British GQ August 2016

At GQ we’ve placed literature – a crucial part of our heritage – at the heart of our coverage THE 14 February 1972 issue of New York magazine had an unusual cover, designed as a newspaper. At the top, in big, block capitals, ran a surreal headline: “THE BIRTH OF ‘THE NEW JOURNALISM’; EYEWITNESS REPORT BY TOM WOLFE”. It was all thoroughly arch, obviously, but the ensuing article contained declarations whose enduring influence would make the front-page treatment look peculiarly prescient. The novel, announced Wolfe, had been dethroned as the number one literary genre. “It is hard to explain what an American dream the idea of writing a novel was in the Forties, the Fifties and right into the early Sixties. The novel was no mere literary form. It was a…

Norman Jean ROY Baywatch is back. This month’s cover star, model and actress Kelly Rohrbach, takes on Pamela Anderson’s role as CJ Parker in a new film version of the classic television show. Rohrbach donned the famous red swimsuit to be shot by Norman Jean Roy, who decided to use good old-fashioned film. “I love that we shot it that way – it brings back the element of mystery,” says Rohrbach. Emily WRIGHT They say that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. New York real estate mogul Aby Rosen couldn’t disagree more, which is why he’s closing down one of the city’s iconic landmarks: The Four Seasons restaurant. Emily Wright, global editor of Estates Gazette, spoke to Rosen about his rationale. “Rosen’s decision is indicative of a changing New York and a…

The greasy fingerprints told only half the tale. Large plasma screens littered the departure lounge, but despite (or possibly because of) their oversized font, the perfect height of the monitors and the very slow refresh rate of data, affixed to each and every one was a peeling printed label: “This is not a touchscreen.” Digital disappointment surrounds us. Everything should be faster, more accurate and personalised. Anything new progresses from magical to wonderful to expected to disappointing in a matter of moments. In the words of Louis CK, “How quickly the world owes us something we didn’t even know existed five minutes ago.” The only things that consistently move faster than technological advancements are the expectations of them. The lag delays further, the gap between what we expect and what we get…

IT’S testament to the Hay Festival’s substantial clout that, after almost three decades, it still manages to lure the leading lights of literature, art and ideas all the way out to Hay-On-Wye in the Powys countryside for its week of talks and panels. The billing this year was, true to form, as eclectic as it was impressive. Just glance around the marquee in which we held GQ’s seventh annual Hay dinner in association with Land Rover to mark the end of the festival’s first weekend. Over there, dining among the 250 guests, is Benedict Cumberbatch, the main draw at this year’s Letters Live. This Hay fixture celebrates the best of literary correspondence through live readings by actors and explains the presence of a number of other big names tonight, including Mark…

WHEN the artist Alastair Gibson first properly considered the form of a hammerhead shark, in an idle moment 15 years ago, one thing came to mind: racing car. “When you look at the curves and aerodynamic devices on the body of a Formula One car and you look at a shark with its fins and gills, you notice a beautiful parallel,” says Gibson, a former Formula One mechanic who now crafts sea creatures from carbon fibre Formula One parts. Gibson’s favourite piece is a piranha, owing to the story behind it: he smuggled a dried piranha back on the plane from Brazil to use as a muse. “It stunk the whole British Airways business lounge out, because I put it in my hand luggage!” Recently, Gibson has swerved away from marine life…

EVER since the British food scene pulled its socks up, the Hot New Place In Town changes frequently. But, for a certain class of internationalist doing business in the capital, the gastronaut carousel is a faff. They prefer the tried-and-tested, discreet enclaves of a handful of elite dining rooms, of which the most spectacular is China Tang. Not only is it situated inside The Dorchester, the most lavish hotel in London, but the restaurant’s Thirties chinoiserie interior has the fingerprints of its flamboyant creator, Sir David Tang, all over it. For more than ten years dealmakers, actors and politicians have been lured not only by the first-class Cantonese cooking (last-meal contender: the dim sum) but also the way the restaurant twins sumptuousness with an old-fashioned idea of decorum. Not an…