen can’t have it
all, my source ticks most of these boxes.
Seemingly ageless, he lacks particularly
striking features: he is of average height,
with grey hair, a colourless stare and a skin
tone flushed lightly pink. His manners are
flawless but staid. What’s fascinating
about him is the way he can hold a lengthy
conversation without actually saying very
much. It’s a feat one only realises after the
conversation has ended, as one frantically
scans notes that are devoid of information.
When amused, his eyes briefly crinkle. Even
off-duty and away from Buckingham Palace,
an unfettered laugh would be inappropriate.
The Queen is all secrets, mystery and
muffled noise – ostensible blandness and
unwavering tradition. Guests of Buckingham
Palace must observe the golden rule: talk
of politics, religion or gender is forbidden.
192 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017
“It limits conversational scope,” says Belgian
journalist Marc Roche, a biographer of the
Queen. Roche is almost the only reporter
on the planet to have access to the press-
fearing Windsors – a much-coveted
privilege. A longtime London correspondent
for French newspaper Le Monde, he has met
the Queen six times. “Each time, she asked
me the same three questions,” he says.
“How long have you been in the UK?
Do you like it? Isn’t it a wonderful place?”
Once, she added a fourth. “Do you like
my paintings?” A Rembrandt and a
Rubens were hanging within arm’s reach,
Roche recalls. “They are marvellous,
Ma’am,” he replied. “Aren’t they just? My
great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria
bought them,” she said, before slipping
away with small, hurried steps to speak
to another guest.
Something unprecedented has happened
to the Queen of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland. In the Netflix series The Crown,
‘Without people’s
fondness for the
monarchy it
can’t exist’
she has become the heroine in a pacey and
lavish account of her life, beginning with
the final years of her father, George VI,
the stammering king. Played by Claire Foy,
Elizabeth II is the new star of the American
video-streaming platform, which recently
topped 100 million subscribers. This year,
this blockbuster-budget American-British
series took home two prestigious Golden
Globes: Best Drama Series and Best Actress
for Foy. The ten episodes of The Crown’s
first series were released across ten
countries simultaneously and critics were
universal in their praise. Although Netflix
keeps its audience figures close to its chest,
its hurry to announce a second series,
expected this November, confirms The
Crown as a global success.
The amount of documentation studied
for the series was immense. So as not to
compromise royal neutrality, access to the
Palace and the Royal Family was impossible.
Instead, historians and biographers were
endlessly consulted, with gaps deftly filled
with fiction. Even if the facts do not all
add up, the tone the series captures feels
historically accurate.
Throughout this century, and more than
half of the last, the Queen’s complete
devotion to her role has made an indelible
impression. Her sense of duty was incumbent
upon her from the start and she sacrificed her
sense of self to better serve the unity and
longevity of her kingdom. »
 THE QUEEN

Elizabeth II
is at the
peak of her
glory – a pop
icon even
Royal treatment: Netflix super
smash The Crown, starring
Claire Foy and Matt Smith,
tells the story of the young
Queen and Prince Philip

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 193

 THE QUEEN
» She is calm, strong and confident, with
never a cancelled appointment nor sign of
fatigue or weariness. Such consistency,
during the highs and lows of her popularity,
renders her reign all the more respectable.
And yet it is through Foy’s portrayal
of the Queen’s solemn graciousness that
the apparent cold indifference of the real
Elizabeth has melted away. In short, The
Crown has made the Queen likeable again.
Has she seen the series? That is the
question... We have no idea what the
Queen thinks, feels, says or does in her
palace. Secrecy is paramount. The Queen
does not express herself; she simply is.
My anonymous source, on the other hand,
didn’t miss a single episode. His eyes crinkle
with amusement when I ask him about it.
He becomes enthusiastic, sentimental
even. “I enjoyed it,” he says.
iles away from the real
M
  palace, Elstree Studios
in North London is the
legendary place where, in
the Sixties, John Steed and
Emma Peel piled on the English charm in
The Avengers. Today, it houses the set of
The Crown. It is Friday 12 May, the last
day of seven months’ filming on the highly
anticipated second series. Ten new episodes
will chart the Queen’s life from 1956 to
1964: from Prince Charles’ childhood and
Prince Philip’s party years, to the Cold
War and her meeting with US president
John F Kennedy.
I watch Prime Minister Anthony Eden
(played by Jeremy Northam) at his desk in
an ersatz Downing Street. The smoke from
his cigarette, which rests on an ashtray, has
filled the room with a light fog. A couple of
takes later, Eden answers the black Bakelite
telephone and responds with apprehension
to the news he hears down the line. “The
Russians?” he exclaims, anxiously sucking
his cigarette. Cut. We won’t find out any
more this series. Next, I head to “Buckingham
Palace”, a few metres away in another part
of Elstree. A family lunch is taking place in
a dining room that looks out over the garden.
Present are Elizabeth, her sister, Princess
Margaret (Vanessa Kirby), and Antony
Armstrong-Jones (Matthew-Goode), the
royal photographer and later Lord Snowdon,
who would marry Margaret in 1960. At the
table, the lovers make a request to the
Queen: they want to announce their
engagement. Elizabeth takes a spoonful
of soup to hide her embarrassment. She
too has a confession: she is pregnant
and must ask her sister to delay this
announcement. Hierarchy means
that this request is non-negotiable.
194 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017
England expects: Matt Smith and Claire Foy in
the second series of Netflix hit The Crown
‘We don’t know
who the Queen is
and yet she’s the
most famous
person alive’
More takes follow, and more spoonfuls
of soup. Foy has eaten enough. After the
fourth take, her expression reveals a mild
nausea and the crew can’t stop laughing.
The camera man, sound technician and
control room technician can’t focus. It’s
6pm on the last day of filming – just hours
before the closing party. The whole crew is
here – more than 100 people crammed in
front of this tiny dining room. Everyone
is tired. Fits of laughter ripple continuously
around the room. They need one more
take, one more spoonful of soup. Elizabeth
swallows and looks at her sister. “I’m sorry,
Margaret.” Cut. The end. Cries of joy. Hugs.
Champagne. Her fellow actors leave the
room, as Foy is praised, embraced and
handed an enormous bouquet of flowers.
The second series’ filming is over. For the
third series, which will span the Seventies,
Foy will pass her crown to another.
What is the bond that ties the British
to their Queen? What exactly spurred
scriptwriter Peter Morgan to turn Her
Majesty into a television heroine, having
already written the script for Stephen
Frears’ 2006 film, The Queen? By the end
of the first series, we still know very little
about her, other than that she likes to play
bagatelle and regrets not having studied. In
91 years of life, 65 on the throne, she has
not given much away. She doesn’t vote,
she’s never given an interview and she
never intervenes in politics. In The Crown,
the story is pegged to the secondary
characters – Winston Churchill (John
Lithgow) as a tiring leader, an amorous
and spunky Princess Margaret and an
increasingly frustrated Philip Mountbatten
(Matt Smith), forced to quit the Navy to
fulfil his role as prince consort.
As a character, Foy’s Elizabeth II has
nothing fanciful about her. She is central,
but also bland. What more is there to talk
about, other than her calm and stubborn
dedication to public duty? Is she a person
or just a function? It was this question that
tickled Morgan and The Crown’s executive
producers, Suzanne Mackie and Andy
Harries. “We don’t know who the Queen
really is and yet she’s the most famous
person on the planet. It’s a brand that
intrigues the whole world. There is no
equivalent,” says Harries. “The length of
her reign tells a world history,” adds Mackie.
“From Winston Churchill to Theresa May,
Elizabeth II has known 13 prime ministers.
She remains unweathered by change, critics
and family dramas. Politicians, the media
and the church have all been discredited,
but the Queen? Never. Six decades later,
she’s the only one still intact. It’s the most
incredible structure for a television series.
Through this prism, we wanted to give a
real sense of British post-war history.”
sk the British if they like their
A Queen and the more traditional
among them will say yes while
the more cosmopolitan won’t
know how to respond. “Like”
is not the right word and yet even among
her fiercest critics – exasperated by the
Windsors’ wealth, by the pressure of
royal expenditure on the taxpayer and
the monarchy’s apparent emphasis on
class structure – “hate” has no place either.
Her subjects both respect and need her.
Even today, to forgo the monarchy remains
unimaginable. The Queen is the country’s
rock in troubled times: a figure whose
constancy provides reassurance. She gives
the impression that her moral aura alone
is enough to contain the ego of a prime
minister over whom she has no actual
power. Not only is she the guarantor of the
country’s unity – something to hold on to
in these turbulent waters, roughened by the
Brexit vote – she is also the protector of
its democracy.
Alastair Campbell observed this from
his watchtower at Number Ten where, as
Tony Blair’s communications director, he
masterminded government strategy. »
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 THE QUEEN
» A staunch republican irked by a Royal
Family that institutionalises inequality,
Campbell nevertheless developed an
admiration for the Queen’s “leadership
talent”. So much so, in fact, that her
winning strategy is featured in his
bestselling book, Winners: And How They
Succeed, where she rubs shoulders with
sporting champions, political chiefs and
top businessmen, thanks to her skill in
maintaining the monarchy and staying
relevant to another generation.
She did, however, have to weather the
“annus horribilis”. In 1992 came the fall
from grace of Charles and Diana, the
revelation of Charles’ affair with Camilla
Parker Bowles, Princess Anne’s divorce,
Prince Andrew’s divorce and a fire at
Windsor Castle. But the worst came five
years later: the tragic death of Diana,
Princess of Wales, in August 1997. The
emotional response to the loss of the
“People’s Princess” was immeasurable. From
Downing Street to Buckingham Palace, were
mountains of flowers and crowds of tearful
pedestrians. The Queen appeared not to
understand it. All that for a pseudo-princess
who flaunted herself with her lover on a
luxury yacht, was constantly slandered by
the press and brought the Royal Family into
disrepute? The sovereign stayed in Scotland,
locked in Balmoral Castle, and delayed the
lowering of Buckingham Palace’s royal flag
to half-mast. Come to London? She didn’t
see the need. But Prince Charles and Tony
Blair, worried about triggering public
hostility, convinced her to return. “At that
point, the institution really had a scare. It
could have taken a turn for the worse,”
recalls Campbell.
T she lets the
wenty years later, the Queen is at
the peak of her glory – a pop icon
even. On 22 April, the day after
the Queen’s 91st birthday,
Rihanna superimposed a picture
of the monarch’s head on her own body and
posted it on Instagram. Her breasts are bare
beneath her open dress, her hair is dyed
pink and she’s holding a bottle of cider.
So how did the Queen, after a decade
marred by gaffes and scandals, rekindle
affection? William and Kate’s marriage
in 2011 triggered national fervour. Even
Charles and Camilla have become well-liked.
“The Queen understood that to protect the
longevity of the monarchy, which is to say,
her job, she had to make as few changes as
possible,” says Campbell. “There will always
be a battle between the modernists and
traditionalists. Between the two, the Queen
is a pragmatist: she rarely ever changes; she
lets the world change around her.”
196 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017
My source with the dull-red tie turns the
idea on its head, quoting a phrase from
Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa’s The
Leopard: “Everything must change for
everything to stay the same.” The more the
world evolves, the more the Queen becomes
a pillar of stability. “We paid close attention
to the opinion polls,” he says. Not by choice,
but because without the people’s fondness
for the monarchy, there is no monarchy.”
“Image” and “strategy” are not Windsorian
notions. “For the Queen,” he says, “the
question is not knowing how to please
the people, but making sure the monarchy
stays relevant and durable.”
Also, the power of communication
displayed by the Queen should not be
downplayed: she has handled televised
speeches with great skill since 1953, when,
only 27 years old, at her coronation, and
against Winston Churchill’s advice, she
agreed to being filmed and transmitted live
on television. In truth, the Queen is a master
of image. She knows what she wants to
show: unity, stability and continuity, always.
And so here she is today, meticulously
unchanged. Hunting with her corgis in her
wellies and headscarf, or in town, visiting her
tailors and dressed in bold colours to separate
her from the vulgum pecus. Thanks to
Netflix, the Queen’s likeability has surged.
“Her popularity,” explains Marc Roche, “has
always been highest in the provinces – in
small, poor, industrial towns.” Places that
‘The Queen
is a pragmatist:
world change
around her’
Prime mover: John Lithgow as Winston Churchill,
who mentored the Queen
essayist David Goodhart calls “the
Somewheres”. By the urban “Anywheres”,
who live in London and the university
towns, she is treated with more indifference.
Cosmopolitan and open to foreigners and
free trade, they voted to remain in the EU.
“The Crown has made the Queen loved
by the ‘Anywheres’,” says Roche. “The
monarchy is conquering the ‘Anywheres’
and the ‘Somewheres’ simultaneously.”
This is no small achievement with Brexit
impending, as well as a new battle for
independence looming in Northern Ireland
and Scotland, who wish to remain in the EU.
The Queen’s slightest move is scrutinised
like no one else’s. The Sun decided she was
pro-Brexit; others interpreted an equivocal
phrase as a plea for the Scottish to vote
against independence.
o one dares say out loud the fear
N
  that plays on everyone’s minds.
“It would be monumental,
terrible, one of the most
significant events of our lifetime,
for everyone,” says Campbell on the subject
of the Queen’s death. At 91 years old, she’s
a shared reference point for billions of
people around the world. Generations of
children from Great Britain and the
Commonwealth have grown up with her.
Three out of four of the last prime ministers
were born after she took the throne.
What will happen once she passes? What
will happen on the day she passes? More
taboo than discussion of the tragedy itself
is that of the ceremonies that will follow,
a programme planned to the millimetre.
Journalist Sam Knight explained the
proceedings in a recent piece for the
Guardian: “Her eyes will be closed and
Charles will be king. His siblings will kiss his
hands.” The last time an English sovereign
died, 65 years ago, the news of George VI’s
death was transmitted to Buckingham
Palace with the codewords “Hyde Park
Corner” so papers didn’t get wind of the
news prematurely. “London Bridge is down”
are the words chosen for the death of Queen
Elizabeth. Civil servants will announce it
over secure phone lines. The prime minster
will be woken. The Commonwealth’s chiefs
of security will be notified. The course of
action that follows has been planned and
perfected since the Sixties. On the day,
only Prince Charles will have the right
to make decisions.
All of this is enough fodder for a whole
future series of The Crown, ensuring the
future, too, of the real-life family on which
it’s based. G
Series two of The Crown starts on Netflix
later in the year.
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OF VIDEOS AT GQ.CO.UK
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 18 -19 April 2018, Lisbon, Portugal

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Ma^EZg`nZ`^h_EnqnkrblZngbjn^Zg]hkb`bgZeln[c^\m'
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\hehgbZeblfh_ma^iZlm\hgg^\mlpbmaik^l^gmZg]_nmnk^'
Ma^k^Zk^\hngmkb^lmaZmZk^ebgd^][reZg`nZ`^ebd^;kZsbepbma
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 E D I T E D BY
PAUL HENDERSON

KIT LIST p.208 SIR CHRIS HOY p.209 BEAR GRYLLS p.210 PERSONAL TRAINER p.211

STORY BY
Julian Treasure

Why paying
attention...

Sit up to public
and speaking
listen! is the
secret...

ILLUSTRATION BY
Lennart Gäbel

Talk your way to the

top with our nine-step
guide to clear
communication

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 205

 LIFE SKILLS

Does public speaking get

you down? Make yourself
heard by listening up
To have people hanging on every word, it’s not always
what you say that counts. It might be what you hear...

Speaking and listening are critical skills for anyone who wants to make a
difference, as a leader, a parent, a spouse, a friend or a colleague. These skills
profoundly affect our outcomes at home and at work, so it seems strange that we
teach and test reading and writing at school, but not speaking and listening. We
are expected to pick up and master these complex capabilities with little or no
formal training or structure. So… how much thought, time and energy have you
put into actively developing your speaking and listening? If the answer is not
much, then allow sound and communication expert and author Julian Treasure
to teach you the nine secrets of powerful speaking and conscious listening.

1. Speaking and listening are
interrelated
Most people think it’s a linear relationship:
I speak, you listen. Actually, it’s a circle,
because the way you listen affects how
I speak and the way I speak affects the
way you listen. If you want to be listened
to, the first step is to listen well yourself.
2. The human voice is the
instrument we all play…
And yet very few people train or practise.
If you use your voice to achieve important
results – maybe teaching, selling, leadership
or public speaking – then get professional
support. Look up local voice coaches (acting
or singing) and try a few until you find one
you like. Work with them and over a few
weeks your voice will transform into a
powerful tool and one you understand
how to use. The coach will help you to
understand your vocal toolbox: breathing,
posture, pace, pitch, register, rhythm,
projection and use of silence.
3. When in conversation,
remember ‘RASA’
R is receive: look at the person speaking,
use attentive body language and give them
your full, undivided attention. You can’t
and then move on to the next chunk of
the conversation. The last A is ask: use
questions throughout and at the end to
show interest and engagement.
4. Remember that everybody’s
listening is unique
We each have a set of filters through
which we listen: our language, culture,
values, attitudes, beliefs, expectations,
intentions, emotions and assumptions all
shape what we listen to and what we make
it mean. It is a mistake to assume that
everyone listens like you do: your listening
is as unique as your fingerprints and so is stage, think “BESS”. Breathe: a deep
everyone else’s. in-breath will counteract nerves and give
you the fuel for your voice, which is, after
5. If you have to speak in public, all, only breath. Expand: try to take in the
practise public speaking whole room at once with your peripheral
That sounds obvious, but most people vision, rather than focusing on one spot or
do not practise and feel nervous due to person. Stand: develop a strong neutral
unfamiliarity and the fear they are going stance, with feet roughly shoulder-width
to mess up, look foolish or forget their apart (slightly narrower for females),
lines. Organisations like Toastmasters everything stacked vertically, feeling as
allow you to practise the skill of public though there’s a string attached to the
speaking – or you can get together with top of your head from which you are
some like-minded friends and critique dangling and at the same time that your
each other, or just video yourself. Either feet have roots going deep down into the
way, practise until it comes naturally. earth. Make every movement from that
When you actually do walk onto that base intentional, not random or repetitive.
Illustration Lennart Gäbel

truly listen to someone and do anything

else at the same time. A is appreciate:
make little noises, expressions and
movements to oil the conversation and
show that you are taking in what’s being
said. S is summarise: use the word “so” to
gather up what’s been said, gain agreement
6. Listening is the best way to calm a heated argument
There’s an inverse relationship between listening and
upset: the more upset you are, the less you listen; the
more someone listens to you, the less upset you feel.

206 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017


Twenty per  PRODUCTS
cent of people
in the UK have
a fear of public
speaking
Smile: audiences respond to this and it
always looks good to be pleased to be there.
7. Persuasion involves empathy,
rapport and the word ‘yes’
You probably do a lot of this unconsciously
already, mirroring the other person’s
speech patterns, tone, pace and body
language and tuning in to their way of
being to establish empathy. If you want
to enrol someone in a project or dream,
or sell something, make sure to start with
lots of questions that demand the answer
“yes”. It becomes a habit.
8. Watch out for the seven
deadly sins – habits that will rob
you of power in your speaking
They’re not wrong per se, but if they
become ingrained and repetitive, you
will be harder to listen to. They are:
gossip (speaking ill of someone not
present); condemning others; blanket
Glossophobia:
negativity; complaining (about things
you can’t affect, which is just viral
misery); excuses (instead, say sorry and
explain how you are making sure it won’t
happen again); exaggeration (“This pizza
is awesome!” Really?), which can morph
into outright lying; and dogmatism (my
way or the highway; try to remember that
opinions are not facts!)
9. For the foundations of powerful
speaking, remember ‘HAIL’
H is honesty: being clear and straight. A is
authenticity: being yourself. I is integrity:
being your word – if what you say always
happens then your words will carry weight.
L is love: wish people well and your words
will land softly and be welcomed.
How To Be Heard: Secrets For Powerful
Speaking And Listening by Julian Treasure
(Mango Media, £13) is out on 17 October.
For more information, visit juliantreasure.com
LIFE
The kit list
On the move or sitting still,
make every day an easier
ride with this top new gear
Black NuVinci bike by Foffa
£1,200. foffabikes.com
Ten years on from Dani Foffa’s decision
to downshift from a City job to restoring
classic bikes in his bedroom, the man with
the pedal-powered plan has released his
best ride to date: the Foffa Black. Having
made his name with simple, super-cool
and reassuringly affordable single–speed
commuter bikes, Foffa’s Black is a huge leap
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chromoly butted steel frame set, NuVinci
gearing hub and lightweight alloy wheels
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FlexDesk
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Ergonomics
£169. ergonomics.co.uk
Standing desks may be the solution
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dilemma, but the reality is that most of us still
prefer to perform our office-based business
on our backsides. That doesn’t mean you
shouldn’t take your posture problems
seriously, though. The FlexDesk is the
award-winning ergonomic solution to stresses
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height-adjustable angles. And if you’re still
worried, you can even use it standing up.
OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 207
 L I F E C YC L E
Pedal to the mettle: Diversify your exercise regime to stay tall in the saddle
Smash the gym and
power up your bike rides
Getting out of the saddle to train can boost performance
and help prevent injury. Sir Chris Hoy explains how
Before you start supplementing your
riding with a workout routine, the most
important thing to do is decide what you
want to achieve on the bike. Do you want
to lose weight? Have you signed up for
a charity ride or is your aim to enjoy cycling
even more? It doesn’t matter what your
target is, write down your goal and then
plan how you are going to achieve it. In
my experience, you are far more likely to
achieve your aim if you write it down. And
that applies to anything, be it your shopping
list or your intention to become Olympic
champion... write it down.
Once your goal is identified, break it
up into small steps that lead towards that
overall ambition. Focusing on the long-term
goal can be disheartening when you’re so
far away from it, so it’s vital to have ongoing
Cyclists who don’t
do other exercise often
have poor posture and
suffer from bad backs
208 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017
There are lots of different
exercises you can do that will
stand you in good stead for
cycling by boosting power and
reducing the risk of injury.
Three of my favourites are:
targets on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.
Whatever challenge you have set yourself,
off-the-bike training can help your
progression and make the whole experience
more fun. Exercises can also help with
general health, prevent injuries and boost
physical and mental wellbeing. Many
cyclists who don’t do them look awkward
when off the bike; they have poor posture
and suffer from bad backs and sore necks.
But there are things you can do to help
reduce musculoskeletal injury or imbalance,
while also improving your strength. For a
start, make sure your bike is set up properly,
so get a professional to check how your
body is aligned and to establish the right
height for your saddle and handlebar.
Secondly, as part of your post-training
routine, regular stretching combined
with deep tissue massage can be hugely
beneficial. If you don’t have a massage
therapist on hand, then a foam roller can do
the work instead. They’re the next best thing
for stripping your iliotibial bands, releasing
tight spots in your glutes or freeing up a stiff
lower back. A good rule of thumb is that if
it hurts like hell, you’re using it correctly!
Overhead squats
This is a difficult exercise to get
right and the technique is crucial
for it to be effective, so make
sure you get some guidance from
an experienced lifter or coach.
I used to get a lot of pain in my
shoulder blades and this exercise
really helped to reduce it. It also
improved my posture for regular
squats, which were performed
with much greater load. To start,
stand holding a barbell above your
head with a wide grip, keeping
your weight on your heels and feet
shoulder-width apart. Squat down
slowly, stick your backside out
and keep your torso upright, with
chest, neck and head up. Lower
until your hips are just below your
knees, keeping your lower back
straight, then push back up to the
start position. Getting the posture
correct on this exercise is vital.
Do it right and it will strengthen the
core, back and neck, improve hip
mobility and work your glutes, your
quadriceps and your hamstrings.
Once you’ve got the technique
down, it can help to use a resistance
band around the knees to maintain
the correct position.
Barbell hip thrust
There are many ways to do this: you
can do it on a bench, on a Swiss ball
or even on a specific machine. In
essence though, you need to lean
back with your shoulders on the
bench, your bum and feet on the
ground, and place a barbell over
the very top of your legs. Driving
through your feet, push the barbell
vertically up by squeezing your
glutes until your body is horizontal
(your weight should be supported
by your shoulder blades and your
feet). It’s a great exercise for your
hips and your glutes and it also
helps protect your lower back.
Core exercise
The key thing here is to vary the
routine. Athletes love the phrase
“If you train the same, you stay
the same”. Remember to mix it
up. Start with static core exercises
such as planks and then move on
to something more dynamic such
as Russian twists, hanging leg
Photograph Tom Cockram
raises or even hanging “windscreen
wipers”. Always engage your
stomach before performing any
of these exercises. With a strong
core you will be able to lift greater
loads safely and give you a
stronger and more stable platform
from which you can apply power
through your pedals.
 LIFE

KIT

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OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 209

 BEAR GRYLLS #29
Unleash
a higher
power
Whatever your religion
(or lack of it) having faith
can move mountains and
help you reach the peak
of your own potential
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston,
the famous round-the-
world sailor, is alleged to
have said, “There is no
such thing as an atheist
in the Southern Ocean.”
I have heard it also
paraphrased to include
the “Death Zone” on Everest.
I am sure there have been plenty of
atheists in both places, but the point he
made, and I agree, is that when we’re truly
afraid and there’s no one around to help
us, to possess a quiet faith can give us a
persistence, light and courage that is so
much greater than simply ourselves.
In short, faith can make us strong.
Just look at how so many inspirational
figures of generations gone by, who gave
and endured so much, were sustained and
encouraged by their faith.
But what is faith? Is it real and does it
matter? Can it make a difference to the
everyday grind of life?
I can only talk from experience. For me,
having a Christian faith can be difficult to
articulate. It’s like describing ice cream or
swimming – it has to be tried to be felt.
But, in a nutshell, my faith tells me that
I am known, that I am secure and that I am
loved – regardless of the storms I may find
myself in from time to time, regardless of
how often I fall and fail.
In my life, I am yet to meet a man or
woman not open to being loved and
forgiven. Who doesn’t want to find peace
or live with joy overflowing?
But I meet so many people who don’t
want “religion”, as such. I get it. I feel the
same. And, in fact, so did Jesus, the heart
of all Christian faith. Faith and religion are
not the same thing.
The Jesus I read about in the Bible was
210 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017
Going deeper: For Bear Grylls, spirituality is key to overcoming all challenges
fun, free and wild. He loved a party and he
always hung out with the nonreligious folk.
The only people he ever got angry with
were the overly religious types.
Faith doesn’t mean you have to be
especially “religious”. And it certainly isn’t
about churches or feeling judged for our
flaws. To quote the man himself, Jesus said
he was all about life: living it freely and
lightly and learning the unforced rhythms
of grace.
For many years I tried to do without it.
I tried to be strong only in myself. But the
Does that make my faith a crutch?
Maybe. But what does a crutch do? It
helps you stand and makes you stronger
truth is that I’m not. I need a helping hand,
a peace within and that quiet assurance for
my future. I have finally found the courage
to admit that my longing for this life within
me is stronger than the fear of what others
may think. I am no longer too proud to
admit that I need my Saviour beside me.
Does that make my faith a crutch? Maybe.
But what does a crutch do? It helps you
stand and makes you stronger. So, yes, when
I face overwhelming odds, I need a bit of
that. And when I look at my own heroes,
like my late father or Nelson Mandela, I
realise there aren’t many of them who
haven’t at some time quietly bent their
knee and looked outside of themselves
for strength, resolve and peace.
Personally, I find faith in Christianity. You
might find it elsewhere. The name we give it
is less important than the outpouring that
comes from it. Faith helps us to be kinder
and more adventurous than we imagined, to
care and encourage, to love and inspire. It’s
about finding our mojo and I believe it is
hard to do that without some spirituality.
To those who feel cynical about such a
message, I hear you, but just as it’s easier to
have faith in the Southern Ocean, it’s also
easier to be cynical when everything’s going
your way. To have faith in our everyday
lives takes courage. All too often it is the
tougher path, but life and the wild have
taught me that the tougher path often also
ends up being the most fulfilling one.
Pioneers always take bold steps to explore
new territory because they never know
where it may lead them. Each fresh
challenge offers an opportunity for you to
develop your adventurous spirit and inner
strength. So be brave. Embrace faith
wherever you may find it. You have
nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Visit alpha.org to find out more. Plus, the Bear
Grylls Survival Race takes place in London
on 30 September. Use code “GQ” to receive
40 per cent off tickets, valid for 48 hours from
7 September at beargryllssurvivalrace.com
 LIFE

PERSONAL TRAINING #9

Twist
Using left hand to
support body weight
and right hand to
stabilise torso, pivot
on right foot from
toe to heel and swing
hips down low to the
left. Hover just off
the floor, so that
torso rotates to
face backwards.
Keeping shoulders
stable and wide,
swing hips back
to start position
Preparation reversing the
In push-up position, sequence.
place your hands
under your shoulders,
with feet just wider
than hip-distance apart.
Place left hand just Make this month’s focus a move that will
forward of shoulders
and right hand just
challenge upper-body strength, core
behind shoulders. stability and coordination. This pilates
Cross right leg over hybrid ticks all the boxes, taking the
left leg and wrap left
foot round right foot. push-up to a whole new level. Jonathan Goodair
Do not allow hips or jonathangoodair.com
back to sag.
Perform one offset
push-up. Shorts by H&M, £19.99.
hm.com. Trainers by
Nike, £90. nike.com.
Socks by Falke,
£15. falke.com

WELLNESS
Photographs Getty Images; Ben Riggott Grooming Samantha Cooper

Find your rhythm

Pike
People often plug in and listen to background music
With hands still
as they go about their daily existence. While it does
offset, stabilise left
alter your mood slightly, it isn’t transformational as you
shoulder and lift haven’t allowed yourself to fully engage with it.
hips to pike, with
right hand providing I recently had the pleasure of seeing Stevie Nicks play
minimal assistance. live. I was blown away by the experience and it lifted my
mood for weeks. That’s because when you are immersed
Return to start in a sonic bath, you have the opportunity to experience
position, swap yourself in a completely different way. It may help you
Model Paul Knops at W Models

hands and legs engage more deeply with an emotion or transport you
and repeat. into a whole new world. Either way, you change.
A new book, Stealing Fire: How Silicon Valley, The Navy
Seals And Maverick Scientists Are Revolutionizing The
Way We Live And Work (HarperCollins, £15), by Steven
Kotler and Jamie Wheal examines how harnessing
different states of consciousness can radically upgrade
your life. They write, “One of the most dramatic effects
of music’s power is the induction of trance states in a
communal group. People’s brains sync to both the beat
and therefore to the brains of those around them.”
This month, go and find some live music. Savour it as
you would good wine and notice how you no longer feel
Perform 5 alone, but a part of something much bigger.
alternating Get lost in music with others and you might just find
reps each yourself. Chris Baréz-BrownG
side. uppingyourelvis.com

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 211

Highland style
Outlander star Sam Heughan reveals how Barbour is revamping
wardrobes this Autumn with their versatile new shirt range

Archie shirt, £59.95. By Barbour. barbour.com


s the nights start getting
A longer and colder, we all
want a wardrobe that’s
going to keep us warm
and looking as sharp in
the city as out in the countryside.
Fortunately, Barbour has got you
covered. As Outlander star and
Barbour global brand ambassador
Sam Heughan demonstrates, the
wide range of shirts are expertly
tailored and have been inspired by
Barbour’s countryside credentials since
1894. They’ve got a look that works
for every occasion.
It helps that checked shirts are
currently having something of a
moment. Maybe it’s the Ed Sheeran
effect, but recently they’ve been
seen on everyone from rock stars to
businessmen. Mostly, it’s down to
their versatility. Checked shirts work
when worn smartly with jeans or
chinos, but also when you’re dressed
down, worn open with a T-shirt
beneath. In fact, they’re ideal for
layering with a sweater or Barbour
jacket on top as well. It’s a look that
will see you through the winter
months with ease.
G Partnership
Wardrobe essentials
Take Barbour’s Tattersall shirts,
which are simply a must for every
gentleman’s wardrobe. Based on a
pattern from Tattersalls horse market
that dates back to 1766, they remain
a timeless classic. Likewise, this
season’s Highland checks reference
Finley shirt, £64.95.
Chinos, £74.95.
Above: Lustleigh
shirt, £69.95. Chinos,
£74.95. Shoes, £135.
All by Barbour.
barbour.com
Barbour’s Scottish roots. Their big,
bold squares and bright colours are
the perfect statement items, while
their tailoring gives a slimmer
appearance to your silhouette.
Barbour’s Tartan shirts are based
on the pattern of Ayrshire District,
where the Barbour family has roots
that go back to the 13th century.
The shirts are a great choice for
anyone who wants their look to
reflect both heritage and modernity.
For a particularly warm choice
this autumn and winter, Barbour’s
printed shirts come in a new brushed
twill. Their paisley shirts have been
reimagined in simple designs, while
single colour prints in navy, deep red
and greys provide contemporary
staple looks.
Another classic look is the Gingham
shirt, whose distinctive check has»
G Partnership

» been in production since the 18th

century. And no wardrobe would be Malcolm shirt,
£59.95. Chinos,
complete without a collection of plain £74.95. Both
cotton shirts in a few different shades. by Barbour.
barbour.com
Colour is important when it comes to
checked shirts. Reds and blues give a
multi-tonal look, while darker shirts are
perfect to pair with black jeans. Whatever
the occasion, and whatever the weather this
season, there’s a Barbour shirt that will keep
you looking and feeling your best.

Barbour’s Tartan
shirts are based on
that of Ayrshire
District, where the
Barbour family has
roots that go back
to the 13th century

Finley shirt,
£64.95. Above:
Lustleigh shirt,
£69.95. Both
by Barbour.
barbour.com
John Barbour founded J Barbour & Sons Ltd in 1894 in the Market
Place in South Shields, having moved over the border from a farm
in Galloway in Scotland. Today, the fifth-generation family-owned
business remains in the northeast of England. Barbour HQ is
in Simonside, South Shields, where more than 100,000 classic
waxed jackets are still manufactured by hand each year.

4
Of the best
Choose your check
to suit the occasion.
Smarten up with small
checks or choose the
broader squares for a
casual look.

From left:
Blake, Ethan, Morris
and Bennett shirts.
All by Barbour.
barbour.com
 The winner of
68 major awards

GQ is the only magazine in Britain dedicated to bringing you the very best in style,
investigative journalism, comment, men’s fashion, lifestyle and entertainment.
British GQ is the magazine to beat
NEW! 2017 PPA Writer Of The Year 2010 P&G Awards Best Styling (GQ Style)
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 O C TO B E R 2 0 1 7

THE
NEW
AUDI
A8
Here comes
the future*

*Back to the future

IN ASSOCIATION WITH
INTERVIEW T R AV E L T E C H N O LO GY SCREEN
Dominic Cooper: Road trips, Automotive AI: Inside Hollywood’s
he’s fast not ice drives and life on the go plutonium-fuelled
furious track tests just got smarter R&D lab
 n the race to make the first
fully functioning driverless
car, Audi have taken
autonomous technology
to the next level.
The new Audi A8 is the first to
reach the Society Of Automotive
Engineers’ prescribed “Level 3” of
self-driving, which means at the
touch of a button the car can start,
accelerate, steer and brake on any
road where traffic is separated by
a central barrier. The system works
at speeds up to 37mph and it is a
monumental breakthrough.
But Audi’s commitment to AI
doesn’t end there. Their Beyond
Initiative, outlined by company
CEO Rupert Stadler at a UN summit
this summer, extends way beyond
the car industry. Bringing together
scientists, philosophers, engineers
and academics, the aim is to make
sure AI “benefits all of society”. AT T H E
“Time is the most precious good
in our future,” Stadler said in his
address. “If we are able to give that
back to our customers... we are
talking about a premium user
experience.” And who wouldn’t
DRIVE-IN
Where does Audi come up with all the cutting-edge ideas
want more time with family, more for their automotive tech advances? Simple. The R&D teams
time with friends, more time doing watch TV or go to the movies...
things we enjoy?
It’s a vision of the future that
makes perfect sense. And, thanks
to Audi, the future is now.
Paul Henderson
EDITOR

Editor-in-Chief Dylan Jones
Editor Paul Henderson
Managing Editor George Chesterton
Design Jackson VdK Associates
Chief Sub-Editor Aaron Callow
Contributors Jason Barlow, Liat Clark,
Alex Godfrey, John Naughton,
Alistair Weaver
Publisher Vanessa Kingori
Business Manager Michiel Steur
Hy per-c onnec t iv it y
The 21st-century tech: talks back – most of the
Audi Connect information can be read
What it does: Audi’s aloud to you, enabling you
infotainment system to concentrate on the road.
creates a network between The Hollywood prototype:
you, the internet and its Knight Rider’s Kitt
cars, giving you access How they saw it:
to features such as travel Cybernetic AI module Kitt
and traffic information, was a smooth operator,
directions and parking a smart-talking but
space searches. This is nevertheless loyal and
displayed on the cars’ protective companion.
multimedia interface We’re basically there
or the virtual cockpit, now minus the sarcasm
which can be operated by – because nobody likes
voice command and also a wise-ass.

220 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017

 Technolog y GQP O W ER

For
I, Robot,
Audi
designed a
coupé that
literally A l l -t e r r a i n t r a c t i o n
reinvented The 21st-century tech: wet, icy and snowy enabling easy movement
the wheel Audi quattro surfaces – and the in any direction. The
What it does: Audi’s company is currently similar-looking Audi
all-wheel drive technology sharing such expertise R8 debuted two years
brings extra sportiness to blaze trails on the after the film’s release
and performance to moon, with the Audi – sphereless, but with
its cars. Available Lunar quattro. quattro technology
across the whole Audi The Hollywood that feels almost as slick
range, quattro provides prototype: I, Robot’s – just like you’re almost
excellent dynamism, Audi RSQ as slick as Will Smith.
traction and grip, How they saw it: Audi Sure you are.
regardless of the designed Will Smith’s
conditions – including 2035 coupé, which
literally reinvented
the wheel via spheres

Watch this space:

Audi’s four-wheel
drive tech will soon
gravitate to a new
environment with its
Lunar quattro

Smar t light ing S e l f- d r i v e a d v a n c e s Fuel o f the future

The 21st-century tech: ten times quicker than The 21st-century tech: first manufacturer to get a The 21st-century tech: hybrid A3 Sportback e-tron
LED headlights conventional bulbs, so Driver-assistance systems permit to test self-driving Alternative propulsions combines electric drive
Photographs Getty Images; Rex Features

What it does: Audi’s trailing drivers will notice What it does: Adaptive cars on California’s roads, What it does: Audi e-tron with the benefits of a 
LED technology provides your brake lights sooner. cruise control automatically so more is on the way. embraces today and four-cylinder engine.
powerful light, increasing The Hollywood prototype: accelerates and brakes to The Hollywood prototype: tomorrow’s environmental The Hollywood prototype:
visibility. Producing a Speed Racer’s Mach Five maintain preset distances, Minority Report’s challenges. Fuel-efficient Back To The Future’s
colour temperature of How they saw it: Frankly with sensors and front autonomous cars drive technologies and DeLorean DMC-12
5,500 Kelvin (the same as a dangerous driver, Speed cameras detecting vehicles How they saw it: In a sustainable energy sources How they saw it: Originally
daylight), the headlights Racer zoomed about ahead. Active lane assist regulated traffic system, will provide reduced- turning back the clock with
give greater contrast, in a car with “special helps you back into lanes Tom Cruise’s computerised emission sporty driving at plutonium, Doc Brown
offer longer visual range illumination” headlights, via subtle interventions in cop car self-drove, an enviable level. The Audi later got things going
than xenon headlights, giving him powerful the power steering, while self-swerved and self- A3 Sportback g-tron uses with lightning and then
are maintenance-free infrared light operated by ultrasonic sensors allow parked while seamlessly fossil-based natural gas household waste. There
and cause hardly any eye a button that also activated park assist to automatically navigating horizontal and and biomethane, running was also a failed attempt to
fatigue. Also, Audi’s LED mini wings for long jumps steer you into a space. vertical surfaces. Watch out on e-gas produced by Audi refuel with whiskey. We’ve
tail-lights activate up to (also hazardous). Meanwhile, Audi was the for those window cleaners. from wind energy, while the all done it. alex godfrey

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 221

Tony Stark can pilot his suit without
being inside it. Now he can do the
same thing with his Audi
222 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017
 A ud i A 8 GQP O W ER

A C C E L E R 8
Iron Man’s self-driving car is just

around the corner, thanks to a vision

of the future that Audi made reality.

Meet the new super-intelligent,

ultra-luxe limo that’s about to get

your chauffeur the sack

Smart car: According

to Audi, the new A8 is
the first car that put
automated driving in
the front seat

Officially, Audi’s new A8 made its debut
in the Spider-Man: Homecoming film. It
was a very telling cameo, not least because
to say that Tony Stark delivered the
Avengers’ web-slinging tyro to his HQ in
Audi’s new flagship wouldn’t be strictly
accurate: the car actually drove itself. Stark
can pilot his Iron Man suit without being
inside it. Now he can do the same thing
with his Audi.
A few days later, the A8’s in-the-flesh
global reveal was freighted with a different
sort of showbiz, the type that Silicon Valley
superstars such as Apple long ago perfected.
Audi flew approximately 1,000 journalists
Back and beyond:
A swooping
roofline delivers
a sharp aesthetic
without limiting
space inside
224 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017
from every territory in which it sells cars
to a giant convention centre in Barcelona,
dazzled the audience with a laser light show,
then revealed the new A8. And how. It was
attached to a giant robotic arm, onto which
a light projection seemingly as powerful as
the sun itself cleverly explored the nuances
of the car’s surfaces, a callback to one of
those fabulous videos Chris Cunningham
made with Björk (indeed, Cunningham has
also collaborated with Audi in the past).
The car may have been the star, but the
message was bigger: Audi is transitioning
from automotive manufacturer into a wider
brand position as a technology company
that specialises in highly sophisticated
mobility solutions. The A8 is blazing the trail
and broadening the environment in which
its end users operate.
Even within the traditionally conservative
constraints of the big German limo segment,
there are enough flourishes to mark this one
out as the work of very intuitive people. Car
design at this level is about attention to
detail, working the surface metal to within
an inch of its life. There’s plenty of that on
the new A8 and it looks cool. Tony Stark-
cool, in fact. Audi’s design director, Marc
Lichte, has been in the big chair for three
years now and the A8 demonstrates his
command of form language. German car
design is often criticised for being efficient
but cold, so it’s a surprise to hear Lichte
talk of how emotional the “clean sheet of
paper” experience was. There are strong
graphics on the A8, the wheel-to-body
relationship that defines a car’s stance
is skilfully executed and the rear end
resolves in a swooping roofline that suggests
speed and glamour without compromising
interior space.
But more than ever, the surface really
is just that. The A8, says Audi, is the first
car developed with fully automated
driving at the core of its mission, not
reverse-engineered to deal with the rise
of driverless tech. In fact, this is the
world’s first production car to boast
“Level 3” autonomy, so it truly makes
good on the promised land that is navigating
the M25 in rush hour congestion without
having to manage the tedium yourself.
Naturally, Audi sells it in rather silkier
fashion. “We leave it up to you,” CEO
The move to Level 3
autonomy sees the
car and its systems
take responsibility
for its actions instead
of the driver
Face facts: The A8’s
strong visual cues
challenge the idea of
German design stoicism
Rupert Stadler says. “To drive or be driven.
It’s about making the best use of your
time. Time is one of the most valuable
goods we have and individual mobility is
a declaration of independence. We call it
‘the 25th hour’, enabling time autonomy.”
So there you have it: a car so clever it can
actually add an hour to your day. Never
mind that for the captains of industry at
whom the A8 is aimed that extra hour surely
just means yet more work.
How is the system configured? “Traffic-
jam pilot” manages starting, accelerating,
braking and steering and controls the car
in slower-moving traffic up to 37mph on a
carriageway or motorway that has a physical
barrier separating the traffic flow. An “AI”
button on the centre console starts the
process. It combines data drawn from five
radar scanners, four 360-degree optical
cameras, 12 ultrasonic sensors, two
additional cameras, one of which is an
infrared, and, most compelling of all, a laser
scanner with a field of vision 80 metres
deep and a beam range of 145 degrees. This
huge data dump is then cross-referenced
with digital maps and other inputs to make
instant real-time decisions. Unlike rivals’
systems, the A8 doesn’t require the driver
to keep their hands on the steering wheel,
a vital step forward in the progress of
driverless cars.
All we need now is for the necessary
legislation to be enshrined in law.
Photographs Nick Wilson
According to the man who oversaw the
A8’s development, Peter Fromm, this is
imminent. “We expect Germany to give
permission very soon for driving without
hands still on the wheel on specific roads,
for example the A9 between Munich and
Nuremberg,” he told GQ. Crucially, the
 A ud i A 8 GQP O W ER

CONNEC TED,
INSIDE AND OUT
“Minimalism is a key
aesthetic principle,” says
Audi design director Marc
Lichte (above) of the new
A8’s cabin. The interior
is dominated by the
“black-panel architecture”,
which hides everything
until the car comes alive
the moment the door
opens. At which point two
huge touch screens pulse
into view; the upper one
houses all the infotainment
features and the self-
learning navigation, the
lower one controls the
climate and seats.
The old Audi MMI
rotary controller is retired:
the A8’s main systems
work entirely by touch,
fortunately with properly
calibrated acoustic and
haptic feedback. “We were
proud of our previous
MMI, but we’ve added
a lot of content, and
the car is getting more
complex,” head of interior
design, Stefan Vollmer,
says. “Moving to touch
interfaces wasn’t easy and
when we did it we knew
we had to get it absolutely
right.” There’s also
advanced voice control and
handwriting recognition.
The infotainment system is
powered by a new Nvidia
quad-core processor
and a 192-core graphics
processor, meaning the
new setup is 50 times
faster than the previous
one – and that was already
better than most of its
rivals. Ahead of the driver,
the A8’s “virtual cockpit”
offers a full HD information
display, while the car also
incorporates car-to-X
traffic infrastructure and
real-time hazard warning,
now augmented by the
myAudi app, which can
access all relevant and
related services. JB

In control: A smartphone app augments the A8’s considerably apportioned on-board tech, including a replacement for Audi’s previous MMI infotainment
system with two mammoth touch screens. Haptic and audio cues make using them as intuitive as the hard buttons and dials they replace

move to Level 3 autonomy sees the
car and its systems take responsibility
(including legal) for its actions, instead of
its driver. Fromm also adds that the car
switches out of autonomous mode should
the vehicle cross a border into a country
where the legislation is still in flux. “Audi’s
AI increases your independence, and we will
continuously increase the power of the AI
button,” Stadler adds. “These two letters will
be an omnipresent companion into a new
era.” The A8’s AI functionality harnesses the
car’s central driver-assistance data controller
– the tablet-sized zFas for short – which
effectively corrals no fewer than 41 separate
driver-assistance systems (it integrates a
series of formidably powerful computer
processors to do its thing). This includes
one that monitors the driver for drowsiness
and issues a multistage warning. If you’re
a particularly heavy sleeper, the car will
come to a halt all by itself...
Should you choose to remain alert
enough to actually drive the car – I know,
I know, but it’s still an Audi; you might
‘To drive or be driven. It’s about making best use of
your time. Time is one of the most valuable goods –
we call it the 25th hour’ Rupert Stadler, CEO, Audi
enjoy it – the A8’s all-new chassis promises gratifying to see 12 cylinders and internal
next-level dynamism, thanks to a 24 per combustion still prevailing, but Chinese
cent improvement in overall rigidity. Its customers in particular are partial to this
structure is a largely aluminium spaceframe, engine). A long wheelbase e-tron plug-in
bolstered with hot-stamped steel in the hybrid is also due, which can deliver a range
cockpit area, carbon fibre in the rear of 31 miles on electric power alone.
bulkhead and magnesium in the front The sheer intellectual and engineering
sub-structure. It also features four-wheel firepower that is poured into a car like
steering, a 48-volt electrical circuit and an the new A8 isn’t just a tribute to Audi. It
active suspension setup that uses individual tells you all you need to know about where
actuators on each wheel to effectively read the car industry finds itself right now. The
the road ahead – and the driver’s mind – to A8 points the way forward, for Audi and for
deliver maximum agility. (Bentley uses a high-end luxury cars in general, a trailblazer
similar system to stunning effect in the for a future that has yet to be fully mapped
Bentayga SUV.) out. Nor does it stint on the leather and
There’s a choice of two V6 engines (a wood that have been true luxury signifiers
282bhp diesel and 335bhp petrol) during the since the earliest days of the automobile. The
car’s initial rollout, with two V8 units to rear seat passengers can even have a footrest
follow (454bhp petrol and 429bhp diesel) that doubles as a massager. Connectivity?
and the range-topping 577bhp W12 (it’s You got it. jason barlow

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 225

 ondon boy Dominic Cooper
has been away from the city
for a while. For six months
he’s been shooting the
second series of his critically
acclaimed Amazon show,
Preacher, in New Orleans
and there’s a few things he’s struggling to
catch up with. In Deptford some nice old
bookshops have disappeared while Waterloo
is “unrecognisable”. And as for the new
traffic system around the Elephant & Castle
– he is still very much a South London boy
you’ll note – don’t get him started.
“The roads are incomprehensible,” he
says, laughing. “Seriously, whoever was
responsible for that, if you are reading this,
you should go and have a proper talk with
yourself. Immediately.”
Our conversation turns to his old mate
James Corden. The pair have been friends
since their breakthrough in the National’s
version of The History Boys in 2004, with
both going on to star in the film adaptation
and the excellent Starter For 10 and neither
looking back since. Cooper introduced
Corden to his wife, Julia, and is godson to
Corden Jr, Max. However, Cooper’s time
abroad means he has yet to see his friend
in those commercials for a certain online
comparison site, notably the one that sees
Corden execute a handbrake turn into a
tight parking space.
“That is so funny,” says Cooper, almost
crying with laughter. “The idea of him doing
a handbrake turn! He is a terrible driver. He
can’t even drive a manual car. He can only
drive automatics.”
It’s a burn only a best mate can deliver.
Cooper, by contrast, was clearly suckled
on sump oil and loves everything to do
with driving, especially Audis. “I always
loved them [Audis] because of the quattro,
which a friend of mine had at drama school
and they were used in rallies and were so
spectacular,” he says wistfully. “I even had
a toy car of one. This is such a ridiculously
226 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017
broad statement, but I’ve always thought
that people who drive Audis tend to be
quite good at driving.”
However, he does have a minor bugbear
about the current crop of quattros. “When I
get into modern cars I want to rip out the
electronic handbrake,” he jokes. “I was a bit
disappointed that Audi had gone for them.
I used to love pulling very hard handbrake
turns when I was turning into my road, so I
can’t really do that manoeuvre any more.”
However, having worked alongside
Aaron Paul on the fuel-injected movie
Need For Speed, Cooper acquired some
inside knowledge from the film’s stunt
drivers on how to overcome the problem.
“You have to turn off all the assists,” he
explains, “and then put it in ‘sports’ mode,
give it enough juice and then wrench the
steering wheel around. You can achieve
the same effect.
Indeed, talk driving to the
endlessly passionate Cooper
and you soon realise
he’s on a one-man ‘I’ve always
mission to keep the driven aggressively.
experience exciting. It’s the way you
“They’re trying as
hard as they can to have to drive in
take all the fun out London. If you
of driving,” he muses, don’t you cause
“but London is still my
favourite city to drive
more trouble’
around. There are still some
sneaky little routes you can
take and have a lot of fun in,
providing you don’t get caught out by
all the cameras. I’ve always driven very
aggressively, not in a horrible way, but in a
survival way that doesn’t cut others up or
create chaos. It’s the way you have to drive
if you grow up in London. And if you don’t
you just cause more trouble.”
In Cooper’s latest film outing, Stratton,
he plays a member of the Special Boat
Service – “They’re the same deal as Navy
Seals, but it doesn’t sound as sexy, does
The latest British actor to make it big on American
television reveals why he pushes the limit behind the
wheel (and why James Corden couldn’t if he tried)
it?” – in full-blooded, action-hero mode.
There was a time in Cooper’s career where
he risked typecasting as the lovable bad
boy in British comic dramas, but as he
closes in on 40, his TV and movie output
has never been more testosterone-heavy.
In Stratton, he’s directed by Simon West,
whose Con Air affords him godlike status in
this field and who has, according to Cooper,
“taken all the fat off it.
“Rather than it being out-and-out action,
it follows a very distinct and specific story,”
he explains. “I think it’s a bit more complex
and you have to concentrate, rather than it
just being explosions and car chases.”
That said, Cooper speaks warmly of his
experience screeching round Rome’s finest
monuments at four in the morning, testifying
that, “Cars slide really nicely on cobbles,”
which suggests it won’t all be dialogue.
Maintaining the muscular
direction of his recent work
is Preacher, which sees
Cooper cast in the titular
role of the violent
Seth Rogen-backed
comic adaptation.
Produced by AMC,
who have enjoyed
some small success
with a show called
The Walking Dead,
Cooper could be
following in Andrew
Lincoln’s footsteps, as stateside
superstardom appears to beckon.
Chickens, however, remain uncounted.
“You speak to your peers and it seems
like everyone is in a TV show,” says Cooper,
whose girlfriend, Ruth Negga, co-stars
alongside him in the show. “Which is
great and it means there is something for
everyone. But it’s like you can be on the
front page one day and nowhere the next,
because people remember as easily as they
forget. The next big thing is coming round
at an ever increasing pace. It feels more like
 I nt er v iew GQP O W ER

Capital punishment:
Dominic Cooper’s
no-nonsense AGENT COOPER?
driving style was
honed on the streets
of South London

“It’s still the dream,” says himself in a 2014

Dominic Cooper when
asked how he views
his chances of playing
007, before adding, by
way of qualification,
“Well it’s still a dream,
with the emphasis on
dream. I never know
how they’re going to
change the dynamic of
that franchise but what’s
so brilliant about it, and
how they’ve always kept
me mesmerised, is how
cleverly they have made
the choice of actor. And
I love what Daniel Craig
has done.”
Having now been in
his share of action films
– including Stratton
(above) – and serious
drama, not to mention
playing Ian Fleming
biopic series for Sky
Atlantic, Cooper has
done nothing to harm
his chances and a fire
clearly still burns.
“Oh, I’d be well up
for showing my target
practice skills,” he jokes.
“But it all depends on
how they see it next.”
And how to make that
dream a reality? Well,
that’s another thing
entirely. “I don’t know
how that stuff works,”
he smiles, ruefully.
“There’s no way you
can campaign for it and
it’s impossible to know
how such a successful
franchise is going to
turn the next corner.
It’s a mystery, which is
why we love it.”

that than I’ve ever known it, because there

is so much content out there.”
With all this, plus Mamma Mia: Here We
Go Again!, which, if nothing else, is a great
title for a sequel, Cooper’s career appears
to be in overdrive, but there is one small
piece of grit in the oyster. Last time he
was in LA he drove an Audi RS 7, which
he describes fondly as “one of the most
incredible cars ever”.
So good is it, in fact, that it even brought
out his softer side. “I do actually feel a
sense of responsibility when I drive the
Audi RS 7,” he admits. “I know that sounds
stupid, but I do try to be generous and
kind in terms of giving way and not being
aggressively horrible and hating someone
cutting in. It goes against my nature but I
do it.”
Photograph Contour/Getty Images

As yet, however, he hasn’t been

afforded the same opportunity to drive
the RS 7 in London or to continue his
automotive ministering. When will
that happen?
“I’ll get it when I start to behave better
and stop getting so many parking tickets,”
he says, laughing.
Perhaps the bad-boy image is there for
a while longer. john naughton

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 227

 Fast-track your
Dolc e V it a
holiday experience tour
with these auto
adventures. Audi Recommended drive: R8 Spyder
will look after Details: German engineering meets
Italian tarmac to create the perfect
the driving, leave automotive blend of precision and
everything else passion. This four-day (three-
to GQ… night) road trip takes you from
Munich to Verona, then around
stunning Lake Garda. Top down,
STORY BY
shades on... bellissima!
Paul Henderson Where to stay: On the coast of
Lake Garda in Gargnano, the Lefay
Resort & Spa (lefayresorts.com) is
an eco-friendly hotel surrounded
by olive groves and parkland, with
jaw-dropping panoramic views of
the lake. We didn’t think we’d say
it, but it’s worth getting out of the
R8 for.
Where to eat: Given that it sits
right on the lake in Desenzano,
you should definitely book a table
at the Ristorante Esplanade
(ristorante-esplanade.com). With
a Michelin star to its name, over
30 years’ experience to call on
and specialists in seafood, this
is the perfect spot to “refuel”.
Insider tip: Keep an eye out for
ZTL zones. Many historic Italian
city centres have restricted traffic
timing zones to reduce congestion
and they aren’t shy about fining.
From £2,030. audi.de

Web spinners: Audi’s outrageously fast R8 Spyder is the perfect ride

for a top-down tour of southern Europe’s most spectacular roads

With a Michelin
star to its name,
Ristorante
Esplanade is the
perfect spot
to ‘refuel’

230 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017


F i nl a n d
exper ience
Recommended drive: S4 Avant
Details: Winter is coming and in
the municipality of Muonio, 200
miles above the Arctic Circle in
the far north of Finland, even the
Night’s Watch would be afraid. But
forget White Walkers... this is all
about ice drivers: learning to brake,
take S-bends at speed and timed
laps on a frozen lake.
Where to stay: Invest in the
full wilderness experience with
a few nights at the Torassieppi
Winter Village and reindeer
farm (harriniva.fi). Close to lake
Torassieppijärvi and next to a
national park, you can choose from
a cabin, a snow igloo, or an “Aurora
Dome”, and settle in for an evening
watching the northern lights.
Where to eat: For an authentic
taste of Finland – that’s sautéed
reindeer and salmon soup – try
the Polar Kota at the Lapland
Hotel Olos (laplandhotels.com).
Not only is the food good, but
half of the restaurant is covered
in glass so you can make the most
of the midnight sun.
Insider tip: If all that ice driving
has given you a taste for the frozen
wastes, do not miss the opportunity
to try a snow-scooter tour. So
good, you might even consider
swapping the S4 for a skidoo.
From £3,120. audi.de
Tr avel GQP O W ER
Silverstone I ce exper ience,
exper ience New Zealand
Recommended drive: Recommended drive: Q7
RS 6 Avant Details: It might seem a long way
Details: The UK’s top track to go for us Europeans, but from
package gets you in the driving June to September the Southern
seat of a trio of very fast all- Hemisphere Proving Grounds
wheel-drive Audis to deliver on New Zealand’s South Island is
an advanced masterclass in all beautiful. Over three days (two
areas of automotive control on nights) you will learn to handle
the Stowe circuit. the white stuff at speed, off-road
Where to stay: Just over ten and on a slalomed ice track.
miles from Silverstone, Fawsley Where to stay: You could stay
Hall (fawsleyhall.com) is a classic closer to the SHPG, or try The
country house hotel set in 2,000 Rees in Queenstown, but we
acres of Northamptonshire think you’d be better off basing
parkland. Back in the day, it yourself at nearby Wanaka.
was good enough for Henry The Lakeside Apartments
VIII, so if you have conquered (lakesidewanaka.co.nz) have
Silverstone it will suit you down been named the best in New
to the grounds. Zealand for the past two years.
Where to eat: Spoil yourself A Hobbit hole, it is not.
with dinner at Le Manoir Aux Where to eat: Bistro Gentil
Quat’Saisons (belmond.com). (bistrogentil.co.nz) brings a taste
With two Michelin stars and the of France to the shores of Lake
legendary Raymond Blanc in Wanaka, but dishes are served
the kitchen, if there is a better with a southern hemisphere twist
restaurant a quick blast down using the ingredients of Central
the M40 from Silverstone we Otago. They also offer French
don’t know about it. wines, but our advice is stick to
Insider tip: Don’t get ahead the New Zealand pinot noirs.
of yourself, Mr Hamilton. Insider tip: If you want to take
To understand how the real your ice driving to the next level,
experts do it, all drivers get a there is a “pro experience”,
high-speed passenger ride in where drivers can learn advanced
an R8 V10 coupe to see how it handling dynamics and push Audi’s
should be done. fleet of Quattros to the limit.
£749. store.audi.co.uk Dubai Autodrome From £2,260. audi.co.nz
track day
Recommended drive: TT Coupe
Details: For a taste of hot-weather
racing at its sweltering best, put
the Audi TT through its paces at
the Dubai Autodrome. This pocket
rocket may lack the punch of the
R8, but on the tight turns and
chicanes of the Autodrome Club
Circuit it is perfect.
Where to stay: You don’t want
to stay somewhere too gauche
or gaudy (a Dubai speciality),
so instead make for Dukes Dubai
(dukesdubai.com) and a little
slice of British luxury in the
UAE. Not only is it a sister hotel
to Dukes in St James’s, but you
will also be able to get the best
Martini in London in Dubai.
Where to eat: Keep the
British theme going with dinner
at Jason Atherton’s Marina
Social (marinasocialdubai.com).
It overlooks the marina with
views out to sea and Dubai’s
ever-growing skyline and as you’d
expect of the Michelin-starred
chef the British-Mediterranean
food is outstanding.
Insider tip: If you feel you’ve
mastered the TT, you can also
book a session on the Oval Circuit
in a single-seater Formula DXB
racing car. Just be careful out
there, OK?
From £185. dubaiautodrome.com
OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 231
 JOIN THE Q
The new Audi Q8 concept stole the show at Detroit and Geneva
and muscled in on carmakers’ drive for forward-thinking design
he Q8 is much more than just a new
SUV. This is a signpost to Audi’s
future, a dramatic, modernist
statement of intent that will sit at
the top of the range. Scheduled to enter
production next year, it will propel Audi into
the world of the super-luxury SUV, blending
high performance, innovative technology
and evocative design.
The vehicle you see here is technically only
a concept. Having originally been unveiled at
the Detroit Motor Show in January, the Q8
reappeared at the Geneva show in March in
“sport concept” guise. The “sport” boasted a
redesigned nose, exaggerated wheel arches
– wider by 12mm – and an extravagant
orange hue that Audi calls “krypton”.
232 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017
Even Audi’s tight-lipped PR team admit
the concept is only a few tweaks away from
production. The wheel rims might lose a
couple of inches in diameter and the doors
will grow handles, but it should otherwise
reach showrooms intact. Complementing
the family-friendly, seven-seater Q7, the
Q8 emphasises the “sport” in SUV.
It’s the first Audi SUV to be styled under
the stewardship of new design boss Marc
Lichte, who’s also responsible for the latest
A8. Lichte cites Audi’s core design values as
“sporty, simple and progressive” and points
to the 1980 quattro and the TT of 1998 as
examples of Audi’s “progressive” heritage.
His inference is clear: Audis of the future
will make a bolder statement, led by the Q8.

The new design language will also
emphasise the importance of quattro
to Audi’s DNA. “An Audi must have a
balanced weight over the front and rear
wheels to emphasise four-wheel drive,”
says Lichte. This is evident both in the
proportions of the Q8 and the pronounced
wheel arches that hint at the original
rally-bred quattro.
Another key feature is the evolution of
Audi’s distinctive “Singleframe” grille. In
the future, the Q models will feature an
octagonal grille, in contrast to the six
corners of the A range. On the Q8, it’s
flanked by headlights that employ
Matrix Laser technology to form an
x-shaped blue signature. There’ll be no
Audi’s
tight-lipped
PR team
admit the
concept
is only a
few tweaks
away from
production
Q branch: The Q8
concept at this year’s
Geneva Motor Show
demonstrated touch-
screen controls with
haptic feedback and
bodywork balanced
to emphasise the
four-wheel drive
mistaking the looming presence of a Q8 in
the rear-view mirror.
In recent years, Audi’s cabins have
established a new paradigm for minimalism
and material choice. The Q8 takes this one
stage further, all but eliminating traditional
buttons and replacing them with a high-
definition touch screen. It’s a neat way of
marrying complex functionality with the
designer’s passion for simplicity.
The attention to detail is impressive.
Recognising that cars need to be operated
on the move, Audi has introduced haptic
response, so you feel the controls, just as
you would with a conventional button.
Head-up display systems are nothing new,
but Audi is debuting augmented-reality
Q 8 C onc ep t GQP O W ER
techniques that place information in the
real environment. A navigation arrow, for
example, will appear in the same position as
a real arrow on the road. It’s about making
technology more intuitive.
The same philosophy has been applied
to the Q8’s hardware. As you might expect,
the latest iteration of Audi’s quattro
four-wheel drive system will feature as
standard and it’s mated to air suspension
with electronically controlled damping. The
ground clearance will be adjustable by up
to 90mm, turning up the volume on this
vehicle’s sport or utility. There will also be
a wheel-selective torque-control system
that automatically brakes the inside wheels
while cornering to improve both agility and
stability at high speed.
The Detroit and Geneva show cars were
fitted with different engine options. In
North America, Audi debuted a plug-in
hybrid system that combined an electric
motor with a 3.0-litre, turbocharged
petrol engine to deliver 442bhp. Capable
of 0-62mph in 5.4sec, it can travel 37 miles
on electricity alone.
In Europe, the Q8 sport concept featured
an innovative 3.0-litre V6 turbo with an
electrically powered compressor and a mild
hybrid system. Powered by an electric
motor, the compressor can accelerate to
70,000rpm in less than 250 milliseconds,
optimising the air flow to the engine
and providing an instantaneous kick of
performance with improved efficiency.
The sport concept boasts 469bhp,
accelerates from 0-62mph in just 4.7sec
and hits 170mph.
Set to be launched alongside the new
A8, the Q8 is another symbol of Audi’s
confidence. It represents the best of Audi
in the here and now, while simultaneously
pointing the way to an exciting future.
We can’t wait to drive it. alistair weaver
SIXTH SENSE
By 2019, Audi’s Q and Q4 (above),
range of SUVs will both of which pose
comprise six core as more sporting
models. The current alternatives, fusing
Q2, Q3, Q5 and Q7 will coupe-like styling with
be joined by the Q8 SUV versatility.
OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 233
 GQP O W ER A r t if ic ial I nt el l igenc e
To infinity... and beyond
Thanks to the enterprise of computer firms and car companies, the future of self-driving no
longer depends on the technology – the final frontier is convincing the rest of us to get on board
n 1989’s Batman,
Michael Keaton’s
masked antihero
beckoned the
Batmobile to the
scene with a few
husky voice
commands. Nearly three
decades later, we’re still waiting
for the technology to become
ubiquitous, but Audi thinks it
knows how to accelerate the
process: gain public trust and
achieve harmonised laws.
Its Beyond Initiative has
brought together scientists,
philosophers and lawyers
from MIT Media Lab, Oxford
University and Singularity
University, together with
entrepreneurs and business
leaders, to tackle both issues and
find answers to the questions that
could prevent social acceptance
of autonomous machines.
“What will be our role in the
future? What social implications
might this have? How can we
keep control? And, maybe
most importantly, how do
we make sure that AI will
share our values when making
decisions? This is my personal
motivation to roll out the
Beyond Initiative,” Audi CEO
Rupert Stadler said at the UN
summit AI For Good in June.
“Only by joining forces, will we
234 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017
minimise risks and seize the full
potential of the technology.”
So far, so expected. Audi
has been one of the earliest
developers of AI technology for
cars, teaming up with Stanford
University and Volkswagen’s
Electronics Research Lab in 2005
to compete – and win – Darpa’s
Grand Challenge for automated
vehicles. Its “Level 3” system,
which offers driverless functions
up to 37mph in good conditions,
will debut in the Audi A8 next
year and “Level 4”, with faster
speeds and unassisted lane
changing, is expected in 2020
thanks to a collaboration with
Nvidia. Total autonomy will
“technologically” be possible
from 2020 onwards, Stadler said
ahead of the summit.
However, he added, “Without
trust there is no market.”
Realising how this could stall
Take the initiative: Audi
CEO Rupert Stadler (above)
pioneers the principles
behind connected cars
Engineering Marvel: The new Audi A8
appears in Spider-Man: Homecoming
progress, Audi has been
developing the Beyond Initiative
for two years, putting it one
year ahead of the Partnership
On AI To Benefit People And
Society, a collaboration of the
biggest tech companies in the
world (including Apple, Amazon,
Facebook, Google, IBM and
Microsoft), announced in
September 2016.
On paper, we know AI will be
a good thing for mobility: 90 per
cent of road accidents are caused
by human error. In practice, no
one knows what a self-learning
machine will do when presented
with an ethical dilemma and
driverless taxis and lorries will
certainly put millions of people
out of work. As a result, the
Beyond Initiative is as much a
PR move as an ethics exercise.
At the same time as extolling its
potential to cure cancer and
squash fake news with “fair
algorithms”, Stadler suggests AI
could also require us to rethink
wages, putting forward the idea
of a basic income or robot tax
and placing more emphasis
on rewarding skills humans
excel at (such as creativity and
empathy). “We have to make
sure technology serves society
and not the other way round.
Then machines will follow the
pace of people again. We want
to use AI to secure jobs and to
raise the standard of living.”
Safety can also be a dull sell.
So Audi has been emphasising
why we should be excited about
autonomous technology. Its A8
might not be at Batmobile levels
yet, but its driverless functions
debuted on-screen in summer
blockbuster Spider-Man:
Homecoming and Stadler
describes a car that will not just
make our lives safer, but more
efficient in imaginative ways.
Aside from being a chauffeur,
it will be “a secretary who
reminds me what I need to do,
a butler who gets my groceries,
a postbox on wheels, a private
medical staff that keeps an eye
on my vital functions and
maybe it even becomes an
empathetic companion
throughout my day”.
It will also give us time
we didn’t have – “You will
be able to play with your
children in the car, while the
car pays attention to other
children playing on the street”
– and detect our mood and
adjust music and lighting
accordingly. In a nutshell, the
interior luxury Audi is known
for will extend to every
element of its AI. This, it
believes, will set it apart. If
only the Beyond Initiative
can get the public to trust it
enough to hop in... liat clark
Intelligent design (from left): Kate
Darling of MIT Media Lab partners
with Audi’s Martin Siemann at a
Beyond Initiative workshop to explore
the ethics of autonomous driving
Dream
land
It’s always had a certain

faded seaside glamour, but

Margate reinvented itself

this year. The new Primark

collection could do the same

for your wardrobe

 G Partnership

T-shirt, £4. Available in

store at Primark

Opposite page:
Leo wears denim
jacket, £25. Jeans, £18.
Rebecca wears denim
jacket, £25. Dress, £13.
All available in store at
Primark
Jacket, £23. T-shirt, £4.
Both available in store
at Primark

Opposite page: Leo

wears jumper, £12.
Jeans, £18. Boots, £18.
Rebecca wears jumper,
£13. All available in
store at Primark
G Partnership
Leo wears shirt, £15.
Rebecca wears top, £5.
Skirt, £10. Tights, £3.
Boots, £14. All available in
store at Primark

Opposite page: Jacket,

£25. Trousers, £10. Hat,
£2.50. All available in
store at Primark
G Partnership
 Jacket, £15. Top, £8.
Trousers, £14.
All available
in store at Primark

Opposite page:
Leo wears shirt, £15.
Rebecca wears top, £5.
Both available
in store at Primark

Hair Nao Kamakawa

Make-up Athena Paginton
Models Rebecca Munro,
Leo Topalov
Thanks to Walpole
Hotel, Margate
G Partnership
 this month: murakami’s garage p.248 the people’s architect p.249 rushdie returns p.250 esport’s hurdle p.251

California gurl:
Katy Perry on

15 Sep stage at the Wango

Tango festival on
America’s west
coast, 13 May 2017

American Assassin
It says a lot about the
current state of Hollywood
that American Assassin –
a Bourne-like tale of a CIA
black ops recruit (played by
The Maze Runner’s Dylan
O’Brien) who, devastated by
the loss of his girlfriend to
a terrorist attack, decides to
hunt down the perpetrators
Liam Neeson-style – feels like
something of a throwback.
And while director Michael
Cuesta’s CV doesn’t exactly
fill us with confidence (2011’s
Roadie and 2014’s Kill The
Messenger, anyone?), the
John Wick-meets-Taken
vibe makes this an unguilty
pleasure. Stuart McGurk

Art,
Architecture,
Books, Sport,
Film, Music, Politics
+ the best opinion
for the month
ahead

Katy Perry,
hear her raw
Photograph Getty Images

After grinding out a fifth album that

vanished from the charts without a trace, ce
in
the machine that made pop’s loudest hit Pr
ll
maker is in need of a tune-up Bi
Y
B
STORY BY Dorian Lynskey ED
IT
ED
 This is how we do Even solo artists need a little help sometimes. We chart the number of writers on these hit albums

LCD
Soundsystem
American Dream
(Columbia/DFA)
Out on 8 September
Six years after his
band’s supposed last
waltz, James Murphy
more than justifies
the U-turn with
mercurial dance-floor
art-rock, affecting
midlife angst and
satirical sideswipes at
the “bullying children
of the fabulous,
raffling off limited-
edition shoes”.

The National
Sleep Well Beast
(4AD)
Out on 8 September
It’s apt that the
sinister frenzy of
“Turtleneck” recalls
Nick Cave, another
artist who blazed MUSIC The rollout of Perry’s Witness, meanwhile,
back from a cosy
was painful to watch. First single “Chained To
trough. Galvanised
by frontman Matt
Berninger’s EL VY
project, political
Sisters should  The Rhythm” seemed to represent the “pur-
poseful pop” she’d been talking about since
campaigning for Hillary Clinton, but then “Bon

do it for
turmoil and
electronics, this is
Appétit” was a crass double entendre featuring
the Brooklyn band’s rap trio Migos and “Swish Swish” was a dance
boldest in a decade. track that reheated Perry’s tedious beef with

themselves Swift. Perry launched Witness with a bizarre

It took 34 writers to make Katy Perry’s new album and
just three for Lorde’s. One is a featureless release that
72-hour live stream in which, among other
things, she hosted a tense celebrity dinner
party and started crying to her therapist about
wanting to be Katheryn Hudson (her birth
Photographs Allstar/20th Century Fox; Getty Images

Prophets hardly troubled the charts, the other a confident record name) instead of Katy Perry. It was impos-
Of Rage that could herald the end of by-the-numbers pop sible to work out what she was trying to say.
Prophets Of Rage Did she want to be woke, sexy, bitchy or vul-
STORY BY Dorian Lynskey
(Caroline nerable? Did she even want to be releasing a
International)
Out on 15 September he story of pop music in 2017 can be summed up in a tale record? Witness topped the US charts on star-
of two comebacks. Both Lorde and Katy Perry rejoined power alone but dropped 89 per cent in week
Core members
of Rage Against
The Machine, Public
Enemy and Cypress
Hill come together
T the fray over the summer with their first albums in four
years. Lorde’s Melodrama is an utterly self-assured song
cycle about partying, break-ups and entering adulthood.
two – the kind of high-profile flop that causes
palpitations in record company boardrooms.
You could see the contrast between the
with explosive force Rather than tie herself in knots trying to repeat the success of her sur- two women on stage at Glastonbury. Lorde,
to give rap-metal prise hit “Royals”, Lorde and writer-producer Jack Antonoff crafted who tours the UK this month, dramatised the
supergroups a good
a new vessel for her mordant wit and emotional honesty – somewhat themes of Melodrama via an audacious theatri-
name. Protest
music’s answer to reminiscent of Taylor Swift’s 1989, but full of peculiar twists and sub- cal spectacle reminiscent of Kate Bush’s Before
The Avengers. DL versions. It received almost unanimous hosannas. The Dawn shows, perfectly calibrating every

246 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017

 Flatliners
It had to happen eventually – a film about bringing people back from
29 Sep the dead is, finally, brought back from the dead. The likes of Ellen Page
and (GQ’s Breakthrough Actor Of The Year) James Norton play junior
34 doctors who peek into the great beyond and don’t much like what they
see. Bonus: original star Kiefer Sutherland makes a cameo. SM

(songwriters,
including
Katy Perry)
hitmakers as Max Martin and Sia without
yielding a single song fit to touch the hem of
Perry’s 2013 anthem “Roar”. At this ruthless
22 end of the industry what’s good is
what works, so Witness’ nosedive
isn’t just Perry’s problem; it’s a collec-
(including
Perry) tive failure on the part of the writers,
producers and executives who are
paid to deliver the goods.
Lorde is playing a different game.
12 Despite her Top 40 positioning, she’s
a serious singer-songwriter at heart
(including so she doesn’t need (nor, I suspect, want) radio
Adele)
bangers. Working with Antonoff on every
song reveals an artistic confidence that bodes
well for the future. Successful artists need a
13 coherent story to tell and that’s a lot easier if
you can settle on one songwriting voice. Take
(including the unstoppable Ed Sheeran: he’s not exactly
Adele)
a Prince-style auteur, but whoever he works
with his lyrical identity is unmistakable, so each
3 album has an immediately persuasive narrative.
There’s no point being purist about author-
ship in pop, but in practice a tighter team
(including
Lorde) makes for a clearer identity and several major
stars seem to be leaning towards that model.
Lady Gaga, who tours in October, used a jumble
2 of cowriters on 2016’s deliberately downsized,
indie-curious Joanne, but got Mark Ronson
and BloodPop to produce the whole thing.
(including
Lorde) Harry Styles’ surprisingly likeable attempt to
step, every syllable. Next to that, Perry’s per-
formance was as cluttered as a child’s bedroom.
Witness’ nosedive isn’t
I enjoyed it, but I couldn’t explain it to you. It just Perry’s problem. It’s
was just a bunch of stuff happening. a collective failure of the
Perry’s identity crisis might be a symptom
of a deeper upheaval in the bowels of the writers and producers
industry. Witness enlisted such blue-chip paid to deliver the goods
Caging the songbird:
Kesha unleashed
Nobody has been treated
more cruelly by the pop
industry this decade than
Kesha. In 2005, aged 18, the
singer signed with Lukasz “Dr Luke”
Gottwald, who later masterminded
most of Katy Perry’s biggest hits.
Since 2014, Kesha’s career has been
in limbo due to a grim legal battle
with Gottwald, whom she accused
of sexual, physical, verbal and emotional
harassment. The ensuing lawsuits made Kesha
a pop martyr, supported by the likes of Lorde,
Gaga, Taylor Swift and Adele. Now 30, she’s
just released Rainbow, her first album since
2012 and the first that truly represents who she
is. Yet she’s still not really free: it’s released on
the label Gottwald founded.
teleport himself to the Sunset Strip in 1975 was
facilitated by a consistent squad led by writer-
producer Jeff Bhasker.
The saddest thing about Perry’s predicament is
that she chose (or was cajoled into choosing) the
wrong path. Perry is no longer the joyfully inau-
thentic pop-art confection who released the
bright-eyed “Teenage Dream” seven years ago.
She’s a 32-year-old who wants to be heard and
understood and she needs a creative partner to
help her get that across. A woman whose best
songs champion female empowerment appears
trapped inside a machine that no longer works
for her. It made her performance of “Roar” at
Glastonbury weirdly poignant.
Today’s pop stars are constantly telling their
fans, “Be yourself.” It’s the mantra of our age.
Artists who want to flourish in a period when
authenticity is king should take their own
advice – if the industry lets them. G

FILM

Shoot first, ask questions later

Is Kingsman’s escape is by murdering he actually runs out But it was also dispatched as if foes a henchman,” she
cartoon violence them all. There’s an of bullets and then uncomfortable, in a computer game. says, comforting her
missing the point? almost one-to-one focuses on knifing managing to be more While this may help sobbing son). Yet
ratio of bullets to people in the eyes, hyper-real than Bond, get the films past the Kingsman, curiously,
STORY BY splattered headshots axing them in the yet blithely insolent censors, it leads, they managed to be the
Stuart McGurk – not a projectile is head, setting them about death itself. wrote, to the “erasure apogee of both.
wasted. In around on fire and blowing It’s not alone. of consequences”. Blood-splattered, yet
There is a scene in the four minutes, Firth them up (all to a killer A recent report by Now, one hardly curiously bloodless;
first Kingsman film, now achieves what school soundtrack). the University Of expects to see the countless deaths, but
likely replaying in the shooters take a day to Generally, the first Pennsylvania noted a funeral of every no sense of killing.
nightmares of those who do. The very speed of Kingsman film, set in dramatic rise in PG-13 henchman taken out It’s telling that,
saw it, where Colin Firth it was both shocking a world of superhero violence and blamed it by Bond (a point made despite dying in the
(right) murders an entire and desensitising: spies and directed by on “superhero” films. It in Austin Powers, when first film, Firth is back
church congregation. headshot-headshot, Matthew Vaughn, was noted something else a henchman’s wife for the sequel: when
This is not a metaphor. headshot-headshot, great. Its sequel, too: the “bloodless learns her husband death has no meaning,
With everyone sent headshot-headshot- out this month, violence” of has been run over by why not?
temporarily insane by… headshot, death as promises these films a steamroller: “People Kingsman: The Golden
some plot or other, Firth percussion instrument. more of – with never think how things Circle is out on
decides the only way to Firth only stops when the same. bad guys affect the family of 20 September.

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 247

 It
A film adaptation of the Nineties miniseries of the Eighties book that gave everyone everywhere
8 Sep a crippling fear of clowns is finally here, ready to strike red-nosed, clown-feet terror into the
heart of a new generation. The pedigree is promising: director Andy Muschietti was behind
2013’s brilliant and unsettling horror Mama, while Cary Fukunaga – of True Detective series one
– wrote the script. Even better: this is only part one of a planned duology. Strap in. SM
ART
Takashi
Murakami’s
nuclear family
Having established himself alongside
Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst at the top
table of contemporary art, the Japanese
vision king takes his ultra-pop melange of
bright characters and atomic fallout to
Moscow’s Garage Museum
STORY BY Nimrod Kamer
e is not related to
renowned author
H Haruki, but for the first
time, Japanese artist
Takashi Murakami has
outdone the writer he shares a name
with in online searches and western
recognition. After exhibiting at MCA
in Chicago, Moma and Gagosian in
New York and The Broad in LA, this
month he takes over the esteemed
Garage Museum in Moscow, founded
in 2008 by socialite Dasha Zhukova
and her husband, Roman Abramovich.
Born in 1962, Murakami has a
manga-infused manifesto called
“Superflat”. His magnitude hit home
in May when he positioned himself
alongside Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst
in a notorious Instagram post, as the
masters of the art universe. Last June,
Facebook Messenger issued a series of
selfie filters that allowed his stylised
flowerhead and octopus to be placed
on users’ heads, as well as the glorified,
saw-tooth creature Mr DOB.
Cometh the manga: Takashi Murakami
brings his art manifesto to Moscow
DON’T MISS
What: Jasper Johns: Something
Resembling Truth
23 When: Until 10 December
Why: Jasper Johns’ first UK survey
show for 40 years features more than
Sep 150 sculptures, drawings and prints,
including his early, iconic images. Now
87, he is still a working artist. This is a
once-in-a-lifetime show. Sophie Hastings
Royal Academy Of Arts, London.
royalacademy.org.uk
248 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017
Nimrod Kramer: You never give
interviews to Japanese media. Why?
Takashi Murakami: The local art
scene here is in a state of deep
appropriation of western trends. I’m
doing something much more local but
it isn’t appreciated here. There’s some
jealousy of what I do, too, I guess.
NK: Why Garage in Moscow?
TM: My art factory in
Miyoshi, near Tokyo,
is, in a sense, a garage
and they offered me
the chance to copy
it in its entirety in
Moscow. It will exhibit
five sections, based on
my five practices. The
Geijutsu area will have the
best paintings, the Little Boy and
the Fat Man areas will be about the
effects of nuclear power on Japanese
visual culture. [Feature film] Jellyfish
Eyes will be screened at the Kawaii
section and Sutajito will have my
many installations from the studio.
The last section, Asobi & Kazari,
will be spread across the museum’s
café, bookshop and façade with
parasite ornaments.
NK: Do brand artists need
museum-size studios these days?
TM: Yes, they do. It takes a village
– it takes a factory – to operate
beyond gallery shows and normal
canvases. Especially if you want to
create an umbrella of products and
deliver them to the masses.
NK: You also promote Japanese
talent, such as Madsaki, who
showed in your gallery.
TM: Madsaki is a pseudo-Matisse
laughing barrel. I discovered him on a
colleague’s Instagram and immediately
negotiated a discount to buy his early
works. We became good friends. His
show Here Today, Gone Tomorrow
What: Jenny Holzer At Blenheim Palace
28 When: Until 31 December
Why: US artist Jenny Holzer questions the
“truths” we are presented by infiltrating
public spaces with words (right) written on
Sep flyposters, carved in stone and lit in LEDs.
Her subversive tone appears in delicious
juxtaposition against this baroque palace.
Expect site-specific light projections. SH
Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire.
blenheimpalace.com
consists of graffiti-style paintings of
his wife in many soulful scenarios
(below, inset). The surface and eyes
exude his peculiar brand of sorrow.
NK: Mobile phones in Japan can’t
be muted when taking a picture.
What’s going on?
TM: This has become the overlaying
ambience in many of my public
shows. The mandatory
shutter sound dates back
to 2000 and the first cell
phones. It cannot be
turned off because of
voyeurism and up-skirt
photography, creeps in
the metro taking unholy
pictures. Many here are
protective of public morals
and wary of secret photography.
NK: You prefer talking in Japanese
but your social media is in English.
TM: I can be more concise and direct
in my born language. Talking about
my dogma and artistic theorem
requires a better skill than composing
a caption to a post. Hashtags will
always be in English, though.
NK: Any emerging western artist
you can recommend?
TM: Austin Lee from Long Island
City [New York]. Very young.
Incredibly focused on his blurred,
colourful creatures. Go see him.
NK: In Art Basel Hong Kong,
you hosted a huge party with
Young Lord and Daoko. No other
artists hosted a bash; it was just
galleries and institutions.
TM: I know. We can’t seem to stop.
NK: OK, see you in Gorky Park,
Moscow, in September.
TM: Sayonara. G
Under The Radiation Falls is at Garage
Museum Of Contemporary Art,
Moscow, 29 September – 4 February.
garagemca.org

ARCHITECTURE
Pomp and
circumstance
This month, a new autobiography reveals
the blueprints that built the career of British
starchitect Richard Rogers. For the man who
@ Madsaki; Maciej Kucia; Attilio Maranzano; Rex Features
designed Paris’ most controversial structure,
Photographs Richard Bryant; Getty Images; Instagram/
words don’t do justice to all his audacious
creations, but the stories he tells prove the
power of his ideas will long outlive him
STORY BY Edwin Heathcote
t the opening of the
Pompidou Centre in
A Paris 40 years ago, the
building’s co-architect
Richard Rogers was
standing with the crowds in the rain.
A lady asked him whether he knew who
had designed it. He admitted, proudly,
that he was its architect. The old lady
hit him over the head with her umbrella.
What: Raqib Shaw
On When: Until 19 November
Why: Raqib Shaw manipulates pools of
enamel with a porcupine quill, adding
jewels and metallic paint to create fantasy
now worlds. The Indian-born, London-based
artist is influenced by Renaissance
imagery, but the works’ opulence masks
an underlying violent and sexual nature SH
The Whitworth, Manchester.
whitworth.manchester.ac.uk
Pipe dream (from top): The Pompidou
Centre, Paris; 22 Parkside, Wimbledon
The Pompidou was an architectural
revolution, with coloured pipes, a
mess of steel and an escalator in a
Perspex tube. It was compared to an oil
refinery, yet it became the city’s most
visited attraction. It was the result of
a moment in the Sixties when a group
of (mostly British) architects combined
their obsessions with sci-fi, Meccano,
pop art and US popular culture into a
jumble of idealistic ambitions for an
architecture that could be flexible, fun
and free. It would be mobile and its
contents would be programmed by its
users, not a state bureaucracy.
It never quite worked out like that,
but the Pompidou remains a monu-
ment to that moment of idealism in a
more equitable and democratic future.
What: Marc Quinn: Drawn From Life
On When: Until 23 September
Why: In the first contemporary exhibition
at this gem of a London venue, former YBA
Marc Quinn scatters a series of fragmentary
now glass-fibre sculptures taken from casts of
him and his girlfriend – the 6ft-tall dancer
Jenny Bastet – among the antique artefacts
of Sir John Soane’s permanent collection. SH
Sir John Soane’s Museum, London.
soane.org
A Place For All People (Canongate,
£30) is Rogers’ attempt to illuminate
that moment and extend its ideals into
our cynical age. Part memoir, part man-
ifesto and part list of thank yous, it is
also a stab at summing up a life.
Rogers (now known as Lord Rogers
Of Riverside), 84, is famously dyslexic,
so this is not a book by him, but as told
to his co-author, Richard Brown, which
means it doesn’t read like a book, rather
as a series of snippets, some reveal-
ing, some inspiring, others not. There
is little that isn’t familiar. Perhaps an
actual biographer might have squeezed
more revealing stories.
This self-censoring format glosses
over inconsistencies in the architect’s
career. If half the book
is dedicated to Rogers’
fight for a fairer society
and a more open city,
it’s curious that there’s
no mention of his office’s
high-profile project One
Hyde Park, a block of
luxury apartments, now
largely lying empty.
Yet it is indisputable
that Rogers has been a
force for good. His work
When Rogers
admitted he was
the architect, the
old lady hit him
with her umbrella
with the Labour party led to a change
in political attitudes towards the city,
from dismissal (“inner city” was short-
hand for neglect) to engagement.
His wife, Ruth, was instrumental in
changing attitudes to food in an envi-
ronment that was once a culinary
purgatory; The River Café began as
Rogers’ staff canteen. Ruth’s skills were
learned beside Rogers’ Italian mother, for
whom Rogers built his first house, a slice
of California transported to suburban
Wimbledon, which has, coincidentally,
just been restored and reopened as a
base for Harvard design students.
Between these two buildings, in
Wimbledon and Paris, we get the
picture – a privileged, urbane life in
which connections have conferred
incredible opportunities, but also a
career that embraces, arguably, some of
the most fascinating and experimental
architecture of the post-war era. G
OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 249
 Borg Vs McEnroe
An irascible, irrepressible hothead who creates equal parts chaos and brilliance by the sheer force
22 Sep of his car-crash personality: fair to say that the perennially arrested man-child Shia LaBeouf was
a shoe-in for tennis’ most famous complainer, John McEnroe, while the relatively unknown Sverrir
Gudnason plays the enigmatic ice-cool Björn Borg in this snapshot biopic. Borg Vs McEnroe
promises to be the Frost/Nixon of tennis and that’s no bad thing at all. SM
BOOKS
Something
to write
home about
Turning his years as an elite Manhattanite into
material for his latest novel, Salman Rushdie
unveils a monument to money, marriage and
the glittering American Dream
STORY BY Olivia Cole
s his memoir, Joseph Anton,
explained, after being in hiding
A in the UK in the Nineties, it
was New York City that drew
Salman Rushdie into the light.
There he hid in plain sight – at eateries, screen-
ing rooms and on red carpets. But this wasn’t
just a fact of freedom, it was how he conjured it
into being. “A deliberate policy,” writes Rushdie
in the book (which was named after the pseu-
donym he took while hiding from Ayatollah
Khomeini’s death fatwa following the publica-
tion of The Satanic Verses in 1988). “Only by
living openly, visibly and fearlessly and being
written about for doing so, could he reduce the
climate of fear around him.”
The Golden House is the novel that has resulted
from Rushdie’s gossip-column, flashbulb new life
The pie chart review
The Ocean Fell 4% Marlon
Brando
Into The Drop
By Terence Stamp
Published 19 September
Watkins Media, £14.99
Actor, lothario, hat wearer: Terence
Stamp, 79, has lived more lives than
most. That’s probably why he keeps
writing biographies, although it’s for
his latest, The Ocean Fell Into The Drop,
that he gets kaleidoscopic about his
life’s most colourful parts. Superman
features, in particular an exchange
between himself, Marlon Brando and
two giggling schoolgirls… The rest is
delightfully unapologetic: the bromance
with flatmate Michael Caine pre-Alfie,
the romance with Jean Shrimpton,
spiritual dabblings and all the paisley
scarves worn in between. A perfect 2% Julie
read, a near-perfect life. Jonathan Heaf Christie
250 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017
in New York, centring on an Indian family who
reinvent themselves as the “Golden” dynasty.
Nero Golden, a shady real estate tycoon, and
his three sons leave Mumbai for the US, where
Nero acquires a “beautiful if slightly frozen” new
Russian wife, Vasilisa. As Rushdie writes, “There
were dozens, hundreds, thousands of Golds,
Goldwaters, Goldsteins, Finegolds, Goldberrys.
Americans also constantly decided what they
wanted to be called and who they wanted to
be, shedding their Gatz origins to become shirt-
owning Gatsbys... If our new friends wanted to
be Caesars, we were down with that.”
As “down with that” suggests, this is a New
Yorker speaking. The novel’s setting is the
fictional Gardens – luxurious flats and houses
that share communal grounds somewhere
around Bleecker Street – and its narrator, René,
34% Other
women, not his
wife nor Christie
25% General
Sixties
peacocking
22% Actors’
indiscretions
on set
13% Superman
is an aspiring filmmaker whose family were
here before the money took over and sees the
Golden family as an ideal subject.
Rushdie’s newfound personal freedom was
symbolised by his stormy marriage to the
Indian-American model and food writer Padma
Lakshmi. They met at a party on Liberty Island
where, Rushdie recollects in Joseph Anton,
“She seemed to contain his Indian past and his
American future. She was the dream of leaving
it all behind and beginning again – a Mayflower
fantasy more alluring than her beauty, and her
beauty was brighter than the sun.”
That Mayflower fantasy has stayed with
Rushdie, who gained dual citizenship in 2016,
his American Dream enduring even though
the marriage did not. Without providing a plot
spoiler, mistaken paternity is key. There is a
son presented to Nero as another heir. Could
this owe anything to Lakshmi’s post-Rushdie
relationship with Teddy Forstmann, an older
billionaire who wanted to raise Lakshmi’s
daughter with venture capitalist Adam Dell
as his own after she conceived during a fling?
The demand might seem a bit much had
Rushdie not observed so devastatingly in
Joseph Anton his wife vanishing “in some
ancient Scrooge McDuck’s private jet, into his
The Golden House
resulted from Rushdie’s
gossip-column,
flashbulb new life
in New York
private world at Dismal Downs and other places
filled with wretchedness and cash...”
Two decades after Rushdie transplanted
Photographs Getty Images; Nordisk Film/Planet Photos; Screengrab
himself to the US, one of the major pleasures of
this novel is the way in which he considers the
mores of the one per cent of the one per cent.
Rushdie writes about the Goldens’ glittering,
private world with innumerable perfect
details, down to the art hanging on the
walls. “The balloon dog keeps watch, the
pickled piranha snarls from a wall and
neon words of love shine in lurid pink
and green above the doorway.”
Set during the ascendency of Donald
Trump, unsurprisingly René can’t say
if there is any point to art that tries to
educate and is now being written off as
“elitism”. But Rushdie knows better. It will
be a long four years, but fictional protests are
unlikely to be as electric as this. G
The Golden House (Jonathan Cape, £18.99)
is out now.

Let the video games begin
As esports become serious contenders for lucrative deals and medals, the real action should not be sidelined
ave you noticed
how all restau-
H rants are the same
these days? You
a r e s e a te d by
a bearded hipster who explains
not the menu, but the policy.
Everything’s small plates, for
sharing. And it comes when it’s
ready, not in any ordered sequence.
The server delivers this news as if
the restaurant has invented the
wheel. Yet everybody’s doing it
and has been for years. Which
brings me to quidditch.
A few years ago, when my boys
were choosing universities, they
were shown around campuses
by enthusiastic undergraduates.
Eventually the tour would reach
the sports facilities. University
sport is fabulous. So, as well as
the state-of-the-art gym, the
swimming pool and a list of
every sports team from korfball
to lacrosse, there’d be an attempt
to lighten the mood. “We even
do quidditch!” the guide would
say, excitedly. Like the hipster
waiters, the guides all thought
their university completely
original in sending out nerd teen-
agers to pretend they could fly.
Yet quidditch leagues exist, as
does a Quidditch World Cup, in
which Team UK came third. So,
knowing the way British sports
funding works these days, it really
is just a matter of time. Quidditch,
horseball, even esports such as
League Of Legends: if there’s a
medal in it, UK Sport are going to
catch on quickly, and good luck
funding your inner-city basketball
court or five-a-side football pitch
then. Forget Harry Kane, we’ll be
diverting all our cash towards the
next Harry Potter. Don’t think it
couldn’t happen. Esports – playing
computer games competitively –
are already going to be
medal events at the
2022 Asian Games
and have been dis-
cussed at UK Sport’s
planning meetings.
SPORT
STORY BY Martin Samuel
As esports attract sponsors
and money, do not presume the
Olympic movement will remain
sacrosanct either. That lot would
sell the crown jewels to EA Sports
in a heartbeat if it meant keeping
IOC members in the style to which
they are accustomed and if that
happens medal-hungry Team GB
will want in, too. You’ll see their
commitment to health and fitness
then. They’ll tarmac over playing
fields to build giant warehouses
where future British Olympians
will go to work on their thumbs.
Earlier this year, a meeting of
the parliamentary select
committee consid-
ered the funding
shortfall around
UK Anti-Doping.
It was suggested
UK Sport could
perhaps take a four per cent cut
– amounting to £16 million –
to make UKAD more effective.
Immediately, Liz Nicholls, chief
executive of UK Sport, protested.
“We would have to reduce sport
and athletes’ funding,” she said.
In other words, medals. We could
lose some of those lovely medals.
And, as we know, at UK Sport
medals make the world go round.
Brilliant participation sports like
They’ll build
warehouses
where Olympians
will go to work
on their thumbs
basketball and volleyball get
shafted, because it is very hard to
play catch-up in globally popular
team disciplines. Modern pen-
tathlon and cycling, however, are
our low-hanging fruit. There are
few participants, they respond to
investment, we may as well book
the bus parade now. Same with
quidditch or Call Of Duty. If they
ever get to the podium, you can
bet Team GB will be in the van-
Down to the wires: The Counter Strike: guard: working on marginal gains
for imaginary broomsticks. G
Global Offensive Major Championship
in Atlanta, 29 January 2017
Take the battlefield
The idea of professionals playing video games competitively
in front of spectators emerged in South Korea. Now,
however, contests are spreading across the world. Want
a piece of the action? Here are the games to master:
League Of Legends
Another multiplayer
online battlefield
game, LOL came out
in 2009. At 2016’s
World Championship,
the prize pool reached
over £5.2m.
Dota 2 Smite
A spin-off from the Can you guess the
Warcraft series, Dota genre of this game?
2 brought players Yup, online battlefield!
together for a world Smite’s 2015 World
championship last year Championship had a
with a prize pool of record prize pool of
over £15.5 million. £2m. Charlie Burton
OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 251
 Goodbye Christopher Robin
This behind-the-scenes look at the life of Winnie-The-Pooh author AA Milne might not scream
29 Sep must-see cinema, but the talent involved in this adaptation could well see it in the mix come Oscar
time. Simon Curtis (My Week With Marilyn) directs a cast that includes the sublime Margot Robbie
and the brilliant Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag), with star-in-waiting Domhnall Gleeson – who can
otherwise be seem storming around Death Stars in the latest Star Wars films – as Milne himself. SM

ith an inevitabil- POLITICS govern. And he must work on the

ity as sure as the assumption that he could be fight-

W passing of the
seasons, one gen-
eration of party
leaders has yielded place to
another. The difference is that,
this time, the young have been
replaced by their elders.
Only three years ago, David
Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick
Clegg – all fortysomethings –
squared up to one another in the
annual party conference pageant.
This year, Theresa May, at 60, is
the baby of the bunch, eight years
younger than Jeremy Corbyn, and
Vince Cable’s junior by 14.
As it happens, the 74-year-old
Cable’s first conference as Lib Dem
leader might well be the most
intriguing of his party’s annual
gatherings in recent memory.
Though still a diminished force
in the Commons – there are only
12 Lib Dem MPs, compared to the
52 led by Charles Kennedy after
the 2005 election – the move-
ment now has an opportunity
to carve out a distinctive role in
Brexit Britain.
Unlike his predecessor, Tim
Farron, Cable is more interested
in party realignment, no doubt
inspired by Emmanuel Macron’s
triumphant reinvigoration of the
political centre in France. The Lib
Dem leader believes that there
is still time and scope to prevent
Britain’s departure from the EU
and is willing to work with anyone
to achieve that objective. He will
probably not succeed, but his
intelligence and contrarian vigour
will make the British political
landscape more interesting.
Cable also knows that Corbyn
is in trouble over Brexit. Those
youthful Remainers who voted
for Labour in June are beginning
to grasp that the party is unequiv-
ocally committed to leaving both
ing another general election soon.
Why this is so will be made
clear when the Tories gather in
Manchester. Expect a glutinously
choreographed display of unity
in the conference chamber and
standing ovations aplenty for the
prime minister. But – as Margaret
Thatcher famously observed –
Conservatives are masters of
“treachery with a smile on its
face.” Even as they cheer May,
they will be clutching daggers
behind their backs.
No serious Tory believes that
this gravely weakened govern-
ment can last a full parliament.
Like a galleon holed below the
waterline, the Tory ship is in des-
perate trouble, limping through
the waters, kept afloat only by a
Even as they
cheer, the Tories
will be clutching
daggers behind
their backs
Elder statesmen: Can Cable and Corbyn gain ground on May at conference? deal with the Democratic Unionist
Party that was bought with
There’s life in £1 billion of taxpayers’ money.
In practice, it is not a question
of whether May goes, but in what
the old dogs yet fashion, who replaces her and how
quickly her successor goes to the
country. In their public remarks in
It’s party conference season again and the door is wide Manchester, ministers will insist
open for the veteran Labour and Lib Dem leaders to that they are preoccupied only
put the prime minister out to pasture – that’s if her own by the business of government,
colleagues don’t pull the cord themselves economic stability and Brexit. In
STORY BY Matthew d’Ancona private, their mutterings will be
different. Presented as collective
out socialism will this year be cel- year, he will be scrutinised by the loyalty, this gathering will, in
ebrating Corbyn’s achievement in media as a prospective prime min- truth, be a carnival of conspiracy.
securing 40 per cent of the vote ister, his team held to account as Every time you hear a Tory declare
with an unashamedly left-wing potential cabinet ministers, rather that the public has “no taste for
manifesto. He is one of their own: than spokespeople for a political another election” or that the
a lifelong man of the left, who movement in free fall. party is “united behind the prime
could, at least conceivably, be the Every speech will be pored minister”, count the spoons.
Illustration Britt Spencer

the EU and the single market.
Which is not to say that the
party’s upcoming conference in
Brighton will be gloomy. Quite the
opposite: the delegates who tradi-
tionally spend the week berating
the Labour leadership for selling
next prime minister.
This is why Labour’s conference
will be different to last year’s, held
immediately after a failed par-
liamentary coup against Corbyn.
In Liverpool in 2016, he was still
fighting for his political life. This
over, every promise ruthlessly
costed – and rightly so. In June,
Corbyn proved the pollsters and
the pundits wrong by capturing a
national mood. Now he must show
that he is capable of matching left-
wing populism with a capacity to
The hissing chemical compound
of British politics could scarcely be
less stable. So do cast an eye at
this year’s party conferences. They
may be the last such opportunity
before you are invited, yet again,
to head to the polling booth. G

252 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017

YOUR .
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254 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017

 The
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we’ll help you make sure you
always look the part

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 255

G Partnership

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OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 257

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HUGOBOSS.COM
 The biggest awards ceremony in the land just
turned 20. Over two decades, we’ve annointed
everyone from empire-building rappers (Jay Z)
to rock legends (Sir Paul McCartney) to prime
ministers (David Cameron and Tony Blair). So
how to celebrate our Men Of The Year Awards
reaching the big two-oh? Why, top them all
of course. Over 54 pages, we honour three
kings of streaming TV, the two funniest dining
companions on the planet, a mayor holding
his city together, a grime artist breaking out,
an ex-One Directioner who never dresses
down, a knight of the realm, a Premier League
champion, a heavyweight winner and an
intergalactic icon who still has enough Force to
make us feel 12 again. Ladies and gentlemen, in
association with Hugo Boss, the 20th annual...

Edited by Stuart McGurk Creative direction by Paul Solomons

IN ASSOCIATION WITH
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OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 263

 Jacket, £2,270. Trousers,
£1,100. Shirt, £425. Bow tie,
£120. All by Gucci. gucci.
com. Cane by Tom Ford,
£370. tomford.com

Opposite: Jacket, £2,250.

Shirt, £495. Both by
Tom Ford. tomford.com.
Waistcoat by Ralph Lauren
Purple Label, £595.
ralphlauren.co.uk. Scarf by
Gucci, £90. gucci.com

264 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017

 G Actor Of The Year

Jared
Leto
Before his return for Dallas Buyers
Club, this Oscar-winning multi-talent
had been retired. Lucky for us – and
for smash sci-fi sequel Blade Runner
2049 – he came back for good...

Story by Jonathan Heaf Photographs by Gavin Bond Styling by Mark Holmes

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 265


T
The road up to Jared Leto’s house in Los
Angeles is steep and winding. Let’s be clear:
this isn’t some faux-Spanish mansion bolted
onto the Hollywood Hills like a monstrous
totem of temporary fame and wealth. Neither
is it like those LA shag pads, all nonreflective
glass, lap pools and hammered zinc, the sort
you see on Scott Disick’s social-media feed,
the ones with the three supercars parked out
front in various shades of matt black.
No, this is anything but ostentatious.
Whoever lives here wants to work
undisturbed. For one, it’s an old Air Force
base. An enclave. A sprawling, expansive,
many layered building. A cross between
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater house and
a candle factory, which was once used by the
US military to develop a means to photograph
the detonation of government-built nuclear
weapons. A place of espionage and secrets and
cameras to capture and measure badass mush-
room clouds. This is a hub. This is a bunker.
A hideout. A lair.
I buzz in and I’m met by Leto’s assistant.
She is very polite. I’m offered refreshments.
My water arrives in a jam jar. I sit for ten
minutes in a whitewashed room. It’s empty
save for a little mid-century furniture. I’m
summoned and the very polite assistant takes
me through more rooms to a door which leads
to a courtyard where I am told Leto will meet
me shortly.
I’m left alone. It’s absurdly tranquil and
much cooler than the Sunset Strip, with its
hustlers and hustled, wannabes and gonnabes.
There’s a pool that looks like a pond. A
large tree throws shade over a royal blue
set of metal garden furniture. The floor is
covered in small stones. Ants dash silently
like an army of workers beneath my feet.
“I came to Los Angeles in 1991, which
sounds like ancient times.”
266 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017
Jared Leto, GQ’s Actor Of The Year, is here
with me now and is conducting this interview
standing up wearing what looks like pyjama
bottoms and a flannel shirt. He doesn’t want
to sit down as he has a bad back, something
that happened on a film set, and it hurts less
if he’s upright. I am, however, sitting, which
feels slightly odd, but he’s cool with it so this
is how we’re going to roll.
“This was pre-mobiles and pre-internet,
if you can imagine such a thing. I was a film
student and an art student and I thought acting
would get me on the path to directing. I remem-
ber I was supposed to come out with a friend
and he cancelled on me two weeks beforehand.
I remember thinking, ‘Fuck it, I’m going alone.’”
That first trip, Leto found himself at the
beach staring at a homeless man urinating in
the sand. “There he was with his pecker out.
It was not what I was expecting, the LA of all
the movies and posters. But it was actually
great. It was honest. It made this imagined
place more real. It made it attainable. I realised
that California brings a lot of people together
looking for a lot of different things.”
Did Leto get work straight away? “Hardly.
I actually had to go back to New York. But
on my second trip I ended up renting a room
from a woman in an apartment. Like, a tiny
apartment, one-and-a-half rooms. It was her,
me and her roommate. The roommate was a
man dying of Aids. My mum was a hippie,
so I knew how to make all these nutritious
green smoothies with fresh vegetables and
so on. We were just trying to keep him alive.
Strange how things like that happen to you
only to then inform your life at a later point.”
Leto is, of course, talking about the impact
that early harrowing experience had on his
role as Rayon in Dallas Buyers Club, a part
which saw him win an Oscar three years ago.
“When that role came along I had been
retired for almost six years from acting. I had
my band, Thirty Seconds To Mars, which was
and still is my main creative outlet. I didn’t
think I wanted to go back. But then I read
that script and...”
Well, you know the rest. Since then, the
parts Leto has taken on have been, from where
we’re sitting at least, fully immersive experi-
ences for the actor: The Joker, in last year’s
Suicide Squad, was as unhinged and cartoon-
ishly menacing as fans all hoped, while next
month Leto will be seen as Neander Wallace,
the seemingly God-like replicant creator in
Blade Runner 2049, alongside Harrison Ford
and Ryan Gosling.
“What can I tell you? Neander Wallace is
powerful. He’s also blind.”
I’d heard his character is based on his tech-
titan friend Elon Musk. “Yeah. I used a little
‘My roommate
was dying of
Aids. It’s strange
how things like
that inform your
life later on’
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of Elon and actually quite a few of my friends
who are very successful founders of com-
panies. I was interested in how billions of
dollars can change a man and how he is per-
ceived. Money is freedom. You can take more
risks. But it can also enslave, you know? Like
Howard Hughes.”
What else can he tell us? “Well, I can tell
you Harrison Ford is a stud – even in a cream
suit. Man, he’s 75 and he’s a solid dude. And
Ryan Gosling? I didn’t have any scenes with
him, but he’s exactly what I want my movie
stars to be like. Exactly.”
So can Leto finally draw a line under the
35-year-long dispute between Ford and
Ridley Scott, the original film’s director, about
whether or not Ford’s character is in fact a rep-
licant? “I can.” Really? “Yes.” As I hear this I
can almost hear the late Philip K Dick, along
with every other nerd worth his Grays Sports
Almanac (1950-2000) stop counting electric
sheep, sit up and cock an ear.
“You see, my character in this film is the
only person in the entire Blade Runner uni-
verse who puts a machine inside...” Caution
suddenly gets the better of his natural
candour. “Put it this way, my character gets
a bit of information that no one else sees.
So I know who is and who isn’t a machine.
I can decide.”
And the answer?
Hair Makiko Nara Make-up Jamie Taylor
“Nope.”
What?
“No, no, no. It’ll be on my gravestone –
‘I know the answer’ – and I do.”
A mystery wrapped in an enigma wrapped
in a Gucci flannel shirt. Oh, and a real prick-
tease. And we say that with humour. And a lot
of love. There hasn’t been, nor ever will there
be anyone quite like Jared Leto in this town.
Hollywood’s leading man who fell to earth.
Blade Runner 2049 is out on 6 October.
OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 267
 G Sportsman Of The Year
AJ took the knock of his life
and still went on to triumph
in British boxing’s mightiest
fight. He kept his belt and
now retains his GQ title, too

ack in May, on a warm night at

B
  Wembley Stadium in front of a
record-breaking 90,000 people,
the undefeated champion
Anthony Joshua found himself
in an unexpected position: he was on his
back, hurt, exhausted and embarrassed,
with the referee shouting in his face and
counting with his fingers.
One... Two... “When I went down I knew
it could have been the end, that I could have
stayed down, that I could accept defeat.”
Three... Four... “I remember thinking,
Klitschko is good, maybe good enough to
beat me tonight.” Five... Six... “But I also
knew that although he had put me down
he hadn’t done enough to keep me down.”
Seven... “My instinct was to get up, to
survive, keep trying.” Eight... “I told myself,
’Just get through the round.’”
Dazed and disorientated, but also
determined, Joshua regrouped. In the
seventh his head cleared. In the eighth, he
could see Klitschko’s shots coming. And in
Story by Paul Henderson Photograph by Matthew Brookes Styling by Luke Day

the ninth he issued an ominous warning

to his tiring Ukrainian rival. “It was halfway
through the round and I told him, ‘If you
let me get through this round, I’m going
to knock you out!’ When the bell sounded,
I just gave him a look and a grin as I went
back to the corner. And I knew then that I
was back in the fight... I knew I could win.
And deep down maybe he did, too.”
In the eleventh, Joshua made good on his
promise. “The first time he went down was
from a flurry of punches. Then I caught him
again, this time with a monster uppercut
and, although he looked OK, I could see in
his eyes that I had rocked him. So I jumped
in and for the second knockdown he went
like a building. I thought it was definitely
the end. I couldn’t believe it when he got
up again! But I knew I had him and I let my
hands go until the referee stopped the fight.
Then I just smiled at Klitschko. I wanted to
let him know that there was respect there,
that I had been through in the sixth what he
had just been through in the eleventh. But
the difference was, I would leave the ring
as the champion.”
And, for the second year running, as GQ’s
Sportsman Of The Year.
 ‘I knew I could
win and deep
down Klitschko
knew it, too’
Grooming Ben Talbott

Jacket, £1,395. Trousers, £495. Socks, £9.95.

All by Ralph Lauren Purple Label.
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Both by Boss. hugoboss.com.
Bow tie by Lanvin, £85. At mrporter.com

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 269

 G Hugo Boss Most Stylish Man Of The Year

Zayn Malik
Since leaving 1D, the
group’s first émigré has
walked his own path in
more ways than one.
From heavy metal tuxes
to vintage band merch,
this year the one-time
boy wonder became
a man to look up to

Story by Nick Carvell Photographs by Doug Inglish Styling by Jason Rembert

Jacket by Hugo, £550. Shirt, £89.
Both by Boss. hugoboss.com.
Fragrance, Boss Bottled, £62
for 100ml. hugoboss.com
‘I steal from
SPONSORED BY
Gigi’s wardrobe
all the time.
Shirts, T-shirts
– whatever
looks cool’
OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 271

Zayn Malik has come a long way. Not just geographically
(our shoot in LA happened a full 5,282 miles away from his
hometown of Bradford), but also since he left One Direction
– one of the most successful boy bands of all time. Since
March 2015 he’s had a phenomenally successful first album
(Mind Of Mine hit No1 on both sides of the Atlantic) and a
global smash debut single in the form of “Pillowtalk” (he’s
the first British act in chart history to kick-start their career
with a No1 single on the American Billboard Hot 100), as
well as dating the most famous supermodel in the world,
Gigi Hadid. Now he’s repping a tux for his second GQ cover
this year and preparing to take home the Hugo Boss Most
Stylish Man Of The Year award.
Quick reminder: the man’s only 24 years old. If there was
an entry in the dictionary for the phrase “stratospheric rise
to fame”, Malik’s picture would be next to it – possibly mul-
tiple shots featuring the myriad haircuts and colours he’s
tried out since going solo.
And he’s not slowing down. Last night he was in the
studio he’s built in his LA pad, working on new material and
putting the finishing touches to the tracklist of his second
album (due later this year). Turns out, it’s been a very dif-
ferent experience from his first record.
Writing as a solo artist, he says, is “almost like an explo-
sion – everything comes out. Then you have to decipher
it and work out what your sound’s going to be, what it is
that you want to say.”
So what does he want to say in this as-yet-untitled
new record?
“Just that I’m having a good time. I’m enjoying
myself. Life’s good. I’m not taking things too seriously
and just making music that people can have fun
272 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017
listening to at their parties and get-togethers. I’m not
trying to change the world or do anything revolutionary,
just normal stuff.”
And yet, as grounded as he seems, many aspects of
Malik’s life aren’t “normal”. Perhaps most notably, Hadid
– one of the planet’s most photographed women, not just
as the face of many of the world’s biggest brands (Missoni,
Guess, Tommy Hilfiger, Versace, Tom Ford, Moschino,
the list goes on), but also in her regular life, whether by
paparazzi or selfies posted for her 35 million Instagram
followers. As you can imagine, being the boyfriend of
a woman so embedded in the style industry rubs off on
a man.
“I steal from Gigi’s wardrobe all the time. Shirts, T-shirts,
whatever. I won’t necessarily wear them out publicly, but
in the house I will. I don’t care – as long as it looks cool,”
he says, laughing. “I rob her sunglasses all the time. She’s
not too happy about that. I think I’ve lost a couple of pairs.”
This is, of course, part of the reason Zayn deserves
our award: whether he’s mopping his girlfriend’s shades
or hitting the red carpet at the Met Gala in metallic
robot arms, he’s not afraid to experiment with his style.
He’s one of those rare men who looks totally himself
whatever he’s wearing – somebody who does streetwear
as effortlessly as a leading-man dinner suit. Everything
he tries just works.
It would be easy to say that, like songwriting as a solo
artist, this is the result of having the freedom to be your-
self after being constrained in the tightly image-controlled
stylings of a clean-cut boy band (“It’s definitely a nice
feeling to wear whatever you want and not have to match
with somebody else”), but there appears to be something
deeper to Malik’s approach to dressing.
“My dad said you should always wear things that fit you
right,” he says, “rather than just caring about the brand.
That is something I live by to this day. I’ll wear anything
as long as it looks good on me. I don’t really care about
where it’s from or the price tag.”
That’s not to say he doesn’t wear designer clothes, but
you might just run into him out in LA searching for old
band merch in the city’s legendarily good vintage shops
(“What Goes Around Comes Around is pretty sick,” he
says). So it’s perhaps not surprising that when asked which
man’s wardrobe he would have liked to steal, he chooses
someone whose face has probably appeared on more merch
than any other’s: Tupac Shakur. “He had some really cool
Versace stuff back in the day, one-off jumpers and jeans
that were just amazing.”
Then again, perhaps it’s a good idea he’ll not be
getting his hands on the rapper’s vintage threads any
Grooming Shannon Pezzetta
time soon. To be GQ’s Most Stylish Man Of The Year, it
goes without saying that you need to have more than
just a mild menswear obsession, but that comes with its
own problems...
“I think I’ve got too many clothes, to be honest,”
laughs Malik. “It’s about time I started giving them
away to people.”
We call dibs.
As a leader of adventures, Belinda Kirk believes exploration is an experience worth
sharing. For her, true wealth is found when taking groups of people to places they’ve
never been before.

San Miguel have been exploring the world since 1890. Throughout our journey we
have discovered more trailblazers like Belinda who share our thirst for discovery,
creativity and new experiences. This unique collection of inspirational people form
the San Miguel Rich List, coming 12th October.
‘We are a lot
nicer to each
other than
we are in
the show’
Steve wears suit by Chester Barrie,
£1,500. chesterbarrie.co.uk. Shirt,
£215. Bow tie, £45. Both by Budd
Shirtmakers. buddshirts.co.uk. Watch
by Blancpain, £14,410. blancpain.com

Rob wears jacket by Richard James,

£850. At mrporter.com. Shirt,
£215. Bow tie, £45. Both by Budd
Shirtmakers. buddshirts.co.uk. Pocket
square by Yardsmen, £45. yardsmen.
com. Watch by Jaeger-LeCoultre,
£7,300. jaeger-lecoultre.com

Grooming Joe Mills using KM and Dermalogica Grooming assistant Daisy Holubowicz

274 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017

 With their earnest
machismo, winning
ver the past 20 years, the recipients

O
impressions and of the 2017 GQ Comedians Of The
maudlin wit, TV’s Year award have become a fixture
at our annual ceremony. Between
sardonic duo have them they’ve received awards and
made The Trip presented awards, even hosted the show, but this
is the first time they’ve won together, for the
unforgettable. success of the third – and funniest – series of
This year, The Trip. It is an honour they are happy to share,
but whatever you do, don’t call them a double act.
they take two “You can’t call us a double act because we aren’t
a double act,” Coogan says with deadpan sincerity.
for the road... “But I think we work very well together.” They
are also very easy in each other’s company. Sitting
together in a South London “caff”, the pair are
in tune to each other’s comedic frequency and yet
comfortable enough to not necessarily be “on”
for the small GQ audience.
“It’s funny because when we are filming The
Trip we do go out in the evening sometimes and
socialise,” Coogan explains. “And we are just a
lot nicer to each other than we are in the show.”
“By that he means we are probably quite dull,
because we just talk about really dull middle-
class things,” continues Brydon.
With a little prompting you can coax out a
couple of their many impersonations – “Steve’s
Pierce Brosnan is my favourite,” says Brydon. “And
Story by Paul Henderson Photograph by Charlie Gray Styling by Tanja Martin

your Barry Gibb is sensational,” replies Coogan –

but most of the time they are very serious. About
their comedy craft, about growing older (Coogan’s
51 and Brydon 52), even their relationship.
“We are friends,” Coogan says, “but we became
closer as a result of The Trip. The last series we
were the least antagonistic towards each other.
There was once a more difficult time, when I was
an abuser.” Brydon laughs affectionately, “He’s a
much nicer person now he’s not abusing himself.”
“I used to take too many drugs and drink too
much,” Coogan admits. “And I’ve cut right back. As
a result I’m more magnanimous and open-hearted.”
Brydon takes a deep breath and looks his
co-Comedian Of The Year in the eyes. “I’m not
going to be afraid to wear my heart on my sleeve
and say, ‘I love this man,’” he declares.
“And I love you, Rob,” Coogan replies.
Maybe they aren’t joking after all.

G Comedians Of The Year

Steve Rob
Coogan Brydon OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 275
‘Little did I know
Star Wars would
never go away
– that it would
consume my life’
Cloak by David Thomas. Suit by Rag & Bone.
rag-bone.com. Shirt, £525. Shoes, £565.
Both by Giorgio Armani. armani.com

Grooming Mary Curran

276 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017

 G Icon

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, the role of fresh-faced rebel
fighter Luke Skywalker brought its young lead cinematic
immortality. Having struggled with his legacy, he swapped interstellar
fame for a career as a character actor. This year, with the Force
stronger than ever, he has returned to his rightful place at the centre of
the Star Wars universe. GQ anoints the last Jedi...

Mark
Hamill
Story by Stuart McGurk Photographs by Gavin Bond Styling by David Thomas

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 277


Sitting in his lounge, in the Malibu house that
he and his wife have expanded from a one-
bedroom bungalow to something closer to
the Skywalker home planet that you would
expect, a garden stretching behind him and
the Pacific stretching beyond that, Mark
Hamill, now 65, has one thing he wants
to get off his chest: They could have told
him he was only in The Force Awakens for
72 seconds.
Rather, Disney had simply told him that he
needed to get in shape and so, for a year and
a half, for two days a week, a personal trainer
would turn up and an ever-so-slightly rotund
former Jedi would be put through his paces. He
assumed he would have a starring role. When
he read the script, he kept thinking, Any second
now. Then, when he finally got to the fight
scene where a lightsaber wobbled in the snow,
he thought, Brilliant, what an introduction!
Nope. He met Rey (Daisy Ridley), his pre-
sumed apprentice, in the very last scene as
she handed him his lightsaber. It was not a
speaking part.
“I had some issues with the way that was
handled. It was a shock. And JJ [director
Abrams] had actually told me, ‘Don’t turn to
the last page!’”
When he got the script for the follow-up,
this year’s The Last Jedi, he wasn’t taking any
chances: “I turned right to the last page and
read it backwards!”
Still, he says, at least he got in pretty
good shape.
In the years since the original trilogy, Hamill
has grown used to being out of the spotlight.
He always wanted to be a character actor and
so has taken great pleasure in theatre roles
and voice-acting for animation and video
278 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017
games, even winning a Bafta for the latter.
“You can lose yourself in a character,” he says
of voice roles such as The Joker. “You’re not
just seen as Mark Hamill.”
This time, he says, he was far more aware
of posterity’s gaze. “Because you go onto
that soundstage, you see that gigantic camera
inches from your face that’s going to be
putting things down forever. Normally, you
go to the movies, then you move on. It will
have a shelf life. Little did I know it would
never go away. I didn’t know it would consume
my life the way it has.”
The Last Jedi, it’s fair to say, will see him
enjoying much more of a starring role, but the
film is somewhat split – between the scenes
with himself and Ridley, and those with eve-
ryone else. “They’re like different movies in
one. You know, we’re in this bucolic setting,
a respite from the pew-pew-pew in space-
ships.” So, like The Empire Strikes Back then?
“Very much so.”
When he first read the script, he disagreed
with pretty much all of it and told the director,
Rian Johnson, exactly that. He later realised
that he was simply surprised by it and that was
a good thing: “Yeah, the unexpected is good,
especially in a Star Wars story.”
Still, he was nervous. “I said to [Johnson], ‘I
have to be frank, I am terrified. It’s too big. It’s
too high-profile.’ And you know what he said?
‘I am too.’ That really made me bond with him.
He didn’t have to admit that. I found it reas-
suring. We’re all in the same boat.”
Cloak by David Thomas.
Suit by Rag & Bone.
rag-bone.com. Shirt
by Giorgio Armani, £525.
armani.com. Bow tie by
Gucci, £130. gucci.com
Or, at least, most of them were, Harrison
Ford having already checked out with a dra-
matic death in The Force Awakens. “He’s
wanted to die for so long! So when he came
back I said, ‘He’s got his death!’” Why did he
want to die? “I think he gets miffed about
having Star Wars overemphasised on his CV,
because it’s such a good one. And he’s too rich
and too cranky.” He’d wanted to die in The
Empire Strikes Back, says Hamill, and only
returned for Return Of The Jedi, he suspects,
after another character, Lando Calrissian, was
brought in as the original owner of his char-
acter’s ship, the Millennium Falcon.
“I think it got to him! I don’t think he liked it
at all! It’s funny the things actors get attached
to. And I get it. I get it. I’ve got my droids, he’s
got his Wookie.”
Sadly, the two are now down to one, after
Carrie Fisher’s death last December, just after
filming had finished. Hamill’s wife burst into
the bedroom while he was sleeping, “and just
said those terrible words, ‘Carrie died.’” Has
it sunk in? “No, I’ll always think of her in the
present tense. It adds an air of melancholy
that the movie doesn’t deserve.”
For now, though, in Malibu, he’s allowing
himself to enjoy what’s about to come – after
decades away, he can finally enjoy the circus.
“I mean, I really have to suppress the
giggles,” he says. “Really, me, on the cover
of GQ? I’m just loving it. And I think I’m
appreciating it in a way now that I couldn’t
have in my twenties. In your twenties you’re
always thinking, ‘What’s next?’ You know, I’ve
gotta do this, and this, and this. Now, I’m just
having a great time.”
He hasn’t seen the film yet, though he keeps
bumping into directors who have. “It’s funny.
I bumped into Edgar Wright the other day and
he was saying, ‘You’re going to be so pleased!’
All those director guys get their buddies over
and screen the whole thing.”
In fact, the only thing that disturbs Hamill’s
present happiness is the current incumbent
of the Oval Office, one Donald J Trump, with
whom he duels 140 characters a time on
Twitter, the light side versus the dark. And
while his daughter wishes he wouldn’t (“She
says, ‘If you tweet politically, you’ll make half
the country hate you!’”), he’s decided, at 65,
“I’ve earned the right to be cranky.”
The US, he says, is currently in “uncharted
territory. We’ve certainly downgraded the
presidency. I mean, it’s just appalling that he
can’t tell the truth.”
But there is, of course, a resistance. And
Hamill, naturally, has joined the fight.
“At least Darth Vader saw the error of his
ways and repented,” he points out. Can he
see that happening with Trump?
“I’m not,” he says, “holding my breath.”
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is out on 15 December.
‘You can lose
yourself in
a character.
You’re not
just seen as
Mark Hamill’
Cloak by David Thomas.
Shirt by Giorgio Armani,
£525. armani.com

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 279

‘We have been
Best Garage
Act every year
since 2004’
From left: Grindah wears
jacket by River Island, £85.
riverisland.com. Top by
Ralph Lauren, £75. At
Next. next.co.uk. Cap
by Nike, £12. nike.com.
Chain by H Samuel,
£100. hsamuel.com.
Watch by Calvin Klein,
£199. calvinklein.com

Beats wears jacket by

Topman, £140. topman.
com. Top by Kappa, £55.
At slamjamsocialism.com.
Rollneck by Uniqlo, £25.
uniqlo.com. Cap by Nike,
£12. nike.com

Steves wears tracksuit

jacket by Dready, £50.
dreadybrand.com. Jacket
by River Island, £85.
riverisland.com. T-shirt,
Steves’ own. Rollneck by
Kappa, £75. At slamjam
socialism.com. Vintage hat
by Nike. nike.com

Decoy wears jacket by

DSquared2, £1,340.
dsquared.com. T-shirt
by Christopher Shannon,
£68. christophershannon.
com. Top by Lacoste, £130.
lacoste.com. Cap by Nike,
£12. nike.com

Chabuddy wears jacket by

Skopes, £119. At House Of
Fraser. houseoffraser.com.
Shirt by Xposed, £35.
fashionxposed.com.
Sunglasses by Carrera,
£160. carreraworld.com.
Ring by Stephen Webster,
£6,100. stephenwebster.
com. Other jewellery,
Chabuddy’s own

Grooming Victoria Bond

280 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017

 G Garage Act Of The Year

Kurupt FM
This year, Bafta, Ed Sheeran
and now GQ confirmed what
Brentford (and parts of
Shepherd’s Bush) already knew.
So, tune in to 108.9 and take a
lyrical blow to the jaw from the
People Just Do Nothing crew
Story by Charlie Burton Photographs by Hamish Brown Styling by Tanja Martin
 eople Just Do Nothing,
P
  the cult pirate radio
mockumentary, began
life in 2010 online.
Now, with a slot on BBC Two, it’s
enjoying the limelight it deserves.
This year the sitcom scored a
Bafta, upstaged everyone at
Comic Relief (including Ed
Sheeran) and has returned
for a fourth series. We spoke to
Kurupt FM’s (fictional) frontmen
MC Grindah and DJ Beats...
GQ: When you started Kurupt
FM, did you ever imagine that
one day you’d pick up GQ’s
Garage Act Of The Year?
GRINDAH: For us and our fans
we’ve been the Best Garage Act
every year since 2004.
BEATS: He even goes and buys
the award in some school shop
in South Ealing.
GRINDAH: Beats, don’t always
cut in. But yeah, you’ve gotta
reward yourself sometimes.
BEATS: He wins it every year.
GQ: A People Just Do Nothing
film is in the works. What can
we expect?
GRINDAH: I’m actually in the
middle of writing my life story
282 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017
as an action movie. It’s gonna be
set in the future, in Dubai, and
I’m gonna be playing myself.
BEATS: Sounds sick, can’t wait
to be in a proper movie.
GRINDAH: You ain’t gonna be
in it, Beats. I’ve seen you try
and act, mate. You’re shit.
BEATS: Yeah, you’re right.
Sounds sick, though.
GQ: You worked with Ed
Sheeran on a charity single
earlier this year. Tell us
something that we wouldn’t
know about him.
GRINDAH: He comes across like
a proper dickhead that loves
himself, but in real life he’s safe.
GQ: Do you have any style
advice that you want to pass
on to our readers?
GRINDAH: Don’t wear Nike
Huaraches anymore, please,
for humanity.
BEATS: Don’t wear tiny T-shirts
and get sleeve tattoos, please.
You look like an old breh that
likes Ibiza too much. G Inspiration
GRINDAH: Don’t ever let me see
Pelé
you with a top knot. I will crush
it into dust.
BEATS: Can’t think of any more.
GRINDAH: That’ll do.
For what he has given to football, Brazil
and the world, GQ proudly recognises the
greatest player the game will ever know
In 1967, Pelé and his Brazilian club, Santos, embarked
on a tour of Africa. They were booked to play a series
of exhibition matches and wherever they went, from
Kinshasa to Lagos, thousands upon thousands of people
turned out to see O Rei do Futebol (the king of football).
It was an emotional visit for Pelé. He was determined
to put on a show for the fans and in a game in the
Senegalese capital, Dakar, he was on fire. From the
kickoff, Pelé was at his mesmerising, irresistible best and
in no time at all he dribbled through the opposition’s
defence, feinted and dummied past the goalkeeper, then
rolled the ball into the net. Minutes later, he did the exact
same thing, to the delight of the screaming crowds.
Pelé smiled that smile, until he noticed that the keeper
from Senegal had tears streaming down his face. “He was
crying as if his heart would break,” Pelé recalled. “The
next thing I knew, he had walked dispiritedly from the
field and a replacement had to be found. I felt terrible for
the rest of the trip.”
In an extraordinary career in which the three-time
World Cup winner scored 1,283 goals in 1,363 games, it
was the only time that the greatest player of all time, and
this year’s recipient of GQ’s Inspiration Award, ever had
sympathy for a goalkeeper.
Story by Paul Henderson
Photograph by Maurício Nahas
WWW.STONEISLAND.CO.UK

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 s Barack Obama put it

A
  in his first inauguration
speech in 2009, while
a president sometimes
assumes office in the
“rising tides of prosperity” and the “still
waters of peace”, every so often “the
Sadiq
Khan
oath is taken amidst gathering clouds
and raging storms”.
The same could easily be said
of London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan. No
sooner was he elected in May 2016,
than the country voted for Brexit in
June. Until this spring, the last terror
G Politician Of The Year
attack in London was Lee Rigby’s After a fraught
murder in 2013; from March to
June 2017, there were three – in year in office, London’s
Westminster, London Bridge and embattled mayor
Finsbury Park. And, of course, on
14 June, there was the Grenfell Tower
emerges with his hope
fire. Talk about gathering clouds. and humanity intact
“It’s heartbreaking,” says Khan, – not to mention one
“but you’ve seen the best of humanity,
the best of London: police officers of our highest honours
running towards danger, waitresses
and bakers and nurses, all running
towards danger. You’ve seen the
resilience of our city.”
During the Grenfell disaster, he
called Dany Cotton, London’s fire
commissioner, who was on the scene.
“She said, ‘This is the sort of
fire you expect in South Africa or
America, not London.’ She used
the word ‘inferno’.”
And as if Khan didn’t have enough
to do, there were President Trump’s
tweets attacking him. But even
here the mayor sees a positive: the
London-wide mass protests that
would almost certainly greet any visit.
“Many Londoners aren’t Muslim,
but they object to his views on that.
Many aren’t women, but they’re men
who reject his views.”
Beyond it all, he remains optimistic.
And, with Khan as our capital’s
mayor, so do we. Our Politician Of
The Year, a most steady hand in
Jacket, £449.
raging storms. Shirt, £149.
“You know,” he says, “one of Trousers, £139.
Bow tie, £75.
the great things about our city Cufflinks, £49.
is that when we’re given the All by Boss.
hugoboss.com.
opportunity between hope and Watch,
Grooming Mark Francome Painter

fear, we choose hope.” Sadiq’s own.

Story by Stuart McGurk Photograph by Charlie Gray Styling by Grace Gilfeather

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 285

ALASKA

SINCE 1830

woolrich.eu
 Sergei Polunin
He twisted and turned on his route to the top,
but the bad boy of ballet is only just getting going

n 2012, Sergei Polunin, perhaps

I  the most gifted ballerino

of his generation, bolted from
The Royal Ballet two years
after making history, aged 20,
as the company’s youngest principal
dancer. He was sick of 12-hour days
and bad pay. He covered himself
in tattoos – one reads “death” –
spoke openly about his habit of
G Creative Maverick taking cocaine on stage and tweeted
Of The Year asking for heroin. He was – bet
you didn’t see this one coming –
nicknamed “the bad boy of ballet”.
Three years later, GQ’s Creative
Maverick Of The Year decided to
dance for the last time. “I couldn’t
wait to stop,” he says. Polunin flew
to Hawaii with director David
LaChapelle to film his adieu over
three weeks. On the first day, Polunin
danced for nine hours and then
boarded a plane back to Moscow.
“In the middle of rehearsal, I realised
I couldn’t quit,” he says. “My urge
to dance was so strong; I had to leave
and dance immediately.” The video,
which Polunin describes as “a fight
between two selves”, performed to
Hozier’s “Take Me To Church”, has
21 million views on YouTube.
The video propelled Polunin to
global fame and, this year, became
the centrepiece of a documentary,
Dancer, about his struggle. This
Grooming Ramsell Martinez With thanks to Cactus Cube Studio

nudged Polunin, now 27, into

Hollywood’s eye line. Cue dance-led
roles in Kenneth Branagh’s Murder
On The Orient Express, Ralph Fiennes’
The White Crow and Red Sparrow
with Jennifer Lawrence. On the side
is Project Polunin, an art-meets-ballet
venture. “No one in the dance world
wants to hire me,” says Polunin. “Yet
I’m not hurting anyone – I am trying
Story by Eleanor Halls
to help society. People think I’m bad
Photograph by Doug Inglish because I’m different.”
Styling by Sean Knight They say bad boy, we say...
Shirt, £595. Scarf, £235. Creative Maverick.
Both by Alexander McQueen. Murder On The Orient Express is out
alexandermcqueen.com.
Tights by Capezio, £25.
on 3 November.
capezioeurope.com

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 287

Jacket by Boss, £525.
hugoboss.com. Jewellery
by De Beers. debeers.
com. Fragrance, Boss The
Scent For Her, £90. for
100ml. hugoboss.com

Opposite: Suit
by Boss. hugoboss.com.
Jewellery by De Beers.
debeers.com
 In a profession
where self-doubt
and substance
abuse are
dangerously
familiar, it takes
someone special
to find a new path
– and even help
others along the
way. By providing
young people
a platform to
speak out, this
remarkable 
model-turned-
patron proves
real beauty can
change the world
G Hugo Boss Woman Of The Year
Story by Jonathan Heaf
Photographs by Mariano Vivanco
Styling by Sam Ranger

SPONSORED BY

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 289

 ‘This isn’t about preaching. It’s about keeping
an open mind and talking without judgement’
Adwoa wears shirt, £139. Trousers, £159. Both by Boss. hugoboss.com. Jewellery by De Beers. debeers.com.
Models wear trousers, £159. Boxers, £31 for three. Both by Boss. hugoboss.com

290 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017

“Never complain, never explain.” Of course, you
already know that it was Prime Minister Benjamin
Disraeli who coined this snappy little maxim, four
words that celebrate that most British of British traits
– the stiff upper lip.
Winston Churchill took some ownership of the
phrase during his premiership, although more recently
it has come to encapsulate a PR strategy deployed by
the cultural elite in order to deal with an intrusive
press glare, most notably Kate Moss. “I was lucky to be
with Johnny [Depp],” Moss explained about her rela-
tionship with the actor back in the Nineties. “He told
me, ‘Never complain, never explain.’ That’s why I don’t
use Twitter and things like that. It keeps the mystery.”
To fight an assault on one’s private life with a force
field of stone-cold silence makes sense. Still, we live
in different times. With the arrival of social media and
personalities taking charge of their own messaging,
plus a focus on the urgent need to diversify the
fashion industry from the inside out, staying silent,
not speaking up, taking it on the chin and keeping
schtum doesn’t feel very 2017, does it?
This is precisely why Adwoa Aboah, 25, has been
chosen as GQ’s Woman Of The Year, someone whose
personal and professional successes – both within
the high walls of fashion and beyond – have relied
upon her unique ability to stand up and be counted.
Aboah’s inner and outer beauty is matched by a fero-
cious work ethic that allows for zero BS – her ability
to be refreshingly candid without the dramatics is
part of her charm.
Aboah has shown a real talent to inspire, giving a
whole new generation of right-on, whip smart, turbo
savvy young women the confidence to demand a new
way of seeing and being seen. “I’ve never won any-
thing before so this is rather lovely,” Aboah says from
her seat in a photographic studio in North London.
“The award means a great deal. It still blows my mind
how far I’ve come on this journey.” »
OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 291
» Adwoa’s story is about self-confidence – a lack of it
during her early teenage years and now, having come ‘When I began
through drug and alcohol addiction, an abundance
of it. Working out how to rebuild her shattered self-
image and going on to become this year’s most prolific
to go off the
womenswear model, while also becoming one of the
industry’s most respected young role models, has been
rails at school,
a remarkable achievement.
With a mother, Camilla Lowther, who is the founder
my parents
of one of fashion’s most powerful creative agencies,
CLM (representing the likes of Rankin, Katie Grand weren’t ready
and Juergen Teller) and a father, Charles Aboah,
the head of a location scouting company, you’d be to tackle it’
forgiven for thinking that, as far as a career in fashion
Jacket, £525. Trousers, £159.
is concerned, Aboah already had it made in the shade. Shoes, £285. All by Boss.
hugoboss.com. Jewellery
by De Beers. debeers.com

“Of course, I was privileged in terms of where I grew

up and I come from a very loving, supportive house-
hold,” she explains. “But when I began to go off the
rails at boarding school, my behaviour wasn’t a result
of an upbringing, but more something that was going
on within me. I didn’t start taking drugs or drinking
to escape abuse or to forget the world so much, it
was more to turn off the noise in my head. And, you
know, it’s something that my parents weren’t ready
to tackle just as much as I didn’t know how to deal
with it. That’s what I emphasise now when I speak
to kids in schools or on my platform, Gurls Talk –
there isn’t a quick fix or a one-size-fits-all solution
here. We’re all learning together. This isn’t about
preaching. It’s about keeping an open mind. About
talking without judgement.”
Set up a year ago with her best friend Holly Cole,
Gurls Talk is a place – be it online or at one of their
events – where young women are encouraged to
share their stories and talk freely. To unburden and
open up, to loosen that stiff upper lip. “I never had
that chance,” insists Aboah. “We want men to come
too. After all, there’s no separation here, no stigma.”
Happy, sober and seriously busy, Aboah’s main
concern isn’t so much her own career, the modelling
is still rocketing and acting looks like something that
could take off, having this year appeared alongside
Scarlett Johansson in the much-hyped Ghost In The
Shell, but rather ensuring Gurls Talk – “My baby” –
can deliver for the thousands of young women now
looking to it, and no doubt to its shaven-headed
founder, for support and guidance.
“It can be scary at times, but I don’t let the pressure
put me off. What’s clear is that I can no longer just run
this thing from a broken iPhone in between running
to shoots and at airport lounges,” she laughs. “We’re
ready to build a team, build a business strategy, get
to the next stage. We’ve broken the ice, now it’s
about continuing to speak and speak up – loudly.”
Something tells GQ this is one conversation and one
astute conversationalist that won’t be running out of
things to say very soon. At last, just what the fashion
industry needs: a pretty face that is anything but just
a pretty face.
For more information, visit gurlstalk.com

292 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 293
 FROM STUDIO TO STAGE
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 hat a difference a year

W
  makes. Twelve months ago,
Liam Gallagher was ready
to throw in the tambourine.
He’d had enough of the
court cases, drinking his demons away
and being asked about the Oasis “reunion”
every time he popped out for a pint of
G Rock’n’Roll Star Of The Year
milk. Or a pint of anything, for that matter. Once the brother most
He’d eyed a little place in the sun, a gated
idyll, where he could escape. Regroup.
likely to self-destruct,
Retox. Re-retox. Eat tepid paella and doze, the outspoken singer is
Twitter feed disconnected, unbothered and looking forward, with
unaccounted for by the circling lawyers
and black-eyed money men. After all, what new songs, steely focus
was there left to prove? Well, everything as and the same old swagger
it turned out. To himself. Despite everyone

Liam
who told him not to bother, the youngest
Gallagher began writing lyrics. He’d wake
at 3am in his flat in Highgate, pick up a
guitar and start strumming. Something
stuck. He kept at it. Suddenly he had the
beginnings of a verse. Then a handful.

Gallagher
Then a whole song. Or two. Next, he was
in LA, in a studio with Greg Kurstin, who’d
previously worked with Adele. Demos were
cut. A record deal brokered. A band formed.
A single. An album. A tour. Then the
Manchester bombings and a city, a country,
in need of healing, only for Gallagher to
step up and give one of the most visceral,
cathartic, nation-rebuilding performances
since, well, some band played Knebworth
21 years ago. Suddenly all of us, himself
included, remembered why the world needs
Liam Gallagher and why Liam Gallagher,
in turn, needs the world. Loud, brash,
unapologetic, unrelenting, unstoppable.
This year, a rock star saved our lives.

Story by Jonathan Heaf

Photograph by Gavin Bond
Styling by Mark Anthony

Jacket by Stone Island, £1,095. stoneisland.com. Jeans by Levi’s, £90. levi.com. Sunglasses, Liam’s own

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 295

James Norton G Breakthrough Actor Of The Year

Having made the small screen his own with defining performances
in War & Peace, Happy Valley and Grantchester, our man of
many parts is racing ahead to blockbusters, Bond and beyond

o be in one hit TV show is good the speculation. “Because on one hand, it’s really

T
Story by Stuart McGurk Photograph by Charlie Gray Styling by Grace Gilfeather

fortune. To be in two is surely the flattering to be part of the conversation, even to

result of luck times talent. To be in
three, however, all broadcasting at the
same time, a hat-trick of watercooler
entertainment... Well, that’s about worthy of a GQ
Man Of The Year award.
Be it the heartthrob vicar in ITV’s detective
drama Grantchester or the heartthrob psychopath
in BBC One crime drama Happy Valley – a fact
that shows both range and the power of good
cheekbones – or the heartthrob prince in the BBC’s
allow other people to consider you could play that
role.” And on the other hand, “I don’t think I’ve
had a single interview in the last two years where
I haven’t been asked about it,” a stat that now,
dutifully, includes this one.
Still, it wasn’t all plain sailing. To make ends’
meet early in his career, the 32-year-old worked
as a children’s entertainer. “People think clowns
– I wasn’t a clown. I would run parties. I basically
ran around for two hours and ate massive piles of

Hair Lee Machin at Caren With thanks to Mercedez-Benz UK

adaptation of War & Peace, there has been barely
a show in the last year in which James Norton has
not been looking damn good while people have
been getting gruesomely killed.
“I’ve just been so lucky,” he says, “but also I’m
acutely aware that I’m only a brushstroke in the
whole piece.”
Which is admirably modest, but clearly untrue:
in all three, Norton has been the breakout star,
as proved by the fact that, before Daniel Craig
recently ended months of speculation by
confirming his return as 007, Norton had become
the bookies’ favourite to take his licence to kill as
Bond, a role where looking good around senseless
murder is practically the job description.
“It’s a double-edged thing, isn’t it?” he says of
Haribo.” Sometimes, he would call his assistant to
complain about a raging hangover (it was mostly
weekend work) only to realise he’d called the father
of the child whose party he was on his way to. But
mostly, “I just got to run around and be a big kid.”
As we speak, he’s in Toronto, filming reshoots
for the remake of Nineties classic Flatliners, the
inevitable first stop on a career that now clearly
points the way to Hollywood, with the GQ stamp
of approval as he goes. Just don’t tell his great-
aunt Grania, who can’t see the fuss.
“She looked at me over dinner one day and said,
‘I can’t understand how you look so good on TV
when really you’re relatively bland.’ And now, every
time I mention her, she keeps the clipping.”
Great-Aunt Grania – it’s time get the scissors out.
‘I haven’t had an
interview in two
years where
I wasn’t asked
about Bond’
Jacket, £1,185. Shirt, £395. Both by
Thom Sweeney. thomsweeney.co.uk.
Bow tie, £85. Cufflinks, £155. Both
by Turnbull & Asser. At mrporter.com.
Watch, James’ own

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 297

 For 12 months, his record has
laid bare a grief as real as it
is raw. Here, we extol the dark
inner vision of a master musician
ick Cave & The

N Bad Seeds began this

year by playing their
first shows since the
devastating loss of
Cave’s teenage son Arthur in 2015.
“I think the concerts were more
than helpful,” Cave said. “Helpful
seems too small a word.”
Cave has always believed in the
transformative power of creating
and performing art. It’s how he
makes sense of the world and his
place in it. Last year, he laid himself
bare with the album Skeleton Tree
and the documentary One More
Time With Feeling, two intertwined
documents of grief and survival. Now
the 59-year-old is on the road again,
promoting the career-spanning
compilation Lovely Creatures. It
represents an extraordinary body of
work: rock’n’roll convulsed with the
thunder and lightning of myth.
Cave has other creative lives –
novels, screenplays, soundtracks,
side projects – but he is never better
than when he is fronting The Bad
Seeds. The current lineup is different
from the one formed in 1983, yet
the band has never lost its integrity,
camaraderie and focus. The Bad Seeds
reflects Cave’s fearless compulsion to
move forward, fleeing the claws of
complacency and nostalgia, torching
the usual assumptions about age and
decline. He describes their latest
phase as “a landscape that is open and
vast”. To quote one of their many
great songs, Nick Cave & The Bad
Seeds keep on pushing. They push
G Band Of The Year the sky away.

Nick Cave
Photograph Camera Press

& The Bad Seeds

Story by Dorian Lynskey Photograph by Tom Oldham

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 299

 G Copper Dog Solo Artist Of The Year

He’s the showman his scene’s

been waiting for and grime’s

thunderous hit maker is setting

the record with guts and grace.

There could be no other...

here’s no star like a star the world has

T
  been waiting for. Grime never had a
breakout phenomenon who was the full
package until Michael Omari Jr. He’s been
the scene’s most-likely-to since his first
Mobo Award in 2014, but when his extraordinary
debut album, Gang Signs & Prayer, went to No1 in
March, he delivered on every promise he’d made.
Stormzy is an irresistible presence. He inhabits
an elusive sweet spot: mainstream enough to guest
with Ed Sheeran and appear on a Simon Cowell
charity single, yet still firmly plugged in to the
underground, and fiercely suspicious of the press
and music industry. At Glastonbury, he paused his
masterful set to make a perfectly judged tribute to
the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire and became
the most beloved man at the festival after Jeremy
Corbyn. And you can’t dance to Jeremy Corbyn.
What is it that makes Stormzy the star that 2017
needs? His lyrical dexterity and kilowatt charisma
are a given. Then there’s the spiritual depth that
makes Gang Signs & Prayer as much a soul or gospel
album as a grime record; the honesty that enabled
him to go public with his struggles with depression,
then smackdown NME, when it attempted to
exploit his vulnerability for a cover line; the
uncompromising independence that forced the
industry to come to him, not the other way around
Story by Dorian Lynskey – he released the album on his own #Merky label;
the willingness to use his platform to speak out SPONSORED BY
about the youth vote and government “fuckery”.
Photograph by Daniel Sannwald He’s smart, funny, principled, compassionate and
nobody’s sucker: a knockout combination. What’s
more, he proved all of this before he turned 23 in
Styling by Elgar Johnson July. Stormzy’s just getting started.

300 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017

Grooming Maria Asadi using Simple Skincare and Dermalogica

Suit by Boss,£500.
hugoboss.com. Rollneck by
John Smedley, £145.
johnsmedley.com

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 301

 WELLMAN.CO.UK
®

I’ve been taking Wellman since

my twenties to support my
health and hectic lifestyle.
David Gandy

Made in Britain

From Boots, Superdrug, supermarkets, Holland & Barrett, health stores, pharmacies
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 The Grand Tour
By joining Amazon’s online superhighway, the world’s favourite calamitous
three-piece hooked up the power of no-holds-barred frontier programming
G TV Personalities Of The Year
eremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May are GQ: How does it feel to be Wikipedia says it was a £160m

J  indestructible. It doesn’t matter which one-off supercars

they crash or who they punch in the face, they remain
the Diana Ross & The Supremes of guilty-pleasure dad TV.
They’ve also achieved one of the television industry’s
greatest coups, having deposed their alma mater Top Gear as the
biggest factual TV show (cue the voice) in the world and steered
their followers through a £79 paywall to create Amazon Prime’s
cultural icons?
JC: When I stand there, feeling
fortunate, I still say to myself,
”How did I end up here?”
JM: I think that when I see you
standing somewhere, feeling
fortunate: “How did he end
series because of the Daily Mail.
Nobody knows the cost.
GQ: Is Amazon heavy-handed
with production?
JM: We never see them. We
don’t even know who they are.
There’s a bloke called Jeff who
most-watched series premiere. up there?” sells books and that’s all we
Then there’s the show itself. Just like the rebooted Top Gear back RH: I think that when I see you know about it.
in 2002, The Grand Tour has a unique sense of the surreal about it, standing up. JC: They do not interfere
a travelling circus that jumps from South Africa to Lapland, JM: Cultural icon, though? The editorially. It used to be good fun
completely unyoked from editorial guidelines, budgetary constraints Musée d’Orsay is a cultural icon. annoying people at the BBC –
and anything approaching real life. It turns cars into coral reef, dune I wouldn’t describe myself or they would get annoyed if your
buggies into expedition vehicles, camper vans into killing machines him or him as a cultural icon. shoes weren’t clean – but you
and blows everything up, including its celebrity guests. It’s The Fast GQ: Did The Grand Tour really can’t annoy anybody at Amazon
Show on speed with bottomless pockets. But most importantly, it’s cost £160 million to produce? because they’re unannoyable.
Clarkson, Hammond and May proving that they can still make us JC: No, it didn’t. The Daily Mail In some ways, it’s slightly
laugh by fooling about in cars. said it was a £160m series and surprising, like when you »

Story by Matthew Jones Photograph by Gavin Bond Styling by Tanja Martin

Jeremy wears shirt by Smyth & Gibson, £160. smythandgibson.com. Bow tie by Tom Ford, £150. At Harrods. harrods.com. Scarf by Budd, £145. buddshirts.co.uk.
Watch, Jeremy’s own. James wears shirt by Smyth & Gibson, £160. smythandgibson.com. Bow tie by Tom Ford, £150. At Harrods. harrods.com. Braces by Budd,
£150. buddshirts.co.uk. Richard wears shirt by Marks & Spencer, £160. marksandspencer.com. Bow tie by Eton, £75. etonshirts.com. Watch, Richard’s own

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 303

» leave school and you’re
allowed to smoke in the street.
RH: It takes the fun out.
JC: Smoking’s still fun.
RH: But they leave us to it.
GQ: What does The Grand Tour
influence most, TV or cars?
RH: Do we have influence?
JM: Nobody takes any notice
of what we think about cars.
JC: I genuinely don’t think it’s
a car show. Cars are in it, but
it’s no more about cars than
Countryfile is about actual
farming. I don’t think people
care two hoots whether they
push the “one” or “Amazon”
button. Like Game Of Thrones...
I’ve no idea what that’s on. It’s
just on television. I know it’s
not Amazon, so it’s one of the
others, HBO, Netflix... it’s on TV.
JM: When we were kids, if
somebody said, “What did you
watch last night?” you would
have said, “BBC Two,” but now
they’ll just say, “My mobile.”
GQ: Would you ever go back to
“normal” TV?
JC: Yeah. But I like working for
Amazon so if I had a programme
idea, I’d go to them.
GQ: Do you look back at 2015
and think, “Actually, it was
a fortuitous loss of temper”?
JC: I wouldn’t call it fortuitous.
I would call it a dogleg. We were
going along that way and now
we’re going along this way. But
I suppose one of the engines
would have caught fire if we
hadn’t had changed things.
RH: It forced change.
JM: I don’t think anybody’s
come out of it badly because
we’ve refreshed, the others have
rethought it and the viewers get
more to watch. I watch them
and they watch us – it’s great.
JC: I don’t watch them. I hardly
watch terrestrial television.
JM: I watch them on the iPlayer.
JC: I watch everything on
catch-up except pornography.
RH: We can cut that out.
JC: I think they’ll leave that in.
GQ: How do you find your
celebrity status?
JC: I can’t remember the last
place I went where I wasn’t
recognised. I see Syria on the
304 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017
news and think [about] when we
were there four years ago. People
went out of their way to say,
“Welcome in Syria, Mr Slowly.”
JM: Yeah. There was a bloke in
a roadside hut, the equivalent
of a burger caravan, miles from
anywhere and the guy didn’t
have electricity, but he still said,
“Welcome in my country, Mr
Slowly.” It was amazing.
JC: It’s odd, but I’m now
completely used to it.
GQ: Does being a celebrity
bother you?
JC: It did when it first started.
You used to be able to go abroad
to get away from the selfie
G Breakthrough Designer Of The Year
enthusiasts but now, wherever
you go, everyone knows us.
RH: Without trying to sound
cool, we just wanted to make
Grace Wales
the best car show we could.
You can’t make a TV show then
complain when people watch it.
Bonner
Inspired by every corner of her city,
JC: I can.
the lauded up-and-comer who remade
RH: It’s embarrassing on trains
London fashion earns another big award
if everyone’s staring at you.
JC: Oh, yeah. I love it when
For the past half century or so, London has been famous
people say, “I don’t want to around the world as an incubator of quite extraordinary
interrupt your dinner, but would talent in the field of fashion. And every few years the
it be all right if me, my brother capital comes up with a designer who is the first among
equals. And right now that talent is Grace Wales Bonner.
and everyone else around my
Last year, she won the LVMH Prize, perhaps the most
table comes and regales you prestigious award for a young designer, with a judging
with an unbelievably boring panel that includes Karl Lagerfeld, Riccardo Tisci and Raf
story?” then ask for 53 selfies Simons. “I never expected to win it,” she says. “I had only
while my dinner goes cold. entered to have a chance to meet different people and to
talk about my work. It was quite amazing the visibility it
RH: But you don’t complain. You gave me and it was quite life-changing.”
do it because you have to. On first impression, Wales Bonner seems as fragile as
GQ: How are you going to top a china doll – tiny, delicate and perfectly formed – but
series one of The Grand Tour? within minutes of meeting her you can actually begin
to feel the inner strength that makes her so impressive.
JC: There were a few things
“I have always done everything for myself. I never
that, when you look back, you thought about the audience,” she says.
think, “I wouldn’t do that.” Now 26, she was brought up in South London, half-
RH: And clothes. We’re going British, half-Jamaican, and so perhaps unsurprisingly has
always been interested in reinventing what many imagine
to get rid of clothes.
to be London style to reflect myriad influences, from
JC: Sorry. They’ve been Senegal to Stratford via the streets of Harlem, where
drinking. I haven’t. James Baldwin, the novelist and poet who inspired her
JM: Did you see that terrible latest collection, was raised.
jacket I wore? I wouldn’t have “I have learned that I don’t have to simplify what
I am interested in. My work is informed by quite broad
worn that if I’d thought about perspectives and is about hybridisation and the meeting
it a bit harder. point of cultures.”
RH: But we had to try stuff, She has already collaborated on her shows with shoe
otherwise it would have been a designer Manolo Blahnik and hatter Stephen Jones,
putting her up there with the very greatest names in
wasted opportunity. Some items
British fashion. You might say that no one else could
will carry on; some we’ll drop. possibly have been the winner of the GQ Breakthrough
JM: That’s just the nature of Designer award in 2017.
cutting-edge, experimental TV
and media. Story by Robert Johnston
The Grand Tour series two starts Photograph by Piczo
on Amazon later in the year. Make-up by Emma Williams
 Wolfgang Tillmans
In the last 12 months, no artist more clearly voiced our collective consciousness
and, like his work, there’s nothing random about his rise

G Maddox Gallery Artist Of The Year

Story by Jonathan Heaf Photograph by Karl Kolbitz

here is a misconception that German artist Wolfgang Tillmans’ photographs – a tight crop of a coffee cup, a pink lobster cracked inside

T out or the repetitive ridges of an endless sea – are somehow random. Candid images caught by a man who shoots first and frames
Photograph Tate Photography

his aesthetic long afterwards. Such a flippant reading of his art couldn’t be further from the truth, although in a way it’s testament to
Tillmans’ photographic precision that the audience feel a particular moment in time has been captured. Rather than the snapshot feel
of someone such as Martin Parr, Tillmans’ work – whether two men tenderly embracing, images of his own workspace or a car mid-
manufacture – resonates with a beautiful serenity, a calmness, something that takes, by his own admission, a meticulous choreography. Though
Tillmans’ work has remained true to his careful eye ever since photographs of his friends appeared in the style pages of i-D magazine in the early
Nineties, with a major solo show at the Tate Modern and the widely seen and coveted posters he produced to campaign against Brexit, 2017 will
go down as the year in which the rest of us – and not just the art establishment – woke up and recognised Wolfgang Tillmans’ power, originality
and cultural impact. A man, and an artist, truly in touch with his own times.

306 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017

 This is the year
we woke up
and recognised
Tillmans’
cultural impact
Shot in the arm: This year,
Wolfgang Tillmans’ first Tate Modern
exhibition helped propel the artist
into international significance

SPONSORED BY

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 307

Christopher Bailey

G Designer Of The Year

hristopher Bailey is one of fashion’s great disrupters and under his creative direction

Fashion has
always been
C
  Burberry has been in the vanguard of the many technical and cultural innovations
that have swept the industry. In 2010, Burberry was the first to live-stream its
catwalk show, presenting its latest collection to the world rather than a select
assembly of editors. Bailey was also one of the first designers to merge his men’s
and women’s collections into one show and pioneered the “see now, buy now” ethos. As he
said when introducing the concept, “We will look back on this time as like the great industrial
revolution – because it is. Our lives are changing so dramatically. I find it really exciting.”
defined by It is not all about the future, however. Bailey’s creative vision is unique, drawing inspiration
from the likes of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, sculptor Henry Moore, 19th-century military
the pioneers, uniforms, Scottish knitwear and – of course – Burberry’s own rich heritage. His philosophy is
so GQ bows to simple: “Don’t follow in anybody’s footsteps.” After graduating from the Royal College Of Art
the Burberry in 1994, Bailey worked for Donna Karan and, later, Tom Ford at Gucci. In 2001, he was
poached to lead the design team at Burberry and rose to become chief creative officer by 2009,
chief who transforming the house as he went. Today he is also the company’s president.
looked to the This summer saw Burberry’s collaboration with Russian designer Gosha Rubchinskiy, whose
knowing designs winked at the turn-of-the-century check mania that Bailey was originally
past to shape hired to expel. You know you can be confident that your career has been a success when
the future you come full circle and still find yourself on top.

Story by Robert Johnston Photograph by Steve Schofield Jacket, £1,395. Shirt, £225. Both by Burberry. burberry.com

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 309

DRINK YOUR
MIND SHARP

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 Sir Geoff Hurst
G Legend
England’s hat-trick hero of the 1966 World Cup Final is no stranger to hoisting
a trophy. We celebrate the striker who smashed it
ome people were on the pitch.

S They thought it was all over. Geoff

Hurst didn’t. “I remember thinking,
‘I’m tired. the game’s nearly over.
I’m going to whack this ball as hard as I can,’”
recalls the now-knighted Hurst of the closing
seconds of the 1966 World Cup Final. “If it
goes into the crowd, by the time the ball boy
brings it back surely the game will be over.”
Instead, the ball flew from Hurst’s weaker
left foot past goalkeeper Hans Tilkowski into
the back of the West Germany net, making
England world champions and the West Ham
striker the first, and to date only, man to score
a hat-trick in a World Cup final. On such
slender margins rest sporting immortality.
He still gets asked whether the ball
crossed the line for his controversial second
– “You can’t prove it one way or the other
and, anyway, who cares?” – and recognises
that if Jimmy Greaves hadn’t been injured
earlier in the tournament, he would probably
never have played.
“The real element of good fortune for me,
though, was that I was in my prime when
England were at their best,” reflects Hurst,
now 75, but still trim and looking a decade
younger. “The best period of English football
was 1965 to 1972. No argument.”
It was certainly a different era. After the
match, Hurst organised an outing for himself
and teammates Alan Ball, Nobby Stiles and
John Connelly, plus wives, to visit Danny
La Rue’s club in Hanover Square.
“I didn’t think I’d be able to get a table,” Hurst
laughs. “But when we came in the door, they
played ‘When The Saints Go Marching In.’”
Hurst also won FA Cup and European Cup
Winners’ Cup medals at West Ham, but insists
his success was more down to attitude than
ability. “I wasn’t even the best player at my
school,” he laughs. “A lad called Terry Copsey
was better than me, but I had some good points
and I had a good attitude. My teacher Mr
Billington wrote, ‘I’m sure whatever Geoffrey
Jacket, £480. Shirt, £149. Hurst does in life, he’ll be successful.’”
Trousers, £159. Bow tie,
Grooming Sara Clark

£75. Pocket square, £59. Scarcely sentimental – he sold all his World
Cufflinks, £59. All by Boss. Cup memorabilia years ago – Hurst adds with
hugoboss.com. Watch by
Jaeger-LeCoultre, from
a smile, “And I’ve still got that report.”
£7,500. jaeger-lecoultre.com

Story by John Naughton Photograph by Jason Alden Styling by Grace Gilfeather

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 311

 G Editor’s Special
With the stories, attitude and silverware to prove it, the stars of Netflix’s sci-fi
phenomenon have cranked it up to Eleven before they’ve even left their teens
t was last year, in the odd, distressing milieu, when
I Stranger Things first appeared and, in its nostalgia,
conspiracies and cavernous possibilities, heralded an
escape from the politically toxic cocktail party of
2016. It was as though an exit sign had been switched
on: neon red and hung above a door strung with Christmas
lights jerking on and off.
Through that door, noise travelled. The Clash’s guitars
mingled with the soundtrack of suburbia: lawnmowers,
school bells, the whirr of a food mixer, of a Chopper
bike’s wheels, sirens and children screaming. People
disappeared behind it and returned with a new
vocabulary. They spoke of the Nether and the Upside
Down, Eleven, Eggos and the Demogorgon. They were
flush-cheeked, pumped with the oxygen that fresh air
brings, happy. They all asked, Where is Barb?
The Duffer Brothers’ debut for Netflix was a portal to
Hawkins, Indiana, in 1983, a small town torn apart by a
young boy’s disappearance, a doe-eyed, psychokinetic
skinhead girl in a hospital gown and the monsters and men
in suits that followed her. In its first 35 days online, more
than 14 million people devoured all eight episodes.
The show alleviated a cultural malaise, but also elicited
critical applause, no less than 18 Emmy nominations and
a cult-like following. It reunited audiences with Winona
Ryder, kindled a universal adoration for 13-year-old
Millie Bobby Brown and introduced four actors – Caleb
McLaughlin (15), Finn Wolfhard (14), Gaten Matarazzo
(14) and Noah Schnapp (12) – to fame and to each other.
Their collective role elevated Stranger Things to the Stand
By Me of science fiction, lines from which they were asked
to read in their early auditions.
“In the beginning, we didn’t know it would go anywhere.
Then the show blew up overnight,” Schnapp remembers.
Story by Holly Bruce Photograph by Brakha X2
312 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017
Bound by secrets, both those hidden in the clandestine
scripts for the forthcoming second series and in the
absurdity of being young together in extraordinary
circumstances, the boys are sworn to each other, brothers
whose friendship is, as Schnapp offers, “true”.
When together, their voices banter and overlap affection-
ately in a playground chorus. “Do I sound like an old man?”
says one. “You sound like a 30-year-old,” comes the fast
reply, chased by sniggers.
“When you see us hanging out on the show and
laughing, that’s usually real. That is just us being friends,”
explains Wolfhard.
The group, including Brown, are in constant contact,
even when, as is often, they’re separated by states,
schedules and time zones. When reunited, they have
sleepovers, go to Red Lobster, swap film trivia and practise
dance moves. A secret handshake is in the works. Theirs,
in art as in life, is a prosaic adolescence interrupted by
supernatural goings on. The Red Lobster feasts come as
rewards for exhaustive Comic-Con appearances and the
dance routines become award ceremony centrepieces (see
their 2016 Emmy performance of “Uptown Funk”.)
“I’m really excited for people to see more of Stranger
Things. They deserve it,” McLaughlin says of the next
instalment, which will be released in time for Halloween.
“It’s going to be scarier and darker than the first series,”
adds Matarazzo. “We’re going into new territory.”
On the promo poster for series two, the boys look up from
their bikes at a thunderous, blood-red sky. Whatever is
coming, the fate of their friendship is clear. Wolfhard steps
up as spokesman, “We’re going to know each other forever.”
Forever?
“Oh yeah,” the chorus echoes.
Stranger Things returns to Netflix on 27 October.
‘We didn’t know
the show would
go anywhere –
then it blew
up overnight’
Close encounters (from left):
Caleb McLaughlin, Finn Wolfhard,
Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten
Matarazzo and Noah Schnapp

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 313

 G Special Achievement
would love to put a heart-rate monitor on Antonio Conte
I during a game. The Chelsea manager celebrates goals and wins
as wildly as any player or fan. A distance tracker would be
interesting too. Is there any other manager who walks and runs,
stomps and stamps, shouts and screams, points and cajoles
quite like he does? He is a firecracker. And he is the same in training.
So, on a rainy preseason afternoon at Chelsea’s training ground
in Cobham, Surrey, it was something of a surprise to discover he
can actually sit still for long enough to talk about his life and times,
fashion, food, family and, above all, football, of course: his team,
his obsession with the game, his love/hate relationship with his job.
Dressed in the club’s training gear, emblazoned with his initials – note
the difficulty this causes in the transcript as AC meets AC, hereafter
ACQ (questions) and ACA (answers) – he still has the look of an athlete.
He is polite and welcoming, apologises for being late – he was held up
in discussions about the signing of a new player – and offers to make
me a coffee on the fancy machine in his tidy office. When his phone
rings, he switches it to silent and pushes it to one side.
He is thoughtful too, and there is, as you shall see, method in
his touchline antics. It is all about getting the players to live their
football as intensely as he does. That is intense.
He must be doing something right. The former Juventus midfielder
won three successive Italian league titles managing his old club.
But for all his love of his own country, whose national team he
played for and managed, he says the Premier League is the toughest
competition in the world, which is why he was so happy to get the
call to manage Chelsea. And despite a few ups and downs along the
way, in his very first year he led his new club to the title here too.
And that is why he is a GQ Man Of The Year.
Having captained Juventus to Champions League glory, coached his national side
at the World Cup and steered Chelsea to an outstanding Premier League win in his
first season, the inspirational Italian manager receives GQ’s ultimate accolade
Story by Alastair Campbell
Photograph by Claudio Porcarelli
314 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017
ACQ: So you are a GQ Man Of The Year. Congratulations.
ACA: Thank you.
ACQ: Would you say you are a fashionable kind of guy?
ACA: I try to dress well. Not just now at Chelsea, but all my
career, at my clubs and the national team in Italy, I like to
wear a nice suit on the touchline.
ACQ: You and Pep Guardiola have set a trend with those
buttoned sleeveless cardigans. It’s quite a thing to make
a cardigan look fashionable.
ACA: Ah, yes. It is not the most important thing, but I think
the manager must be smart.
ACQ: On the touchline, I don’t notice the suit so much as
the fact you’re always moving, running, pointing, shouting.
ACA: This is me; this is my character.
ACQ: Have you ever worn a heart-rate monitor just to see
how high it goes?
ACA: No, I have never done this, but, for sure, my heart rate
during a game is high intensity throughout.
ACQ: Is all this emotional release for you or for the players?
ACA: It is for them. I am always trying to keep the tension high
for the players.
ACQ: But can the players even hear you?
ACA: [Laughs.] When a new coach comes to a new club with new
ways, new ideas, the players have to adapt. It is not simple for
them or for me. But my coaching has always been about giving as
much advice as possible, so they know what to do at any moment.
All my coaching life, I am the same, always on the touchline,
the same way. I am in the game all the time. I am focused. I live
my football intensely and I want them to. »
‘To be without
football for
a whole day is
impossible’
Vintage shirt and waistcoat by
Dolce & Gabbana. dolcegabbana.com

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 315

ACQ: But are they even aware of what
you are saying?
ACA: At first maybe not, because maybe
they are not used to having their ears
open in this way when they are playing,
but slowly, slowly they adapt.
ACQ: I hear you are the same in training,
always talking, telling, pointing?
ACA: Yes, this is me. It is all about the
preparation. When things happen in a game,
I want them to know how to deal with this
because we did it so many times in training.
ACQ: How much has football changed
since you were a player?
ACA: Oh, a lot. A lot, a lot.
ACQ: Harder?
ACA: Yes, because now to be a top team
player, to have a talent, it is not just about
skill: you must be fast, strong and have real
stamina. Before, it was not so; the pressures
were not the same. You must match the
quality with speed and to have velocity
and quality together is not easy. In the game
today you have no time to control the ball,
to look where your opponent is coming
from. They are already there, so you must
think quickly and know what you are going
to do. That is why training sessions are so
important and why I keep them so intense.
ACQ: My son works for West Ham. He
says you have a reputation as a great
tactician. What does that mean exactly?
ACA: It is not easy to explain this concept,
but to me it is about study. I like to study
everything: the way to be dangerous when
you are attacking; what the players should
do when you don’t have the ball, where
they should be. The tactics you tell the
players to follow come from all this study.
The situations change a lot during a game:
you change to defend; you change when
you are trying to win the ball back quickly.
It is not always the same. You have a plan
and you try to prepare the team and before
the players start to play in the game they
know the situation that I want to happen
and they understand if we need to change.
ACQ: So if you seem angry with a player
it is probably because he has gone against
something you planned in training?
ACA: I am not angry. I am focused. I am
really concentrating on the game. But if
you see me like that it means there is
something wrong and I am trying to fix it.
ACQ: Andrea Pirlo said that you were
“allergic to error”. I like that.
ACA: [Laughs.] I try to avoid all mistakes.
I try to prepare my players and to put them
in the best condition to play the game. If
you discover a problem during the game it
is too late. You must anticipate and prepare.
316 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017
ACQ: What has been your strongest
impression of the game in England?
ACA: The atmosphere. In England, you
can breathe it in every moment.
ACQ: More than in Italy? Is that because
there are more away fans?
ACA: Here it is always like a festival and
the home and away fans are usually right
next to each other. In Italy it is very difficult
to find supporters together; there are a lot
more police. When we beat Middlesbrough,
we were close to winning the league and
Middlesbrough were relegated in that
game. But I saw the Middlesbrough fans
applauding their players over in their part
of the ground and for me that was great.
In our last game against Sunderland they
had already been relegated weeks earlier,
but the fans were there and being amazing.
ACQ: Is this really the toughest of all the
leagues or are we just a bit up ourselves?
ACA: This is the toughest, the most intense,
the most difficult, no doubt. In Spain, you
‘The Premier
League is the
most intense,
no doubt’
have two teams who might win, Real Madrid
and Barcelona, every now and then Atletico
Madrid. In Italy, there is only Juventus.
In Germany, there is Bayern Munich. OK,
Borussia Dortmund won it with Klopp,
but it is [mostly] Bayern. In France, there is
Paris Saint-Germain, Monaco for a season.
But here, there are at least six clubs who
think they can win the title. Manchester City
and United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham...
ACQ: And Chelsea?
ACA: And Chelsea, for sure.
ACQ: So having won the League once,
how hard will it be to win again?
ACA: Winning in England, winning in this
league is so hard and only one team can
win, so it is important that we put all of
ourselves into doing the best job we can do.
ACQ: Are the teams at the bottom of our
league a lot better than the teams at the
bottom of those other leagues?
ACA: Yes. Look at the size of the wins you
see in Spain, big wins, six, seven goals. You
do not see that so much in England. There
is no easy game, not one. That means it is
easier for the teams in Spain and Italy to
manage their rotation between the leagues
and the Champions League. There are games
where you can relax a little. Here, you
cannot do that, impossible. Easy games just
do not exist. It is so important the players
understand this. If they don’t, you end
up losing points you should not be losing.
ACQ: Do you think it is a problem for the
England national team that there are so
many foreign players here?
ACA: No, absolutely not.
ACQ: It is the same with managers. Last
time I checked there were more Italian
managers in the top five leagues than any
other nationality: 21 Italian, 20 Spanish,
13 German, four English. Why is that?
ACA: I don’t know why this is the case, but
we Italians must surely be proud if it is true.
ACQ: Is the media more intense here in
the UK or in Italy?
ACA: In Italy we have three newspapers just
about football, nothing else. It is life for
many people. So there is a lot of pressure.
Also a lot of them think they know your job
better than you do so they are trying to tell
you who and how to play.
ACQ: Do you feel you can go out more
here without being bothered by people?
ACA: Oh, people stop you and ask for
photos or autographs, but it is a pleasure.
ACQ: Do you like hearing the crowd sing
your name, with the “An-ton-i-o” chant?
ACA: Yeah. It’s nice. The first time, it was
at home against Everton. I was so really
focused on the game I didn’t even hear it
and my fitness coach told me, “Hey, coach,
the fans are chanting your name” and I put
up my hands to try to give a clap. “Antonio,
Antonio, Antonio!” [Laughs.]
ACQ: When you’re shaving in the
morning, do you ever look in the mirror
and sing your own name to yourself?
ACA: No, no. [Laughs.] You know, in this
type of situation I am actually a bit shy.
ACQ: When they sing your name?
ACA: Yes. I am quite private. Until I get
to know someone, I am shy. When I know
them I open up. But at the start I don’t
speak a lot. I like also to listen.
ACQ: But on the training ground, you
never stop talking.
ACA: Yes. This is my character on the
training ground.
ACQ: But can the players take it all in?
Do they absorb it?
ACA: This is my coaching style and during
the training session I try to give advice in
every moment. I explain a tactical situation,
the right movement at the right time,
to help the player understand the right
moment to press, to look around, to seek
out space, and I like to speak a lot because
I want to keep the intensity high. Not
shouting. I speak. I talk.»
E S S E N T I A L W R I ST AT T I R E

Model 7168 R R P £ 11 9 www.accurist.co.uk

ACQ: Are you the same outside football,
always talking, always high energy? Or
a different person?
ACA: No, not a different person, I am always
the same, a strong character in my job and
also in my private life. But, for sure, there is
one person in my life who can make me
calm. That is my daughter [Vittoria], only
her. She is the only one.
ACQ: Not your wife, [Elisabetta]?
ACA: Sometimes she can make me more
angry. [Laughs.]
ACQ: As an English lesson, I think you
should say passionate not angry.
ACA: No, I am joking. I love being with my
family. This year will be better because they
are moving to England from Italy. But it is
not easy because this job is so intense. My
mind is always on football.
ACQ: When you say your mind is always
on football, do you mean that literally?
ACA: [Nods.] I think so.
ACQ: Do you dream about football?
ACA: I don’t dream so much because I sleep
very little. I sleep four or five hours maybe.
When I go to sleep I am thinking football.
Then I sleep and it is difficult for me to
dream, but when I wake up it is 5am or 6am,
I start straight away. I am thinking about
football as soon as my eyes open – a lot of
my best ideas come to me at this time, even
before I am out of bed.
ACQ: So obsessed, yes? Obsessive?
ACA: Yes. I think you must be.
ACQ: What do you do outside football?
ACA: I might watch a film with my wife
and my daughter. A lot of the time I like
to eat at home, because my wife is a good
cook, nothing too sophisticated, simple
Italian food. I love her cooking. Or we go
to restaurants and when I have a day
off I visit different parts of London.
ACQ: I am surprised you have days off.
ACA: Sometimes I give myself a day off
because I need it.
ACQ: But you’re still thinking football?
ACA: It is not easy to not think football.
To be without football for a whole day is
impossible. The mind is always working.
ACQ: Were you like that as a player?
ACA: No. When I was a player it was
different. My job finished when training
finished. Totally different. When we all
came back from the summer break, people
said, “Did you enjoy your holiday?” But
for a coach, holidays without work are very
difficult. As soon as the season ends, the
coach must prepare the new season, sell
this player, buy this player, another one
goes out on loan, the phone is always
hot, then another one wants to leave,
318 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017
so it never stops. It is a pity because
sometimes you need a break from it.
ACQ: But could you live without it?
ACA: No. Football is my life. I was born with
a ball in the belly of my mother. My father
was a football man. He was my first coach,
my first owner, my first kit man.
ACQ: Does your wife like football?
ACA: No.
ACQ: But she comes to the games?
ACA: Yes. My wife and her family, they
didn’t really like football. They did different
things at the weekend, but now they have
changed their habits. Now her father is the
first to watch the game and sometimes he
tries to give me advice. He tries to tell me
what I should be doing. [Laughs.]
ACQ: What does your wife think when
you’re running around on the touchline?
ACA: [Laughs.] My wife knows me very
well. I didn’t go out with her till after I
stopped playing so she only knows me
really as a coach. At the start of the season
‘I was born
with a ball in
the belly of
my mother’
at Chelsea, my wife watched the early
games and at the end she said, “Look,
Antonio, I saw the previous games with
the previous team. They listened to you.
These players are not listening to you.”
ACQ: Was she right?
ACA: Kind of. This was the start of the
season. It is not easy when you arrive and
you are changing the style of coaching and
you are present in every moment of the
game, determined to advise throughout.
ACQ: Were you an easy player to manage?
ACA: Yes, because in all the circumstances
I find myself in, I look at myself and I ask
myself, “Am I doing my best?” As a player
I did it and now as a coach I do it.
ACQ: You’re not just saying that because
some of your players might read this?
ACA: No, I have always done this. I look
inside myself all the time and I did the
same as a player.
ACQ: Who were the best players you
played with?
ACA: Zinedine Zidane and Alessandro
Del Piero.
ACQ: Who are your heroes in the game?
ACA: Always my players.
ACQ: Heroes outside the game?
ACA: My parents and my family.
ACQ: Did you always want to be a coach?
ACA: Yes. I coached my first team when I was
14! I trained a team of elementary school
kids. I always loved it. I always felt I would
do this, that this would be my life. But
sometimes I hate it, you know. Sometimes
I hate this job, because sometimes you lose
your life. If you want to do this job, to be a
good coach, a great coach, you must sacrifice
your life and sometimes I hate this.
ACQ: What do you hate specifically?
ACA: I have to think football 18 hours a day.
ACQ: [Laughs.] But that is what you love.
ACA: [Laughs.] True, I love it and I hate it.
It is everything.
ACQ: Is money making the game too
divorced, too distant, from the fans?
ACA: I think it has always been a bit like
this. When I was a player, we earned more
than most people with a normal salary.
ACQ: But now it is a whole different
level. Your players are multimillionaires.
ACA: That is why we must have a lot of
respect for the fans who spend their money
to watch the game, to follow the team, home
and away. Yes, the money today is much
higher for managers and players. I think
when you reach the top level it is less about
the money itself, it is important only
because the level of earning shows the
importance of the player or the manager.
I don’t think people want to have the money
just to spend it. It is a reflection of your
importance in football.
ACQ: Are you religious?
ACA: Yes. Very. I like to go to Mass.
ACQ: Are you political?
ACA: No, I don’t follow politics so much.
ACQ: OK, last question. If you had to
rank the 20 Premier League managers
as players, from their playing days,
what order would you put them in?
ACA: [Winces.] No, no, I don’t want to do
this. I have to see them, week in, week out.
ACQ: I’ve got Ronald Koeman top, then
Mark Hughes and a toss-up between you,
Frank de Boer and Mauricio Pochettino.
Oh, and Sean Dyche. He’d kill me if I
didn’t have him there somewhere.
ACA: I am not doing this one. [Laughs.]
ACQ: I bet you do it with your coaching
staff later.
ACA: No. I need to focus on Burnley. Always
the next game.
At this point, an assistant comes to tell
Conte he is late for training and risks a fine.
He shakes hands, says goodbye and runs
out. A few minutes later I watch him
gesticulating wildly to the players gathered
in a semicircle in the pouring rain. He looks
focused, and happy.
 Jacket by Giorgio
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320 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017

Cillian
Murphy
G TV Actor Of The Year

With Peaky Blinders, BBC drama took on the Americans. And thanks to
its Brum-speaking star, it continues to win, year after year.
He’s the man behind Britain’s greatest small-screen gangster and – in more
ways than one – a cut above the rest
Story by Alex Godfrey Photographs by John Balsom Styling by Gro Curtis

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 321


Cillian Murphy wants to get the hell out of here. It’s all very
well being told you’re a GQ Man Of The Year, but he’s spent
the majority of 2017 intensely toiling, he tells us when we
meet in July. In February, he began turning himself back
into Tommy Shelby, Birmingham’s beloved miscreant, for
series four of Peaky Blinders. That wrapped mere days
before we meet and he immediately flung off the flat cap to
promote Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk. Within minutes of
talking to us, he’s off to Ireland and then New York for more
plugging. “And then I’m gonna have a little rest,” he says,
visibly creaking.
He’s had a whopper of a year. March saw the release of
Ben Wheatley’s cracking Free Fire – essentially a 90-minute
gunfight in a warehouse – in which Murphy’s IRA wild-
card (a part that was written for him) was one of the more
sympathetic characters. And then Dunkirk, such a sensory,
all-engulfing piece of cinema that, despite seeing his face
blown up so enormously on those Imax screens, even
Murphy managed to lose himself in the experience when he
watched it. “It helps because it’s an ensemble and you only
pop up in bits of it, so you’re not constantly going, ‘Why
are my ears like that?’”
Murphy’s character didn’t have a name. “Shivering Soldier”
he was called in the credits, because, as Murphy sees it at
least, he’s representative of the tens of thousands of soldiers
who went through what he did – the sheer horror of the
thing, stuck in shellshock, lives irrevocably altered. “Your
mind boggles at what this character must have witnessed
to get into that state,” says Murphy.
When Nolan first approached him about the part, he
told the director he’d already done quite a bit of research
into the area – Peaky Blinders’ Tommy, formerly a decorated
sergeant major in the First World War, has been similarly
affected by what he saw in the trenches. Series one found
him in 1919, only a year out of it, expected to reintegrate
into society and instead beginning to amass power as the
leader of Birmingham’s feared gangster family.
“He’s medicating,” explains Murphy. “He turns his trauma
into this insatiable ambition.”
322 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017
Does he think that condition is still the root of who Tommy
is as we go into series four? “I do. The main reasons being
that it took all faith away from him and it took all respect
for authority away from him. And it took away any fear of
death from him. Every day for him now is a bonus, because
he came so close to dying so many times in that conflict that
now every day he’s like, ‘Why not?’”
Peaky Blinders’ success can’t be overstated. When it began
in 2013, it was an unknown quantity, a brazen attempt
by the BBC (and creator Steven Knight) to dare compete
with the high-budget binge bonanzas we’d been devour-
ing from the States. But the show has been superlative
and, thanks to Netflix, its Twenties Birmingham gangsters
have gone global. And in the eye of the storm is Murphy’s
Tommy, his no-nonsense violence and deep, degrading soul
infiltrating living rooms around the world. Tommy belongs
to the public now; Murphy often gets white-van men hol-
lering at him across the street. To demonstrate, he goes full,
boarish cockney: “Tommy, eeeey, all right, Tommy!”
The dying moments of series three were shocking. Having
worked out a surprise deal, Tommy had the family arrested
and dragged kicking and screaming into paddy wagons.
Series four finds him returning home and preparing for war:
“More of Tommy as the street-fighting man, back to the mean
streets of Birmingham again.” And with a new nemesis. We’ve
previously seen him butt horns with Sam Neill, Tom Hardy
and Paddy Considine; this time, Adrien Brody is up for some
major scrappage. “You need a heavyweight in there,” smiles
Murphy. “It was great to see him come in and step up and do
that, and we had some great, well, tête-à-têtes.”
It took Murphy time to find Tommy again, he says, as it
always does – with each series a year apart, he needs to steel
himself. “It takes me a good six to eight weeks to limber up
into him. Eating protein, going to the gym and just getting
into the headspace again. Slowly getting into that mind-
set. Even when you get back on set the first time, it’s not
easy. It’s not like riding a bike again. You go, ‘Oh, wow. I’m
back into this.’ And then within a week you’re thinking
like him again.”
Are there times when he loses himself in Tommy, getting
carried away, adrenaline surging? He nods. “The moment
where it really excites me, retrospectively, is where
you unconsciously make decisions in the scene about
what Tommy does. It sounds like actor thespian wank
spunk” – Murphy enunciates those words delightfully,
spitefully – “but it’s not. It’s true. It is that transcendent
kind of vibe that you chase after. And then you go, ‘How
did that happen?!’”
Another part of Tommy he has to live with is the haircut
– when GQ meets Murphy, the shaved sides are still glis-
tening. “It’s a double-edged sword,” he says. “It looks great
for the character, but I’m stuck with it for four months. I’m
just walking around as him, unwittingly.” He can’t escape;
Tommy’s got him. “He’s got me, man! Even now, he won’t
let go. You stop going to the gym and you walk like a normal
person again, but inevitably he’s still got his claws in there.”
Sounds like Murphy really does need this holiday. “I’m
dying for this holiday, man!” he says, laughing, but serious.
He needs to get rid of Tommy for a bit. We, on the other
hand, can’t wait to have him back.
Peaky Blinders series four is on BBC Two this autumn.
‘Tommy’s got
me, man!
Even now he
won’t let go.
I’m dying for
a holiday!’
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OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 323

 ‘Tommy turns the trauma of the trenches
into this insatiable ambition’

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324 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 325
326 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017
 ‘Your mind
boggles at
what my
character
in Dunkirk
must have
witnessed’
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OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 327

 Grooming Karen Alder using Kiehl’s Digital operator Yan Sanez Assistants James McNaught; Jack Probert;
Tom Cunliffe Style assistant Principal Yip Tailor Emma Atkinson With thanks to Malmaison Manchester

Jacket by Stella
McCartney, from
£1,120 (as part of a suit).
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And Gross, £310.
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328 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017

‘I have to
limber up
into Tommy.
Then after a
week on set
I’m back
thinking like IN ASSOCIATION WITH

him again’
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(as part of a suit). dior.com. Jumper
by Prada, £530. prada.com G
OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 329
 1939 A GQ Tribute 2017

A superstar agent, peerless networker

and the undefeated Olympic champion
of Exocet schmoozing, he blazed a trail
across three seaboards in pursuit of riches
– both literary and pecuniary. Whether
moving with presidents and prime ministers
or partying with the great, the good and
the gifted, he turned deal-making into an
art. Just what was it that made Ed Victor
so good at being Ed Victor?

STORY BY Dylan Jones ILLUSTRATION BY Risko

’ve always lived a life where people The historian Simon Schama said on Twitter “who finish a book, drink a Diet Coke and

I  have said, ‘Look at him. Who does he

think he is?’” said the legendary liter-
ary agent Ed Victor back in 2007. “And
who I think I am is someone living life
to the brim.”
Few people lived it with such dedication
and vim. He played golf religiously at Stoke
Park, travelled to Vienna for the opera, often
played bridge (with his wife, Carol, regularly
beating me and mine) and even found time
to watch Arsenal at the Emirates. But what
he loved more than anything were books
and the people who wrote them. “What
I’m dealing with is like crude oil coming
up out of the ground,” he said. “Creative
writing in English can be made into any-
thing, from Vaseline to rocket fuel. I can sell
film rights, I can sell television rights, I can
sell book rights. It’s content, and people
need content.”
after Victor died, on 7 June this year, that
he was “funny, stylish, gossipy [and] very,
very shrewd”.
I was one of his clients and knew him as
an agent and friend for 20 years, but he had
much bigger people on his list, people such as
Bono, Frederick Forsyth, Keith Richards, Jack
Higgins, Damien Hirst, Erica Jong, Andrew
Marr, Christopher Simon Sykes, Nigella
Lawson, Tina Brown, Harold Evans, Eric
Clapton, Iris Murdoch, Carl Bernstein, Edna
O’Brien, Douglas Adams, Pete Townshend,
AA Gill, David Cameron and John Banville. He
would flatter his clients, telling many (maybe
all) they had somehow made a deal with the
devil, allowing them to squeeze more hours
out of a day than mere mortals (ie people who
weren’t represented by him). He loved all his
charges and divided them into those who took
years to produce a book and those, like me,
then start another”. Whenever I finished a
book I would call him up and say, “Ed, I’ve had
my Diet Coke, so what are we doing next?”
Ever self-aware, he said that, “People
outside the literary world imagine that books
get bought and sold by a small group of people
who all know each other and all dine with each
other and spend all weekend at each other’s
houses. And you know what? It’s true.”
During a Hay Festival appearance, a member
of the audience asked him how they could
get their manuscript under his nose if they
weren’t part of his high-octane party circuit.
Victor replied, “You don’t.”
In many respects he was as important as
his clients and in some cases he was certainly
richer. At the November 2016 party to cele-
brate 40 years of Victor’s business, Andrew
Marr told a wonderful story concerning
»
Victor’s wealth. Having casually let slip that

330 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017

 ED VICTOR

If you saw
Ed Victor at
a party, you
knew you
were in the
right place
OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 331
» Victor owned a Bentley, Marr asked his
agent how it was that he could only afford
to drive an entry-level car. Victor, ever quick
with a quip, came back with, “I don’t just have
a Bentley, Andrew” – beat – “I have three” –
beat – “One for each seaboard.”
He was such a towering figure. There are few
people who can walk into a room and then
walk out again with a cheque for £10 million.
Victor was one of those. As has been noted
by others, he gets more than a passing
mention in Ava Gardner’s autobiography, as
she decided to go for Victor as her agent,
rather than the more expe-
rienced Irving “Swifty”
Lazar. The clincher was There are few
when she was told by a
friend that Victor doesn’t
people who
just like to make money can walk into
for his clients, but that,
“He likes to see the look
of surprise in the author’s
eyes when he tells them
what the deal is.” Gardner
replied, “I like surprises,
honey.” And so Victor
a room then
walk out with
a cheque for
£10 million
was hired.
I suppose his excitement about life was
predicated on his accomplishments as
much as his confidence. He had earned the
right to approach prime ministers, presi-
dents and gangsters and ask them if they had
ever considered the amount of money they
could make if they allowed him to cut a deal
for them.
he novelist and chairman of
T
  Condé Nast Britain, Nicholas
Coleridge, first met him properly
in Morocco, where Victor was
staying with Carol and their son,
Ryan, at La Gazelle d’Or hotel near Taroudant,
in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains. It
was Easter and the hotel was filled with dis-
creet celebrities, sunbathing and reading
their books round the pool. Michael Portillo,
then a cabinet minister, was staying with
his wife, Carolyn; the reclusive advertising
tycoon Charles Saatchi with his then wife,
Kay; fashion photographer Terence Donovan
and his wife, Diana; Daily Telegraph editor
Charles Moore with Caroline Moore.
“Under normal circumstances, none of these
people would have spoken to each other,
terrified of invading one another’s space,”
says Coleridge. “But then Ed took control.
Every morning he would parade around the
pool. ‘I have reserved a table for 12 for lunch
under the olive trees. Would you care to
join us?’ Everyone agreed. Such was the
power of Ed Victor. The lunches were mag-
nificently enjoyable. Afterwards we all played
Monopoly in the sunshine, which Saatchi
332 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017
always won, with Portillo second. None of this
would have happened without Ed. He was the
greatest networker of all time. He made
things happen.”
After he died, there was a tsunami of obit-
uaries, with quotes from the literary great
and good on both sides of the Atlantic. One
of my favourites came from Sophie Hicks,
who worked with Victor for many years
and who I know from sitting on the
membership committee of The Groucho
Club, an establishment Victor helped create.
“In my 25 years working with Ed, there were
innumerable times when
he would stop what he was
doing and look up from his
desk, or interrupt our lunch
or suddenly pause during
a walk through Bedford
Square or Frankfurt or
New York and with his Ed
grin say, ‘We are having so
much fun, aren’t we?’ And
we were. We really did.”
The man who would one
day morph into London’s
greatest literary agent was
born in the Bronx on 9 September 1939 to
Jewish immigrants from Russia. The family
soon moved to Queens, where his father
ran a photographic equipment store, and
where they doted on their son, encourag-
ing him to become a successful American.
He once said, “I grew up perceiving life as
a long highway littered with green lights.”
After graduating from Bayside High School
in Queens, he earned a BA from Dartmouth
College and then won a Marshall Scholarship
to Pembroke College, Cambridge, where
he studied Henry James, James Joyce and
George Moore.
After college, Victor was hired as an art books
editor at Weidenfeld & Nicolson in London.
Later, after cornering George Weidenfeld,
one of the owners, in a lavatory (he would
do business anywhere), he won a transfer
to the novel division, whose authors included
Vladimir Nabokov and Saul Bellow. Having
collaborated with Felix Dennis and Richard
Neville on an unsuccessful countercultural
newspaper called Ink, and having briefly
worked for Alfred A Knopf in New York,
he moved back to London to set up an
agency, when such a thing was very much
frowned upon. “When I first became an
agent, literary agents were regarded by
publishers as being ‘below the salt’,” he
said. “I vowed to change that and to put
the literary agency into the key position
that it now occupies in the chain of pro-
gress towards eventual publication. I hope
I – and the other agents who have crossed
the then impermeable border between
publishing and agenting – have helped to
accomplish that.”
He set up his agency in London in 1976,
and it didn’t take long for him to find success:
his first deal was to sell the book and film
rights for Stephen Sheppard’s novel The Four
Hundred for $1.5 million. He sold Douglas
Adams’ Hitchhikers’ Guide To The Galaxy
series throughout the Eighties (appearing
as a space cop in an illustrated edition of the
first book) and made an instant bestseller
out of Nigella Lawson’s first cookbook,
1998’s How To Eat, which sold more than
300,000 copies. In 2005 he sold Eric Clapton’s
memoirs for a reported £2.7m the day after
his client John Banville won the Booker
for his novel The Sea.
genuine intellectual, Victor
 A spent most of his time reading. He
had perused the most important
newspapers before he made
his first phone calls of the day
and spent his weekend with novels. He read
everything that became a bestseller, needing to
know what people were buying, what people
were liking, what they were feeling. He could
talk knowledgeably on any subject, whether
it was classics or cooking, politics or pop. He
didn’t just know what was going on, he had an
opinion, too, seemingly about everything. It
was impossible not to feel that here was a man
who could get anyone on the phone, who could
hold his own in any conversation, whether he
was talking to Gore Vidal, Christopher Hitchens
or Bill Clinton.
Photographs Getty Images; James Mason and Antonio Salgado; Philip Sinden; Rex; Richard Young
Nevertheless, Victor acted like a ruthless
old-school Hollywood agent, focusing on the
deal as though it were a diamond or a woman.
Authors, he said “want a killer agent, a shark
in the water, not a guy with an MLitt”. Victor
was both. A committed Anglophile, he married
an Englishwoman, Michelene Samuels (later,
as a writer, known as Michelene Wandor),
before falling in love with the woman who
became his second wife, the lawyer Carol
Ryan. He is survived by two sons from his first
marriage, Adam and Ivan, his son with Carol,
Ryan, and three grandchildren.
Tall, debonair and with a caustic wit, Victor
was the life and soul of London parties. If you
turned up at one and saw him, you knew
you were in the right place. Not that he left it
to chance. He was forever making sure he was
invited to the right events, and looked dimly
on those who weren’t as dedicated as he was
himself. Whenever we spoke on the phone,
he’d ask me what I was up to that night.
And when I said that what I might do is walk
across the park, go home and settle in front
of the TV to watch a game of football or an
episode of a programme he never had time to
watch, he would berate me for having the »
 ED VICTOR

Agent provocateur:
Literary legend Ed Victor
pictured at home in
London and with
(clockwise from top):
Andy Coulson; John
Cleese; Tracey Emin;
Jeffrey Archer and Joan
Collins; his wife, Carol; Ted
Kennedy and companion;
AA Gill; Nigella Lawson;
and Paula Yates
 ED VICTOR

» temerity to miss a book launch, a premiere

or a dinner party given by a mutual friend.
He just couldn’t understand why someone
wouldn’t want to go out as much as possible.
The only night he’d stay in would be Friday.
“We’ll have been out every night during the
Company man:
week,” he once said. “We go out all the time, Ed Victor with
either in New York or London, as we live (clockwise from top
left) Sir Eric Clapton;
simultaneously in both cities, more or less. his CBE for services
Our British home is in Regent’s Park and we to literature; Sir
also have a beautiful house on eastern Long David Frost; fellow
luminaries at the
Island outside New York. In each city we have launch of The
completely different sets of friends and go to Groucho Club;
Dylan Jones and
cocktail parties, theatre, dinners and opera.” David Cameron;
In anyone else’s mouth, this might sound Richard Neville; and
Lady Caroline Evans
conceited, but Victor was all about celebra-
tion, and enjoying that celebration.
“When our son Ryan was eight years old
he said, ‘Why couldn’t I have had normal
parents who don’t go out every evening?’ But
we just do all the usual stuff that people do
when they live in a great city. If they don’t
do it they have no business living there. Even
when we’re at Two Barns, our summer home
in the Hamptons, we’ll be going to parties
and entertaining. The summer season kicks
off with our annual Fourth of July party:
200 of our very closest friends, including
Candice Bergen, Tina Brown and Harry Evans,
congregating by the side of our pool to sip
cocktails and eat hors d’oeuvres.”

he publisher Trevor Dolby was a

T
  huge admirer as well as a friend.
One day in 2003, Dolby was
rolling up a pair of cerise Agent
Provocateur fishnets when the call
came in. He had just joined Harper Collins
and was pitching, as was the whole of pub-
lishing, for the autobiography of U2. “Trevor?
Ed. I have news for you. [U2 manager] Paul
McGuinness and the boys would like you to
publish their book. Congratulations.”
Dolby nearly fell off his makeup stool.
“That’s such good news, Ed. Thank you so
much. I’m just putting on my stockings for
the publishers’ pantomime rehearsal and then
I’ll email Vicky [Barnsley, then British CEO].”
“Trevor, I won’t ask. But I suspect we have
made a good choice.”
Dolby had known Victor a few years before
that point, but it was the U2 book that
cemented their friendship. “Blooded,” as Victor
would say. A year into the project, Dolby
was driving along on holiday in the South of
France when his mobile rang – unusual, since
the coverage in rural France at the time was
pretty nonexistent. He pulled over on the loop
of a mountain road and climbed out of the
car next to a concrete picnic table and benches
looking down at a beautiful valley. In the
distance the sun was starting to go orange.
No signal. He swung around. Still nothing.

334 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017

 He stood on the concrete table. Two bars, a
voicemail: “Call Ed Victor.” Dolby called, his
head now contorted to keep the connection.
“Ed, it’s Trevor.”
“Trevor. There’s no way of making this better
than it is. The book is off. It’s cancelled.”
Victor explained the issue (to this day a con-
fidence) and said, “They want to pay back the
money and pull the project. Do you want to
talk to Bono?”
Dolby said he didn’t, he couldn’t see the
point, but that he would call Jane Friedman,
the US CEO, and Barnsley to arrange a con-
ference call on Monday.
“It wouldn’t just be a case of paying
the money back,” said Dolby. “There were
liabilities. Over the weekend calm, sensible,
collaborative calls went round the world.
Ed the chef d’orchestre covering every
note, and on Monday, of course, all was
well. Bono had said to Ed, ‘As of Friday the
book was off. As of this evening, Ed, it is
on again.’ Not once did I feel that Ed and
I were anything other than on the same
side. Trust. I trusted him. In the 25 years
I knew him I always felt he respected and
trusted me. I also knew he was much cleverer
than me and much more stylish and smart and
connected and, well, everything than me.
Some people use their talents like a club
to beat others. Never Ed. He engendered
respect because of the way
he dealt with everyone. Not
just people who might do ‘There is
him good. He was good for
people’s souls.”
talent and
Victor could be withering
in his appraisals, but always
there are
with a positive uplift at the agents,’
end. Many’s the time I sent
him an outline for a book Victor
or a hastily written idea in
the hope that this was the
would say.
one that he thought might ‘I’m an agent’
Photographs Alan Davidson/The Picture Library Ltd; Getty Images; Rex
make us both millions and
many’s the time I’d get a brutal response
by return: “Dylan, this is a truly terrible idea.
I suggest you get back on the sunlounger and
pour yourself another glass of whatever it is
you’re anaesthetising yourself with. Next!”
In this respect he became a mentor to me
and, while we laughed and smiled and gos-
siped and gandered, for me there was always
some takeaway, something that Victor had
probably said in passing, but that would
stay with me long after he had moved on.
He didn’t pass on knowledge in order to
show how smart he was, he did it almost by
osmosis. He could bring great depth to seem-
ingly asinine subjects and dismiss profundity
for the hogwash it was pretending so hard
to disguise. He was forever the realist.
“People often wait too long to publish their
memoirs because they don’t want to admit
it’s all over for them,” he said. “Lionel Bart
[the composer and creator of Oliver!] came to
me very late on and when I said his memoirs
were worth between £25,000 and £50,000, he
didn’t believe me because he’d been offered
£2m when he was younger. Eventually I
got an offer of £37,500 and you know what
he did? He turned it down.” He often said
he applied three tests to determine a book’s
potential: “Is the person fabulous? Is
the work good? And is there a lot of money
in it?”
e could also come up with his own
H
  million-dollar, award-winning
ideas, but when these turned out
to be as unwanted and resolutely
uncommissioned as my own, they
were quickly forgotten and never referred
to again. Victor was a man who was never
lost for words, a man rarely surprised by the
wicked ways in which life can twist our own
and in all the time I knew him, he was never
stumped for an answer. When presented with
a manuscript or an idea that held no interest
for him (ie something that wasn’t going to
make him any money), he’d say, “I gave them
the second best answer – a quick no.”
Sophie Dahl, another client, says that one
of the things she most enjoyed about Victor
was his unfailing ability
to always tell her that his
other writers made “way”
more money than her. He
appeared to say this to eve-
ryone (he certainly said it
to me).
“Twice a year I had lunch
with Ed,” says Nicholas
Coleridge. “He would ring
and say, ‘Nick, we haven’t
seen each other for too Model citizens:
long. I want to discuss your Ed Victor with
(from top) Jerry Hall;
writing with you.’ He was Boris Johnson; his
my agent. Then we would usually meet at wife, Carol; and
Lord Saatchi
The Ivy.
“‘How’ve you been Ed?’
“‘Nick, I have had a truly interesting week.’
Every week with Victor was interesting. ‘Let
me tell you. On Monday, I had dinner with
Tina and Harry in New York. I have just sold
her diaries for $10m, they’re going to be
a sensation. On Tuesday, I had lunch with
Keith Richards, I sold his book to Little Brown
for $12m, but have retained serial. Last night
I had dinner with Nigella. I sold serial on her
new cookbook for £4m, she is looking so great,
she’s happy.’ On and on it went... until lunch
ended. ‘Nick, we never spoke about you. We
must have lunch again soon, I have some
ideas for you.’ I adored Ed. I never wanted
it to end.”»
» Victor was a man who demanded a lot from
life and seemed to know everything there
was to know about getting the most out of
it. When we went to the theatre together
he would always have the very best seats;
when we went for drinks he would always
order the most appropriate libation for the
particular bar we were in and he was never
embarrassed about asking for substitutions
on a restaurant menu, often to the point
where he had actually ordered something the
restaurant didn’t offer (by which time it was
too late for the waiter to do anything about
it). I remember early in our relationship, when
we were taking it in turns to take each other
for lunch, he took me to The Ivy (when The
Ivy was still The Ivy).
At the end of the meal, after our coffee,
Ed stood up and started walking out into
the street. “But, er, the bill... What shall we
do about the bill?” I spluttered. Ed stopped,
turned around and looked at me as though
I was the biggest rube on the farm. “Dylan, I
have an account,” he said. Ed knew about
restaurants, knew when one was hot, knew
when they were done. A few years ago we
were due to have a business meeting in New
York and while we were on the phone making
arrangements I casually mentioned that I
was taking some friends to dinner that
night at Michael’s, the famous Midtown lunch
spot. Ed interrupted me and said, almost as
he would if addressing a small child, “But
nobody goes to Michael’s for dinner.” And
he was right, as he was so consistently about
so much.
ften Ed would call just to tell
O
  you what he had been up to,
showing off about his extraor-
dinary life. Not that I ever
begrudged him doing this. He
would call, ostensibly to ask you how you
were, but really to tell you what he’d been
doing at the weekend. I’m paraphrasing, but
the monologue would often go like this: “So
I just spent the weekend with Ruthie Rogers
at her villa in the Tuscan hills with Gore
Vidal, Bono, Mel Brooks, Candice Bergen
and Alexander The Great. It really was the
most lovely trip and I have to say they all
made very good companions and Ruthie really
is the most sensational chef.” If anyone else
dared to show off in such a way you’d quickly
find excuses to put the phone down, but when
Ed was on the phone you’d want to hear more
and more.
Yes, occasionally it was irritating when his
social life was more important to him than
the nonarrival of a royalty cheque, but you
forgave him immediately, while also knowing
that if you were ever in serious trouble, Ed
would be there by your side with a revolver in
336 GQ.CO.UK OCTOBER 2017
one hand and a whip in the other. No one did
a deal like Ed, no one squeezed more money
out of a publisher, no one came up with more
beneficial clauses for his clients or defended
them with such gusto.
On our first book (and they were always
“our” books, not mine) he explained everything
he was going to squeeze out of the publisher
in great detail before he went in to negotiate
and the deal he came out with was the one he
described to me. To the letter, to the decimal
point. As an agent he was more than formida-
ble, he was a giant, a king, a
superhero. You fucked with
him at your peril, because he The deal
would always fuck you back.
Harder and with more inten- he came out
sity, charm and wit.
One publisher said that
with was
while you might not always
look forward to a call from
the one he’d
Victor, you always took described
it . Always. Ed was not
only a great agent, he was to me – to the
a great man. A big man, a
man who became legendary
decimal point
not just for what he did, but for who he was.
He was loyal, too, passionately loyal. One
friend of mine was lucky enough to expe-
rience this side of Victor’s character. “I had
just left the company I worked for, not in the
best circumstances. My confidence was bust
and I’d had to have an operation to boot. Ed
heard of my plight. He called. ‘Hello? It’s Ed.
I have booked a table at The Ivy next week.
Be there at one.’ I was low, not enthusiastic.
‘Thanks, Ed. That’s very kind of you, but I’ve
just had this operation and I’m being told that
I need to rest.’
“‘Rest at The Ivy. Shall I send a car?’
I pitched up and was led, hobbling, to the
banquettes at the back facing the entrance.
Ed arrived and we talked. Or, more precisely,
he talked. He talked about publishing and
about people. He told me stories about tenac-
ity, getting back on the horse, about learning
and battling on.
“Late into the afternoon, we were still there
and I was smiling and we were giggling and
he was allowing me to rib him a little. I kept
saying you must get on; I’m taking up too
much of your time. He wafted my protests
aside. By four I said I would get the bill. It was
the least I could do for his kindness. He placed
his hand on the table. ‘Look. You will do no
such thing. I will pay, but you must promise
me one thing.’
“‘Anything,’ I said.
“He eyeballed me. ‘You will not become
an agent. There are too many agents and not
enough good editors out there. I need someone
to sell to.’ I was flattered and bolstered and I left
with almost a spring in my step.”
aggie Phillips, who worked
M
  with Victor for 36 years,
described him as “the person
who conducted the orchestra.
He was such a larger-than-
life character [and] he was incredibly kind.
He was ruthless as an agent but something
I always remember is that if people ever got
fired from their job in publishing – friends or
even someone very junior – Ed would always
take them out for lunch somewhere they’d be
seen, such as The Ivy or The Groucho.”
“The obits describe him
as an agent. And he was.
The best,” says GQ’s Alastair
Campbell, another Victor
client. “But he was so,
so much more than that.
He was a giant in the lit-
erary world and a giant
of a man. He loved books
because he loved stories.
He loved stories because he
loved people and he loved
life. There are people who
give energy and there are
people who drain energy. Ed was an ener-
giser. Little wonder that he was once second
only to Sir Elton John in Tatler’s list of ‘most
invited guests’. Victor loved a good party,
and gave a good party too. At one of his
last, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of his
agency, he said he would never retire. He
didn’t. Even in hospital in the weeks before
his death, his dedicated and brilliant team
were visiting him so he could make a few deci-
sions, and answer emails with the help of his
long-term PA, Linda. There are people who
demand loyalty and there are people who
inspire loyalty. Victor inspired loyalty. His own
life was without doubt worth a book, but he
was adamant that he would never write it.
‘There is talent and there are agents, Alastair
– I’m an agent.’ Yet he was as talented as
they come.”
Ed was also a tremendous name-dropper.
Everyone knew it and nobody cared. Trevor
Dolby remembers a particular example: “The
phone rang and it was Linda. ‘Trevor,’ she said.
‘I have Ed for you.’ Ring. Pick up. ‘Trevor? Ed,’
he said. ‘Hi, Ed. How are you?’ I asked. ‘I’m in
Long Island, just making breakfast for myself
and my neighbour Candice Bergen. Do you
know Candice?’”
“He almost always answered his phone,”
says Alastair Campbell, “but often to say he
would ‘call you right back’, on one occasion
adding, ‘I’m just getting on Cher’s private
plane, trying to get a deal done.’”
Victor’s name-dropping was done in such a
way that it made you collude in his obvious
enjoyment in mixing with the great and the
good. In Victor’s eyes – and in everyone else’s

– he was one of the great and the good, too,
so it wasn’t as though he was pushing his face
up against the glass and staring at people who
were better and more accomplished. He was
as accomplished as anyone he ever bumped
into at a cocktail party, often more so. Yet
he delighted in acknowledgment. I can still
remember how excited he was when Keith
Richards (whose autobiography, Life, he sold
to Little Brown for $12m) gave him a new
nickname. “According to Keith I must now
be addressed only as ‘Ed Fucking Victor.’”
And for the duration of the publicity tour,
and for a considerable amount of time after-
wards, he was.
I once commissioned a freelancer to write
a column on name-dropping and when it
landed in my inbox a few days later, I was
immediately handed a problem. The piece
started something like this: “The man who
name-drops with greater frequency than
anyone I have ever met, who by rights should
have a degree or PhD in name-dropping,
a man who finds it impossible to breathe
without mentioning someone more famous
than himself is, of course, the great literary
agent Ed Victor.” Having worried about this
for several minutes I thought the best thing to
do would be to send it straight to Ed, in order
for him to share my concern. Literally two
minutes after emailing it to him, he responded:
“Print it.”
When he was asked what the funniest thing
ever written about him was, he said, “A profile
by Will Self calling me the Olympic champion
of name-dropping.”
t was this boundless
I  optimism, this relent-
less refusal to see
anything other than
an opportunity, that
made him such a giant. He
was a big fan of old cars,
As an agent
he was
more than
formidable,
as was Trevor Dolby. Once,
Dolby had a 1963 Mercedes he was a
220SEB drophead. He’d had
to sell it and lamented the
giant, a king,
fact to Victor one day.
“Trevor. If you enjoyed it,
a superhero
go buy another one,” said Victor. “Life is too
short not to go get things immediately.”
“But Ed, they are about £50,000.”
“Well then, go buy two.”
Alastair Campbell says that one of the things
that made Victor such a good friend and guide
to those he had as clients was that he under-
stood that life is not all about money – and, as
Campbell says, maybe this was easier given he
had plenty of it by the end, with his fabulous
homes on either side of the Atlantic. “When
he took on the task of selling my diaries, he
held back any serialisation deal from the
publisher,” says Campbell. “We began speak-
ing to the Sunday Times and there was talk of
a seven-figure deal covering several volumes
over several years. This was in the era when
big serialisation deals were more common than
they are now. But I found myself worrying
more and more that I would lose control of
how the diaries were presented and also that
they would be used to cause a lot of political
problems for Labour and especially Gordon
Brown, a loyalty Ed often said he ‘appreciated
without fully understanding’. So one morning
I called him and said, having had a couple
of sleepless nights, I didn’t want to serialise
The Blair Years. ‘Mmmm,’ he replied. ‘How
does that make you feel?’ I asked. ‘Doesn’t
matter,’ he said. ‘What matters is how you feel
and what you’re happy with. I’ll call them.’ He
delighted in introducing me to people thereaf-
ter as ‘my most complicated client’.”
The end came quickly. I called him at the
start of the year, while he was in Palm Beach
(he and Carol had developed a rhythm of
spending a third of their time in London, most
of the summer in Long Island and a substan-
tial part of the winter in Florida). I asked how
he was in the rhetorical way we all do and
he said he’d had some worrying results from
some recent tests (a decade earlier he had
battled leukaemia) and so was coming home
to see his specialist.
I saw him a week later, when he had been
admitted to The London Clinic, where he was
due to start a course of chemotherapy. I sat
with Alastair Campbell and chair of Penguin
Random House UK Gail Rebuck on the end
of his bed, gossiping about
the publishing world and
discussing the car crash of
Brexit Britain.
It was to be the last
time I saw him. Three days
later I called to see how
the chemo had gone, only
to find out that he had
been given a completely
different treatment, one that
appeared to be working. He
was as giddy as ever and,
remarkably, seemed as
though he was going to make a full recovery.
Perhaps predictably, my very last conversation
with him went like this: “You know the worst
thing about all of this?” he said to me, without
a hint of irony. “I’m going to have to miss
Damien’s party in Venice.”
A few days later he developed pneumo-
nia, deteriorating dramatically in the process,
and the narrative arc developed accordingly.
When he died he was three months shy of his
78th birthday.
Having been invited by Carol to sit shiva,
I was also invited back a few days later to
ED VICTOR
pick out something from his wardrobe in
his office, something for me to keep. I took
a tie, because he was always so smart and it
would be something that would remind me
of him whenever I wore it, and I took a pho-
tograph of him taken on his graduation day,
when he still had a highway of green lights
ahead of him.
he last word should obviously
T
  go to Ed himself and frankly he
wouldn’t want it any other way.
A few years ago I got a call from
him one morning while I was at
work. He seemed especially chipper and when
I asked why he said that he had some impor-
tant news for me and that he needed to ask
my opinion about something. Barely able
to contain his excitement, he told me that
even though he knew he wasn’t meant to say
anything, as per protocol, he had just been
awarded a CBE (when you’re awarded some-
thing in the Queen’s Honours List you’re
told about it months before it’s announced
to the public) and the conversation went
like this.
“Now, Dylan, I know that you’ve been
given an honour yourself and I wanted to
know how you used it. Do you use it on your
letterhead, on your email, your business card,
passport? Just where do you use yours?”
I then explained that, while I quite like
it when other people used it on my behalf,
I almost never used it myself, as I thought it
was a little ostentatious to do so. Ed didn’t
seem happy with this information and simply
carried on with his inquisition.
“OK, but how do most people use it?
I mean, surely you must use it on your busi-
ness cards?”
“No.”
“On your bank statements?”
“No.”
“On your website?”
“No.”
“How about on your Instagram account.”
“No, never occurred to me.”
This rather protracted and unsuccessful con-
versation went on for another ten minutes or
so, with Ed finding increasingly arcane and
esoteric uses for his honour, in the hope that
I might buckle and admit that, yes, I often use
it when sending emails to important clients.
Having known him for a long time, I could
always tell when he’d had enough of a phone
call (mostly when one of his more important
clients was on the line, usually Nigella Lawson
or John Banville) and so I wasn’t surprised
when he brought this one to a close.
“You know what, Dylan? You’ve been
incredibly helpful. And you know what I’m
going to do? I’m going to use it on everything.”
I’m going to miss you, Ed Victor CBE. G
OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.UK 337
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 #OTL
JONATHAN HEAF IS...
...with Brandon Flowers
At Chess Club, It’s all Killer
no filler as the Sin City son
talks rock’s rat pack and
what happened in Vegas
f, like me, you were in your very early
I  twenties during the very early noughties
(I loath this term, by the way, it makes
a whole decade sound like a swinging
app for accountants), you’ll remember
hearing The Strokes for the very first time.
Brandon Flowers, frontman for The Killers,
ambassador for “The Society Of Polite Rock
Stars”, of which Dave Grohl and Johnny Marr
are also members, remembers that moment
only too well. It changed his band’s music –
a band that has now sold a mouthwatering 22
million records and counting worldwide – and
thus the trajectory of his life forever.
“I was waiting tables at this pretty fancy
French bistro near the strip in Las Vegas,” Flowers recalls as we sit
down for a bite in the main restaurant at Chess Club, a serene, light-filled
members’ bar a gallstone’s throw from Shepherd Market in London’s
Mayfair. The Killers, if they were never your thing, are famous Vegas
natives, forming in 2001 after Flowers saw Oasis play the city’s Hard
Rock Hotel. It was a period of time when The Strokes were just emerging
onto the scene from their private school educations and Jack White was
yet to become “fat Zorro”.*
“There was a Virgin Megastore – remember them? – I used to go and
browse in my break. In the section imported into the States from the
UK they had The Strokes’ The Modern Age EP. That’s
when I heard those three songs for the first time –
‘The Modern Age’, ‘Last Nite’ and ‘Barely Legal’.” Was
‘We scrapped every
song – nothing was
it a Damascene moment for the young rocker? “It
depressed me. I was floored. I heard the whole album,
Is This It, soon after. We scrapped every song we’d
good enough’
done up until that point apart from ‘Mr Brightside’.
Nothing was good enough. The Strokes raised the bar
for us, for everyone.”
A version of this anecdote is also told in Lizzy Goodman’s excellent oral
history of that ripe musical period, Meet Me In The Bathroom, a book
that maps not only the story of The Strokes but of what it was like for
bands such as The Killers, LCD Soundsystem, Kings Of Leon, Interpol
and Yeah Yeah Yeahs starting out in the States in the shadow of 9/11,
a time when guitar music was genuinely cool again.
One particular chapter focuses on what those other acts thought of The
Killers, whose debut album, Hot Fuss, came out in 2004. According to
many of those staggering from stage to afterparty to hotel lobby at the
time, it seemed obvious that Flowers and his stage mates were going to
VERDICT Diplomatic enthusiasm for Las Vegas +++++Likelihood of rock star antics +,,,, Charm ++++,Likeability ++++,Overall +++++
make it bigger than everyone else. They were
hard working; their songs were more commer-
cial; they seemed to embrace fame for what it
could add, rather than what it might take away.
They were also less hung up about being cool.
Our food arrives. I’ve gone for the steamed
plaice with black ginger and white soy while
my American friend has the all-day breakfast
muffin – a sandwich of smoked ham hock,
oozing gruyère and fried egg that resembles
a bready, cheesy meteorite. Chess Club started
about a year ago as something of an antidote
to the larger members’ clubs that offer every
happy ending under the service industry sun,
yet little true refinement in the kitchen.
The chef encamped here is Jackson Boxer
– he also runs Vauxhall’s Brunswick House –
and a more talented, entertaining man, both in
human form and chef whites, I’m yet to meet.
Much like Flowers, however, he is punchably
handsome, too.
“I know the chapter you’re talking about,” Flowers nods, seeming to
wince a little at Goodman’s dissection of the bygone era. “It certainly
didn’t seem obvious to us at the time. Maybe we accepted our roles
a little more than some of the other bands, although we learnt so much
from Julian [Casablancas] and the others.”
The difference between The Killers and some of their wilder, dirtier
peers was that they managed to keep their heads clear(ish) while all
those around them were losing theirs – mainly on cocaine, some on
heroin. Did he have no inclinations to fulfil the archetypal rock star
clichés? “Sure! I went through a small phase of thinking that I needed
to be someone I perhaps wasn’t,” he explains. “Luckily
for me I was never drawn fully into it. When we first
started I do remember feeling pressure to be a ‘rock
Illustrations Anton Emdin; Zohar Lazar *Copyright Noel Gallagher
star’. Whatever that means...”
With a new album, Wonderful Wonderful, out this
month the band will be on the road again before
long. Surely, after a 15-year reign, Flowers can’t still
enjoy playing “Mr Brightside”, “Human” or “All These
Things That I’ve Done”. “You’d think not, right? But I get a buzz when
I see ‘Mr Brightside’ coming up on the set list. It’s the single that made
us. It would be unchivalrous to start being snooty about our biggest hit.”
So, what of the future? Where do stadium-filling rock bands go when
there are no more stadiums left to fill? For The Killers, the answer is in
their past and the place that signifies the musical equivalent of being
immortalised in bronze: Las Vegas. “A residency? It’ll happen,” he
chuckles conspiratorially. It’s clear this is something that has already
been discussed with his band mates. “We aren’t ready for the long,
gilded goodbye just yet.” G
1a Chesterfield Street, London W1. 020 7495 6171. chessclublondon.com
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