The Timeline
Issue no.1 of The Chap is published. Initial attempts at self-distribution, in a Triumph Vitesse around London, receive a mixed reception. One doyen of a comic shop in Camden looks at it and says, “What the bejesus is this?” FEBRUARY 1999
The Chap’s first shindig takes place on HMS President moored on the Thames. Entertainment includes a snake charmer and a man reciting dada poetry through a megaphone.
Chaps, attired as Edwardian mountaineers, attempt to scale the north face of ‘Embankment’ by Rachel Whiteread at Tate Modern, a 40-foot pile of resin casts of cardboard boxes. They are successful but escorted from the premises.
NOVEMBER 2002
APRIL 2005
OCTOBER 2001
OCTOBER 2003
JULY 2005
Publication of The Chap Manifesto by Fourth Estate. The title is followed by The Chap Almanac and Around the World in 80 Martinis.
The Chap’s first protest against vulgarity, Civilise the City, takes place in London. Protesters enter McDonald’s and order devilled kidneys, before being escorted from the premises.
The inaugural Chap Olympiad takes place in Regent’s Park, London. 25 competitors alarm tourists by performing Trouser Gymnastics and Raconteur’s Relay.
