The Chap Olympiad

Butler-Baiting, Umbrella Jousting, Port Passing, Bounder Hunt.  Not your traditional Olymipics, a more refined, genteel games played by well-dressed British men and women dressed in their vintage best.  Can I just say it was the most awesome thing I have seen so far in London?!? That grown men in bowler hats and striped top coats will ride the tube in fancy dress with picnic baskets full of gin and tonic ingredients and cucumber sandwiches to a private park to participate in silly games made my day!

Sponsored and created by The Chap magazine, a "guide with sartorial tips for men," the Chap Olympiad is in its fourth year of refined modern day goofiness.  My flatmate Katie and I followed one tall gentleman wearing black wellingtons and full-length silk brocade dressing gown down two blocks in order to find the games.

Gustav Temple, editor of The Chap, writes, "A chap is a sprightly fellow-about-town who applies the mannerisms and dress of an Edwardian gentleman to the modern world...A lady, can, of course, be a chappette though.  All she needs is a good suspender belt and a high tolerance for martinis."
--Time Out London, 19-21 July 2013.


This sweet chap hold us he served in Afghanistan with American Marines.  He related his disappointment in having to shave off his long mustache, which he used to curl at the ends to the delight of the Marines, when he got back to London.  (I longed to asked him if he shaved it for a girl or for his job...)  He clarified Butler-Baiting for us, saying the chaps throws newspapers and curse at a proper butler, the winner is the one who can rile up the usually unperturbable servant!

There was a live band playing when Katie and I arrived, the crowd was just queueing up to pay 20 pounds to get into the normally private park.  There were all manner of chaps, top hatted ones, Sherlock Holmes impersonators, rajs, servicemen, many Jay Gastby-types, all sporting the required full-dress even in the 92 degree heat!  The ladies were elegant in stockings, hats, gloves, lipstick galore and, of course, lovely heals.  British men and women both wear shoes like you would not believe here.  Leather shoes like butter, always dress shoes as they walk down the street on any given day.  One chap had an incredible pair of green wing-tips on with his Bermuda shorts, long socks, tie, and sports coat.  The event was a like a hilarious dream, a fantastical bit of cheerfulness and frivolity in the heart of London today!

Polite applause is acceptable.

The proper transport for a chap.

Katie in the chap's helmet.