A Night of 1000 Waistcoats

Saturday 7th December 2013 will see Bloomsbury Ballroom dazzle with dashing and shine with suave as London’s chaps and chapettes dressed in their finest attire arrive for the return of what has become the event of the season. This splendid soiree and good old-fashioned knees up will be the final scene in a year’s worth of celebrations held in honour of the late Vivian Stanshall’s 70th birthday.

Hosted by The Chap Magazine, a bi-monthly journal celebrating tweeds, hat-doffing, Martinis and all things gentlemanly, and Bourne & Hollingsworth, architects of elegance and the group behind Prohibition and The Blitz Party, The 5th Grand Anarcho-Dandyist Ball will take attendees on a trip through a steamed up monocle to a more refined age –spiffing!

At the core of the celebrations at the night of the 1000 waistcoats is Vivian Stanshall of the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band; a true renaissance man well known as poet, musician, author, wit and all round top chap. As one of the biggest inspirations for The Chap Magazine, it is only fitting that the Grand Anarcho Dandyist Ball celebrates this man’s incredible gifts and achievements. Championing the evening will be the spectacular talent of Mike Livesley and his one-man sell-out rendition of Stanshall’s lost classic piece of mind-blowing musical theatre Sir Henry at Rawlinson End; a series of musical interludes and monologues relating the drunken antics of Sir Henry Rawlinson as he roams about his stately pile in search of the ghost of his brother.

This two-part performance will culminate in a rousing rendition of Stanshall’s song Ginger Geezer, for which the cast will be joined on stage by various special guests, among them Mr. B the Gentleman Rhymer and members of Albert Ball’s Flying Aces, the headline act at last year’s Grand Anarcho-Dandyist Ball.

Chaps and chapettes will also enjoy musical stylings from eccentric disk jockey and performer Auntie Maureen, who will be instructing all the guests in the rudiments of ballroom dancing in order to perfect a ‘Lambeth Walk’ around the ballroom. A visit to the bar to sample some of Bourne & Hollingsworth’s intelligently designed cocktails as well as the chance to join in the revelry of Auntie Maureen’s gentlemanly sideshows and competitions - including the likes of Pin the Tail on the Coat and a Knobbly Knee competition – will complement the aura of the night’s 1930s Chapdom.