23-05-2025
Father's Day gifts that come with a story
There are two types of people — those of us who do not know what to get someone for Father's Day, and those of us who do not know what to request for Father's Day. If there is anything a dad loves it is a fun fact, and something with a bit of a story, so this list is guaranteed to provide narrative sustenance to your gift-giving.
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Well into his seventies, His Majesty cannot be blamed for eschewing the traditional britches and tights that his forebears wore to their coronations. That is not to say he played entirely against the rules and convention, as he wore buckled court shoes rather than military boots with his naval trousers. These rather special shoes are a slightly blinged-up variant of the dress pump that Gaziano & Girling on Savile Row made especially for the King's coronation, and the regular version, which has a velvet bow instead of a buckle, is by far the most agreeable footwear for black tie.£1,200
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Eon, the producers of James Bond, were never afraid of a well-placed plug. No doubt, having assumed creative control of the franchise, Amazon will not shy away from next-day-delivery subliminal messaging, or name the next Bond girl Alexa. Turns out they were and are being true to form, as when it came to product placement, Fleming was the OG. The author was a great customer of Floris and worked its products into his books. 'Floris provides the soaps and lotions in the lavatories and bedrooms,' in Moonraker. 'He would have to send a cable to May to get things fixed. Let's see — flowers, bath essence from Floris, air the sheets…' in Diamonds Are Forever. And in Dr No, 'There was everything in the bathroom — Floris Lime bath essence for men and Guerlain bathcubes for women.' When it came to scent, there was only one for Fleming — No 89, named after the Floris Flagship's Jermyn Street address. It is safe to say that this is what would have been included in 007's grooming routine. £70,
You may have noticed a lot of hoo-ha and ecclesiastical finery in Rome. So what better time to stock your father up on holy hosiery, specifically the scarlet papal socks?
There are plenty of theories as to why red, but the most convincing one is that it is the colour of the martyrs and the Pope is the descendant of the original martyr, St Peter. There is only one place to get these: Gammarelli, a family tailor since 1798 in Rome, and if you wish to avoid the hullabaloo by actually going there, you can find them online for a bargain of £20.
The lapel pin has been made cool again. Not by metrosexual showiness at the Met Gala, but by the alpha-est of the royal family's men, Mike Tindall. The Rugby World Cup winner dependably sports a lapel pin or tie pin. If you want to follow suit, Chaumet's latest collection of jewellery for men is where to turn. The brand is a heavyweight of the jewellery canon and was given heavyweight patronage by Napoleon when he took a fondness to them when they designed his coronation regalia. The one from this collection that stands out is the Bee de Chaumet lapel pin.£14,000,
CW Dixey is one of those brands that not many have heard of but everyone should. Established in 1777, they have supplied optics to everyone from Emperor Qianlong of China, Queen Victoria and the Duke of Wellington, to Tennessee Williams, Peter Sellers and Winston Churchill. Today you can still get the half-moon reading specs that Churchill wore, and every design features spots on the end of the arms — which is a nod to Churchill, who had different numbers of spots on his various CW Dixey frames so he could identify what role each pair played with ease. £270,
'Then bring me my whangee, my yellowest shoes, and the old green Homburg,' Bertie instructs Jeeves before heading out to do pastoral dances in The Inimitable Jeeves. The 'whangee' probably refers to a cane, but the cane has now been usurped by the umbrella as the most rakish gentleman's accessory. Whangee comes from palm and is significant because if you cut palm, it grows back twice as strong. This wood was introduced to accessories after the First World War for former officers as an apposite wood for them — the subtext being that no matter what you saw, or what happened to you, you can grow back twice as strong. And there's only one proper place to get such a brolly: Swaine. £520,
The story goes that JFK called in his cigar-smoking press secretary, Pierre Salinger, and asked him to bring him 1,000 Petit Upmanns, a short-format Cuban cigar. The next morning Salinger walked into the Oval Office with 1,200 of these cigars, at which point Kennedy opened a drawer of the Resolute desk, and signed the piece of paper therein, which began the trade embargo of Castro's ancestral island of Cuba. These cigars, perhaps out of spite, have been removed from circulation, but if you wish to fill your father's humidor with something similar, get to Davidoff of London and buy the H Upmann Regalias. £25 per cigar
The thinking woman's crumpet, a hero, style icon and national treasure, Monty Don sits assuredly among the aforementioned historic company. If you're wondering about the hills on which I would die, this is one of them. On the cover of his book Down to Earth, clasped in his comforting bear mitts is a mug that oozes man-of-the-house cosiness, suitable for a young child to bathe in. Our house is made all the more soothing with their presence, but only once they were tracked down by my sleuth of a wife, who found the source. The term 'cottage industry' is an overstatement in this case, and 'hidden gem' an understatement. These mugs are produced solely in the garden shed of Duncan and Karen Browning of the remote Welsh village of Cwmystwyth (have a go at that) and they don't sell their products online, only in person. Fortunately, there are a few other places smart enough to stock them. Out of everything that could take you a step closer to the Don, this is the most discerning.£15.50,
It seemed only fair that at least one of these items was not a mild form of clickbait and actually belonged to the person in question. This is quite hard as anything with elevated provenance has been snapped up by collectors — provenance rarely sits in shop windows. One must turn to the auction houses for help and in this case, Bonham's comes to the rescue. Their sound and cinema auction from 23 May to 4 June will feature all sorts of wonderful lots but this Guild acoustic guitar that belonged to Eric Clapton is the perfect dad gift. Fully certified and in wonderful condition, this is a very special gift, especially if your Dad is the one of many who insists he almost joined Cream. Est 12,000-18,000
