Once upon a time we all used to drink brandy. We used it in the morning with soda water to freshen an appetite, a sniff after lunch to settle the stomach and a glass or two of the vintage stuff to accompany our cards in the evening. But you must be at least over sixty…
A conversation I have seen brought up dozens of times, in pubs, online motoring forums or in just idle chat is what cars would you have in your perfect garage. Peoples responses range from the inevitable Bugatti Veyron, (well why not given a free range why settle for a garage full of Nissan Micras and…
The Luxury Super Car Event & Concours d’Elégance revs its V8s and wheel-spins into the stately, gravel drives of Syon Park. Debutantes to the manicured lawn this year include the new Lamborghini Aventador, promising a ‘time-travelling’ acceleration of 0-62 mph in a shade under three seconds, and the 268mph Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, although LUSSO’s…
We chose Sainte Anne Resort and Spa as a base for the start and finish of our island-hopping adventure put together by the brilliant people at Quintessentially Travel. Close to the airport but still on its own little island, ten minutes by boat from Mahé, the resort is currently undergoing a five-star makeover courtesy of…
On a Monday January 29th 1979, Brenda Spencer, a 16-year-old San Diego high school student, took a rifle and opened fire on the elementary school opposite where she lived. She killed 2 adults (including the principal) and injured 9 kids before going back to her home. Police surrounded her house and before she finally gave…
In John Carpenters 1981 Sci-fi classic, Escape from New York, Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) has to save the US President and then break out of Manhattan which, circa 1997, has been turned into a lawless penitentiary. Anyone who has ever attempted to leave London on a Bank Holiday weekend will know exactly how Snake felt.…
Uncle Bernie would never buy anything German, Japanese or Swiss. The German thing was obvious (under duress, he would get in the Mercedes cabs lined up at Ben Gurion Airport, but not before crying, ‘to the Guilt-mobile, Robin!’). He tried to buy me a non-Japanese walkman for my birthday – the American-built shonky mini reel-to-reel…
Fourteen years in development, the Hawker 4000 claims to be the world’s most advanced business jet, and with a range of 3,200 nautical miles becomes the first super mid-size jet to break the transcontinental barrier. Boasting an industry-first fully composite airframe, although the wings remain aluminium, the Hawker 4000’s fuselage is constructed entirely of a…
Cannes today may NOT seem to be the magical jewel by the sea it once was. Walk along its narrow sun-baked streets today and you’ll be shocked at the plethora of bizarre-looking Eurotrash that counts as the indigenous population. Ectomorphic spindly old ladies, their skin like a creosoted fence, wearing a flannel that barely covers…
Sand. That’s about it. Abu Dhabi’s landscape is not what anyone might care to call ‘dynamic’. And don’t expect the kind of romantic, wind-scalloped ice cream dunes that dominate the Sahara. The naturally arid island is not a looker. But that may be its greatest boon, too. The biggest and most civilised of the Emirates…