One of London’s biggest property sales, our favourite shirtmaker and Slow Horse’s Jack Lowden round out today’s Dawn Chorus.
Keep calm and put a shirt on
The fashion world’s favourite shirtmaker is coming to Scotland for a three day pop-up event event.
WNU’s Boyfriend fine poplin shirt in a royal blue stripe
With Nothing Underneath (WNU), purveyor of men’s-inspired shirts for women, has partnered with Gleneagles Townhouse, Edinburgh — and a selection of its bestselling styles (classic and boyfriend shirts in tencel and denim fabrics; the brand new wool Rampling trousers and Hutton blazer) will be available to try on and purchase at the hotel, from 10am on February 14.
When With Nothing Underneath (WNU) launched in November 2018 — the brainchild of former-Condé Nast stylist Pip Durell — it was an overnight success; its crisp, classic- and boyfriend-fit shirts a hit with fashionable London women who wanted to prioritise quality over quantity, but couldn’t necessarily afford a designer price tag.
The brand, whose New England-style flagship store on Belgravia’s Elizabeth Street regularly has a queue of eager shoppers outside of it, has since expanded into boxers, palazzo-fit trousers, caps and neckerchiefs. Next week, they’ll add cotton jumpers into the mix — just in time for Spring.
Durell, who appeared on the Country Life Frontispiece page in November 2018, made headlines last year when she secured an impressive £2.5million in funding from Pembroke VCT and JamJar Investments.
A home fit for a billionaire
One of the few private residences inside Regent’s Park has been snapped up by a mystery buyer for £139million.
The Holme, a 207-year-old villa in the Park’s Inner Circle, was designed and lived in by Decimus Burton (1800-1881), a founding fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects who was well-versed in the Roman and Greek revival and Regency styles. His other works of note include: the Athenaeum Club, the Palm and Temperate Houses at Kew Gardens and Hyde Park Corner gate.
The 40-room villa hit the property market in March 2023 with a cool £250million asking price — after debts secured against the property expired. Had the asking price been met, The Holme would’ve become London’s most expensive home. Alas, the buyer, rumoured to be a US tech billionaire, negotiated a not insubstantial £111million discount with the former Saudi royal family owners.
London’s ‘White House’ (coincidentally, neighbours include the US Ambassador) sits in a four-acre private garden, but property window shoppers can snatch a glimpse from across the Park’s boating lake.
Quiz of the day
1) Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities is set in which two cities?
2) How many children did Winston and Clementine Churchill have?
3) The albacore is also known as what?
4) The Daily Telegraph was founded in which year?
5) What type of clothing item is a macfarlane?
Treading the boards
Jack Lowden (Slow Horses) and Martin Freeman (Sherlock, The Office, The Hobbit) are to star in The Fifth Step when it transfers to London’s West End, in May, for a limited edition run.
Lowden will reprise his role as Luka, alongside Freeman in the role, for the first time, as James, in David Ireland’s acclaimed new play about addiction, masculinity and faith. It debuted last year at Edinburgh’s International Festival, charting James and Luka’s joint (and complicated) journey to sobriety via the 12-step Alcoholics Anonymous programme.
The Fifth Step opens at Soho Place on May 10 for an 11-week run; tickets are available now from £25.
That’s all for today — we’ll see you tomorrow.
Quiz answers
1) London and Paris
2) Five
3) Longfin tuna (Thunnus alalunga)
4) 1855
5) A coat
