THE REVIEW

THE CILLIAN MURPHY EDITION

LATEST FEATURES

Automotive

Rolls Royce Wraith

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Only a handful of times during a lifetime do you really experience one of those moments when the planets align. Let me tell you about one of those moments that happened to me. The planet was Jupiter as composed by Gustav Holst. The place was Doughton on the A433 in Gloucestershire. And the car was the Rolls Royce Wraith. For those of you who don’t know the piece of music, there is a point when all goes quiet and through the expectation builds a rousing instrumental of the well-known hymn ‘I Vow to Thee, My Country’. It’s hard to communicate, but on that sunny Friday afternoon, wafting along in the…

Design

Charles Rennie Mackintosh

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Charles Rennie Mackintosh, 1868 -1928, by James Clarke Charles Rennie Mackintosh has always intrigued me. Odd, given that while I appreciate the nuances of the Nouveau movement, I’ve never really been swayed by it – preferring instead, the boldness and opulence of Art Deco. Perhaps it’s Mackintosh’s defiance in the face of adversity that I admire? The son of a Glaswegian police superintendant, and one of a brood of eleven, he was fortunate to have the opportunity to nourish his creativity and pursue his passion in design and architecture during the late 1800s. Following his apprenticeship as an architectural draftsman at John Honeyman’s practice in Glasgow, he went on to…

Tech RoundUp

TECH ROUNDUP

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This issue we bring you what we consider to be the finest tech junkie fixes in all the land. GOPRO Any action sports junkie will know that a camera is essential, in order to fully explain and brag that ‘sick jump’ to your nearest and dearest. The black edition shoots high-frame rate 1440p48, 1080p60, 960p100, 720p120, 4Kp15 and 2.7Kp30 enabling cinema quality capture. WiFi enabling iPhone connectivity and Superview mode are just a few of the GoPro’s arsenal of extras. Shockproof and waterproof to 197′ (60m), and proven in heavy surf from Tahiti to Northern California and everywhere in between, GoPro cameras can handle it, thanks to their highly engineered…

Marine, Travel

Heesen Sirocco

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If you are a regular reader of The Review, you may have noticed that we are somewhat lacking in the nautical editorial department. Now, this is nothing to do with our interest in all things sea bound – very much the opposite. It’s because we have always strived to genuinely review the best and brightest for you, accepting no substitutes along the way, and no doubt ruffling some feathers. But that’s our job and we work tirelessly at it, so your moisturised debutant hands don’t have to. No doubt your father slaved away at the Fortune 500 company he inherited, so that you could go to Harrow and Oxford, and…

Finance, Property, Travel

The Baymen

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The Baymen is a new luxury jungle retreat being built in the Cayo district of the Belizean rainforest. Ever wished that you could get away from the drudgery of everyday life, whilst relaxing in the wilds and not having to worry about your money? Well, funny you should say that. Pack your machete and Louboutins, folks, were going to the jungle. The development is a combination of all-out luxury, with a romantic, old-age pioneering feel. This is carried throughout, with the individual wooden lodges being named after the glorious explorers of old, such as Shackleton and Livingston. The romance of four-poster beds shrouded in mosquito nets, along with open verandas…

Automotive

Drive Southwest

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It’s a mystery to me why more people don’t realise that you can hire a supercar in the UK. Day after day, petrol-heads squeeze themselves into a special helmet two sizes too small and drive a few laps around a local track on an ‘experience day’. As if it wasn’t bad enough that you are wearing a helmet, you are given an instructor to glare at you every time you change gear or push the car over 60. As if you need the helmet; you’re never going to hit a speed that would be likely to do any damage. Suffice to say, you are much better off hiring a sports…

Automotive

Aston Martin DB9

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Aston Martin has always held a special place in my heart. As a boy, I remember watching Timothy Dalton drive across Arctic tundra in the V8 Vantage Volante, being chased by the Ruskies. Times have changed, though, and the Iron Curtain has fallen. This issue, we couldn’t be further from tundra. This quarter, I convinced the ladies and gents at the hallowed Aston Martin Lagonda head office to loan us their new V12 DB9 Volante for an epic drive from Bristol to Antibes. The last time I drove across Europe was in a One Series BMW, following a team of 110 Defenders from Copenhagen to Monaco on the Gumball Rally….

Style

The BLT – The Rules of Engagement

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Ever since Adam utilised the proverbial fig leaf to protect his modesty, we have worn some form of clothing or another. Whether or not your vestments are designed to keep you warm, or indeed, if you are blessed with clement weather in your world, to keep the sun from scorching you, they are, or at least were, designed for the express purpose of protecting us from the elements. And, where sartoria is concerned, if you must wear a suit, or rather, if you prefer to wear a suit out of convenience, or indeed, necessity, tradition or simplicity, then there a few rules of engagement which will ensure that you are…

Property, Travel

Villa Sandryon

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The resort town, or commune, of Antibes is probably best known as one of high society’s original summer retreats. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Picasso, Marlene Dietrich, and Scott Fitzgerald were all enamoured by the Jewel of the Cote d’Azur, located half way between Nice and Cannes. In the 1930s, the Antibes region and, more specifically, Juan-Les-Pins was regarded as a bolthole for the international jet-set, casinos, nightclubs and white beaches stretching out as far as your monocle could see. Some 80 years later, and whilst the former lodgings of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Chateau la Croe, has like many regency buildings, fallen to the Oligarch, Juan-Les-Pans…

Food & Drink

The Back Bar

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This issue, we look under the carpet at the Tomatin Distillery, located in the Monadhliath Mountains, just south of Inverness. Established in 1897, the distillery is one of the highest in Scotland, at 315 meters above sea level. We get it: you look down on us. Tomatin 14 year old port wood finish single malt. Described as ‘soft and smooth’, the 14-year-old whisky has spent 13 years aging in Bourbon casks and a further one year finishing in Portuguese port pipes, which held Tawny port for between 30 and 40 years. “In recent years we have really started to make our mark in the single malt market with recognition for…

Travel

Le Richemond

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Located across from the Square des Alpes, Le Richemond sits in pride of place on the banks of Lake Geneva. We arrived on a quiet Saturday evening, sat-nav fully deployed in the DB9. If, like me, Geneva is a mere stop-off destination before heading for the alps, it really should be given the respect it deserves. Now, I cannot work out if we arrived slightly off centre in regards to which side of the road we should be on, or if we went down a one-way street. Either way, anyone coming face-to-face with an Aston Martin DB9 tends to give way, especially in Geneva. It turns out we needn’t have…

Automotive, Cars

Know your Vintage

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I like to think that we’ve all been there (in truth it’s probably just my very small warped mind that’s obsessed about this, but you’re reading it, so hey-ho). Allow me to set the scene: I was having a lovely evening in polite company and someone had brought an American with them. Either as a quaint distraction or through a genuine love of all things dumbed-down. Whilst said American was grappling with a receptacle that holds less than one (US) gallon of drink and was staring at knives and forks with confusion, I found myself feeling constantly uneasy at the next topic of conversation or misnomer to be blurted out…

Style

Jean Richard

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Remember the chap who landed his stricken aircraft safely on the Hudson, becoming a US national hero and providing us with another YouTube video to stare wide-eyed at. He isn’t your everyday brand ambassador. You have to wonder how the team at Jean Richard approached Captain Chesney Sullenberger. Gently, one would assume, and with no sudden movements. No doubt by now the media have circled and dispersed. Another interesting choice is James Blunt. But Jean Richard are no-flash-in-the-pan, oh no. As the sister brand of Girad-Perregaux, they have worked hard over the past few years to really develop the brand and design. Jean Richard base their communication on four different…

Finance

Ian Samuels

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WHY NOW REPRESENTS THE BEST TIME EVER TO INVEST IN PROPERTY By Ian Samuels, founder of The Property Investor and author of Property Tycoon:  A Simple Seven-step Guide to Becoming a Property Millionaire Everyone knows that investing is the right path for those who want to grow their wealth. What many don’t appreciate, however, is that residential property represents the best form of long-term investment for those looking to increase their assets and set themselves up for early retirement. Better still, it is a much safer form of investment than stocks and shares. With all the bad publicity surrounding banks and investments, people simply don’t know where to invest anymore,…

THE REVIEW

THE ALICIA AGNESON EDITION

TRAVEL

The Ghan Train

The Ghan

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I’m certainly no Francis Bourgeois, but there’s something so romantic and intriguing about crossing lands unknown in the comfort of a sleeper train. Being given the opportunity to see vast landscapes that many won’t ever get to witness, solely due to its sheer remoteness, is a rare delight.

Monterey Car Week: What to expect in 2024

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A few key events are akin to film festivals and fashion weeks in the automotive world. The British have the Goodwood Festival of Speed and Revival. The French have Retromobile and the Chantilly Concours of Elegance. The Swedes have the newly launched Auroura Concours, Italy brings us the legendary Concorso D’Eleganza Villa D’Este and Fuori Concorso, and then there’s North America… 

Boutique Retreats, Sojourn

Wilderness perfected, by Boutique Retreats

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Travel is a fine and freeing thing. The unshackling of the metaphorical chains, the daily grind of work, and life’s endless expectations. Oh, and the choice! Sunshine, or snow? Lakes, forests, dunes or mountains? Total relaxation, escapism, exhilaration or luxuriation?

ViseVersa, The Hyatt Regency Lisbon

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It would be easy to say that the past decade or so has been kind to Lisbon – it’s subtly undergone the kind of glow-up certain other smaller European capitals keep putting on the backburner… and it’s been driven organically by tourism raised high on the shoulders of social media’s more gastronomy-oriented corners. 

Langdale Chase Hotel

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Steeped in amazing untold stories, the house was designed by J.L Ball, JT Lee and Pattinson of Manchester and built as a private house in the late 19th century for Edna Howarth

THE ALPINE EDITION

BEAUTY

Saint-Martin-de-Belleville

The Greatest Outdoors

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Set between Les Menuires and Saint-Martin-de-Belleville, my recent foray to the mountains offered plentiful serene moments of reflection and emotional expansion, with ample time to enjoy the last of the white stuff as the ‘23-’24 ski season came to a close.

Bentley Beyond, The Collection. For the journey.

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Driving a car you love is so much more than the ‘a’ to ‘b’. It’s the feel of the steering wheel moving from under your palm, the resistance of the accelerator beneath your sole or the slick movement of the gearbox. Sometimes it’s the thrill you get when the mechanic tells you that against all odds, your pernickety classic car flew through its MOT. It’s the bond you feel and the memories you create together over the miles.

Where the Hot Springs Flow: Diving into The Well, Oslo

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It is perhaps one of the great tragedies of my life that I don’t spend every weekend in a beautifully crafted replica of a Kyoto bathhouse, surrounded on all sides by thirty or more totally naked Norwegians, each glistening with perspiration and a curated array of essential oils. However, my trip to the spectacular Oslo wellness resort The Well ensured – within an hour of arrival, in fact – that my existence would no longer be completely lacking this experience. 

THE REVIEW

THE BEN WILLIAMS EDITION

FILM

Lamborghini Aventador Ultimae - Roger Chan - The Review Magazine

Lamborghini Aventador Ultimae LP780-4

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I slip my slightly clammy hand gingerly into the slot, ease some pressure and pull gently skyward. That scissor-door entry is nothing less than muted pornography. So effortless in its execution, it’s part of the recipe that makes the Aventador just that little bit more special.

Casio PX-S7000 Stephen Sims

Aesthetic Harmonics – The Casio PX-S7000

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Quality, innovation and – by god, in this case – style. Casio’s reputation precedes it when it comes to its product development and, crucially, its product refinement. Their first electronic keyboard, The Casiotone CT-201, was birthed by Toshio Kashio and his team in January 1980.

Ferrari F8 Spider

Ferrari F8 Spider

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Fresh from four days in Scotland driving the simply astonishing Ferrari F8 Spider, there are times in one’s life where you have to sit back, take some time, and genuinely let an experience wash over you. You need to take it in. Revel in it. The smells, the sights, the sheer visceral nature of it.

Alpina - Startimer Pilot Chronograph

Alpina – Startimer Pilot Chronograph

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Like many Swiss watchmaking dynasties, Alpina can trace its founding back to the turn of the nineteenth century – 1883 to be precise – by Gottlieb Hauser, a watchmaker in Winterthur, who also established the Swiss Watchmakers Corporation (Union Horlogère Suisse).

Stacia Suttles

Stacia Suttles

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It wasn’t until Stacia Suttles turned 19 and stepped into a boxing ring for the first time, that the amateur fighter realised she was exceptionally gifted in the combat sport.

Twisted 21

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I scanned the horizon of the Finnish race circuit but Charlie was possibly doing a few laps in the 500hp V8 110. “Let me see if I can find him Tony”. “Cool man”. This was the first of a handful of semi awkward exchanges I would have with Tony Hawk that week as we crossed from Finland into Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Austria and Monaco.