The Gentleman‘s Journal Podcast

Dom Hamdy

We sit down with Dom Hamdy, the London-based restaurateur who oversees Crispin, Bar Crispin and Bistro Freddie.

Is this the end of the chunky sports watch? Justin Hast's predictions for 2024

Justin Hast is a watch collector and Gentleman's Journal's Watch Editor-at-Large. Today, he sits down with Harry Jarman to talk trends for 2024, the problem with watch boxes, and the time he let a priceless Louis Vuitton timepiece go for next to nothing. 

Cruising the savannah with Sir Jim Ratcliffe

Motoring Editor-at-Large Rory Smith talks us through his interview with Ineos's Sir Jim Ratcliffe — including the unlikely pub origins of the Grenadier car; his surprising shyness; and the Manchester United takeover. Plus! The most exciting new car launches of the year. 

Inside the American Issue

Harry and Joe turn the pages on the new American(ish) Issue of Gentleman's Journal — including tangents on the good life down in Miami; reasons why the 1994 Volvo Estate is the apex of modern culture; booze-less lunches with the creators of Industry; and Rolf Sachs's endless oomph. 

 

Michael Murray — CEO, Frasers Group

Michael Murray is the CEO of Frasers Group, which owns some of Britain's best known retail brands — including House of Fraser, Sports Direct, Flannels, Jack Wills, and Gieves & Hawkes. 

 

Appointed to the role in May last year at the age of just 33, Michael has overseen an impressive leap in fortunes for the company, at a time when the high street seems in greater flux than ever. In a conversation recorded at the Fraser Group HQ, Michael tells us how his childhood growing up in Doncaster shaped his attitude to hard work and why he feels he was always destined to be an entrepreneur — as well as what the government might do to help the ailing high street, and just what the future of retail might hold.

”Hollywood used to be so much fun...” Charles Finch: film producer, businessman, and party host extraordinaire

When young men, starting out in life, their eyes wide and dreams un-crushed, say they wish to ‘work in the movies’ (whatever that means), it is because they hope one day to have an office like Charles Finch. They don’t make them like this any more — the office or the career. It is a serious room. A study in the proper sense. An accidental curation. There are wooden models of sailing yachts; hand-written letters from royal households; giant monochrome photographs of racing cars and distant relatives; stacks of books as impromptu side-tables; framed magazine covers from past lives — a fascinating monument, in other words, to the varied life and various careers of Charles Finch. 

The Gentleman's Journal Podcast is sponsored by Luca Faloni

Tom Straker, chef

People sometimes describe Tom Straker s a “TikTok chef” or an “Instagram chef,” and yes, it’s true that he has millions and millions and millions of followers on Instagram and TikTok, and that he’s known across the globe for his mesmeric butter-making videos, among many other things. But Tom’s also the real deal — a chef who trained at the Ledbury, the Dorchester and headed up the kitchen Casa Cruz before trying his hand, one day in lockdown, at making a cooking video for a few hundred followers. That first attempt was pretty dreadful, he admits — but now he runs an entire studio to produce his content, while his adoring fans flock from around the world to Straker’s, his new-ish restaurant in Notting Hill, which thoroughly lives up to the excellent reviews its had since its opening at the end of last year. A second is set to open in Manhattan in just a few months time.   

Tom and I spoke about all sorts of things in this episode, recorded in the office above Straker’s on the Golborne Road — including his earliest food memory, the ridiculous suit that he wore to his first interview at the Dorchester, his plans to shake up the butter market, and his advice for anyone unsure of what they want to do in life. Enjoy.

The Gentleman's Journal Podcast is sponsored by Luca Faloni

“For a long time I didn’t know my shadow…” — Reggie Yates, director, documentary-maker and presenter

It's remarkable to think that Reggie Yates is only 39 years old. In a career spanning more than three decades, Reggie has been a presenter, actor, radio host, screenwriter, director, and documentary filmmaker — but also a sort of spiritual older brother to the nation; a friendly, dependable, permanent resident on our screens. 

Today, in a wonderfully open conversation, Reggie talks to us about:

The prospect of turning 40
How, for many years, he had trouble recognising his own value
How we can all start to work out what we want to do with our lives
How he gets interview guests and documentary subjects to confide in him
Why he gives a copy of Rick Rubin’s new book to pretty much all his friends
And his dreams and hopes for fatherhood.

Reggie Yates partners with Barbour International for new Spring Summer 23 Tourer collection campaign, available to purchase on www.barbourinternational.com.

The Gentleman's Journal Podcast is sponsored by Luca Faloni. 

Our thanks to Fitzdares Club for playing host.

10th Anniversary Special! Harry Jarman, founder of Gentleman’s Journal

To celebrate Gentleman's Journal turning 10 at the end of last year, we thought we'd invite, Harry Jarman, founder of Gentleman’s Journal, to sit down in the hot seat. Harry takes us on the meandering, rollercoaster journey the publication has been on from a small bedroom start up (and one that everyone said would fail) to an established and hugely successful media brand. 

We speak about how the worlds of magazines, luxury, and even manhood have changed dramatically over the past decade; how Harry’s hairline won him early advertisers; about the moment in the pandemic that he thought the party might be well and truly over; and whether, given the chance, he’d do it all again. Enjoy!

 

”Winning is addictive — but I hope not to experience a year like 2021 again anytime soon...” Christian Horner, Red Bull Formula One team boss

This is the last episode of the podcast for 2023. But fear not — we’re going out with a bang. Or a roar. Or whatever the noise is that Formula One cars make. Because our guest on today’s show is Christian Horner, the Team Principal at Red Bull and one of the sport’s most compelling ambassadors. Christian has petrol in his veins. He was a talented driver himself as a young man, before he set up his own race team, Arden International, at the age of just 25 — and then became the sport’s youngest ever team principal when he joined Red Bull at 31.

We spoke earlier this month, at the end of another bumper year for the team and its talismanic driver Max Verstappen — and in a reflective conversation, Christian gives us the inside line on the 2021 championship (the spiciest in history, perhaps); the secrets he learned from the sport’s biggest characters; and why he always uses the same portaloo on race day. 

Enjoy, and we’ll see you in 2023.