When young men, starting out in life, their eyes wide and dreams un-crushed, say they wish to ‘work in the movies’ (whatever that means), it is because they hope one day to have an office like Charles Finch’s. They don’t make them like this any more — the office or the career. It is a serious room. A study in the proper sense. An accidental curation. There are wooden models of sailing yachts; hand-written letters from royal households; giant monochrome photographs of racing cars and distant relatives; stacks of books as impromptu side-tables; framed magazine covers from past lives — a fascinating monument, in other words, to the varied life and various careers of Charles Finch.

The Gentleman’s Journal Podcast is sponsored by Luca Faloni.