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Richard Lieberman

Richard Lieberman

Style Steer: Audi’s A2 Is a Glorious Failure

In 1959, Alec Issigonis and the British Motor Corporation wheeled out a new paradigm: the original Mini – a front-wheel-drive marvel that packed four adults and their baggage behind a transversely-mounted engine. Dinky, frugal, fun. 40 years later, Audi elevated the concept with the A2; an ideological execution so bold, it was too clever for its own good.

Matters of Taste: the Art of Eating Oysters

rom the great bear selling oysters outside Paris’ Hôtel Lutetia. He was part of the furniture in Saint-Germain – a huge, looming presence with deft, shovel-hands. We’d often exchange nods, then one day, we started talking. He shared a love for bivalves that’s stayed with me ever since. Nearly 25 years later, another teacher chimes in: “You have to bite into them, that’s when the umami flavours develop.”

Considered Conduct: Are You Sitting Comfortably?

Sir Ranulph Fiennes knew no boundaries but his own. He tested them over a lifetime against the most inhospitable places on earth. Fate fought back in 2003: the explorer extraordinaire suffered a heart attack on a plane waiting to depart from Bristol airport. He was 59 years old; spent three days in a coma, and required double-bypass surgery to survive. Four months later, he completed the Land Rover 7x7x7 Challenge, running seven marathons across seven continents in seven days…

Style Steer: the MGB GT is a Rugged Charmer

‘Your mother wouldn’t like it’, ran the ads – ding-dong marketing to the cad sans the cash to bag an Aston. Carry On sauce promising pulling-power at every turn; that’s how MG positioned the B GT in-period. Not that my Mum took offence: Dad drove an early roadster at the time they first met. A sagging, green rust-box replete with boot rack and steel wheels. Tales of 100mph blasts to Yugoslavia. Parents improbably cool as young people. Faded memories of heady days that made up my mind: I had to have a B, and it had to be GT.

Matters of Taste: Waste Not, Want Not

‘Good cooking,’ writes Patience Gray, one of its most underrated proponents, ‘is the result of a balance struck between frugality and liberality.’ Timely advice for eating well as another year dawns. Christmas is over; waists and wallets show the strain. Kitchen cupboards open empty, and there’s a fridgeful to finish up… What have we got?

Matters of Taste: Food is More Than Fuel

It was Julia Child, who taught me the distinction – and what a teacher she was! 6 feet and 2 inches of culinary inspiration. Blithe, bombastic, haphazard, endearing. “People who love to eat,” she said, “are always the best people”.

Considered Conduct: What Makes a ‘Gentleman’ Anyway?

Broad shoulders; narrow hips; cool detachment, and a steely glare: in the war-torn 1930s, Marlene Dietrich expressed that most ‘masculine’ ideal: “I am at heart a gentleman.” Close to a century later, she makes more sense than ever. Plus ça change…

Style Steer: the Mercedes-Benz W124 Coupé Drips With Star Quality

Ask raffish tailor, Hardy Amies about style, and he’d reply: “A man should look as if he has bought his clothes with intelligence, put them on with care and then forgotten all about them”. The Mercedes-Benz W124 coupé is such sprezzatura made metal, and arguably, one of the finest cars ever built. Now is the time to buy.