club and moustache club founded 1947 1947 founder rod littlewood headquarters united kingdom owner rod littlewood website http www.handlebarclub.co.uk club member michael atters attree sporting the ubiquitous hirsute appendage and club tie . attree has been hailed by the guardian as the handlebar club s most rakish member . 1 the handlebar club is an association of aficionados of the handlebar moustache based in london . 2 the club s sole requirement for membership is a hirsute appendage of the upper lip and with graspable extremities ; 2 beards are absolutely forbidden . 3 the club engages in activism to assuage discrimination against the handlebarred as well as competitive facial hair tourneys and has inspired the foundation of transatlantic and scandinavian counterparts . 2 3 4 the club declares itself to be at war with a society that demands people choose the bland the boring and the generic ; 1 a club chant includes the proposition that being kissed by a smooth face is akin to meat without the salt . 5 the world s oldest whisker club 6 the handlebar club was founded in a london pub in april 1947 by a convivial gathering of ten including raconteurs jimmy edwards and frank muir as well as sports commentator raymond glendenning . their stated intention was to show that men with moustaches are men of good character 7 and the mustachioed cohort resolved to meet monthly for sport conviviality and charitable engagements . 3 8 enormous moustaches were quite popular among the flying officers of the royal air force in the second world war and in founding the club edwards sought to perpetuate the custom . 9 the strand magazine greeted the establishment as an indication that handlebars have outlived their time interpreting the preponderance of men with a distinctive type of face wear banding together as a sign of weakness . 10 contents 1 history 2 meetings 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit the club was founded in april 1947 in the dressing room of comedian jimmy edwards at the windmill theatre in london . there were 10 founder members including jimmy edwards raymond glendenning and frank muir . the minutes of that first meeting are in the club archives and it appears that although there was a goodly number of founder members they were outnumbered by chorus girls the object of the club was and still is to bring together moustache wearers beards being strictly prohibited socially for sport and general conviviality . the aim of the club was to assist by all means at its disposal any worthy charity or cause particularly those devoted to ex servicemen . this aim still remains today and it has helped particularly with children s charities . meetings edit ever since the early days of the club it has held a london meeting on the first friday of the month and for over ten years the venue has been the windsor castle pub 27 29 crawford place marylebone london w1h 4lq . this is a typical english pub full of memorabilia having on display various handlebar club trophies and photographs . see also edit gentlemen s club the chap world beard and moustache championships references edit a b delaney sam september 25 2004 . growing interest . the guardian . retrieved 2008 11 27 . a b c london s handlebar club campaigns against sacking of indian airline steward . the economic times . 16 feb 2008 . retrieved 2008 11 27 . a b c peterkin allan 2001 . one thousand beards . arsenal pulp press . pp. 159 160 . isbn 1 55152 107 5 . shephard arla july 11 2008 . mustaches and beards face off in friendly contest . the seattle times . retrieved 2008 11 27 . lowbridge caroline november 1 2008 . ex city pc with a handle on facial hair . nottingham evening post . germany lead world by a whisker . daily news . december 28 2004 . retrieved 2008 12 01 . between ourselves . winnipeg trans canada airlines . 1948 . missing or empty title help harrison brian 2004 . oxford dictionary of national biography . oxford oxford university press . p. 469 . isbn 0 19 861372 5 . warner jack 1975 . jack of all trades . w.h. allen virgin books . p. 87 . isbn 0 491 01952 1 . oclc 1529779 . the strand magazine . george newnes . 114 682 . october 1947 . missing or empty title help external links edit official website i don t really do very much i just preside the handlebar club exclusive interview by how to grow a moustache by douglas smythe march 9 2013 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title handlebar club & oldid 700532374 categories facial hairorganizations established in 19471947 establishments in englandhidden categories pages with citations lacking titles navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated 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