Today’s party boys, though, are a different breed. The Carry On school of carousing, as perfected by Terry-Thomas and Leslie Phillips, just doesn’t cut it with modern women — indeed, the nightlife honeys of the Noughties would consider a leering moustache-twirler with wandering hands and Havana breath a pretty revolting prospect.
These days, if a man wants to be king of the pack, surrounded night after night by a bevy of young things, he needs a lot more than novelty facial hair and a book of cheesy chat-up lines. We’re talking charisma and style — bucketloads of it — not to mention an innate sense of how to show a lady a good time.
Easier said than done, you might think. Not if you’re one of Britain’s most successful charmers. Here they explain their modus operandi — from their dress code to their dating technique.
DAMIAN LEWIS, 34, FILM ACTOR
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“I like that 1950s Cary Grant North by Northwest look, a slim cut,” says the flame-haired fox. “My fall-back dating outfit is more understated. I wouldn’t want to scare anyone off. If I’m going on a really smart date, it’s jeans, shirt and jacket — a bit eurotrashy. I always wear my shirt too unbuttoned. It’s a weakness of mine.
“I’m vain, so I like to look all right when I’m going out. I try not to have too many mirrors in the house,” he laughs, “because I tend to get stuck. Anyone who is the focus of attention is susceptible to that. I love being a redhead. Everyone should go out with a boy with red hair once — we all want the orange cream in a box of chocolates.
“I can be spontaneous with the right person. I like to go on romantic holidays in Europe, driving through France or Italy in my silver Mazda MX5 sports car with the roof down. ‘Dates’ are to be avoided. You have to make it not seem like a date by starting at lunch or in the afternoon. I’d go to a gallery or go on a boat down the Thames: something fun, rather than sitting across a table. My dream woman is funny and intelligent. She also needs to have sparkly, smiling eyes. I would never impose a dress code on a woman, but I like Vivienne Westwood. Punk meets Moulin Rouge! — that’s sexy.”
RORY KEEGAN, 51, CLUB OWNER
“Clothes are important to me,” says Keegan, who owns the London nightclubs Chinawhite and Umbaba. “But I’m not label-orientated. In the 1980s, I would have slipped on the Armani. Now I’m boho because I like to look relaxed. I wear a lot of Paul Ropp — flamboyant clothes for people who would rather be naked.
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“For me,” he jokes, “life is all about trying to get your knickers off. I’m married but single — I live with my second wife in an open marriage. She’s closer to being my daughter than she is to my wife. I married my first wife when I was 18. We’d known each other for three days. I also have children with someone else.
“Chinawhite is my heart on my sleeve. It’s all about girls, as far as I’m concerned. I want the club to make girls relaxed, romantic. I meet heaps of gold-diggers there, but I see it as something to have fun with. I never think about age; I don’t give a toss about being over 50. Eternal youth is no fun if it means you don’t know how to get laid. You know what you’re doing when you’re older. It’s much less frustrating.
“My favourite first-date restaurant is La Poule au Pot — it’s the most romantic restaurant in London, because the food isn’t good enough to get in the way. I’ve got laid there.”
MATTHEW MELLON, 41, OIL HEIR AND SHOE DESIGNER
“A beautiful wardrobe, a car and good restaurants are musts,” says Mellon, who is currently stepping out with the actress Noelle Reno. “I wear lots of Savile Row — I love the cut of Richard James shirts and suits because they’re neutral and stylish — and Valentino, who is one of fashion’s great legends.
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“My fail-safe dating outfit is a blue suit — navy, herringbone or striped, but always blue. And I always wear my own brand, Harry’s Shoes. I have my shirt unbuttoned to the third, but sometimes you can get away with more. As Anna Wintour says, ‘It’s not what you wear, it’s what you look good in.’ I would say my style was parallel to Tom Ford’s. He has real presence. In bed, I wear BA First Class pyjamas — I’ve got stacks of them. When girls come round, they say, ‘What’s with all the pyjamas?’
“I am a full-on romantic. I once filled a limousine with rose petals, blindfolded my soon-to-be-former wife and read her my poetry while the limousine drove us to a helicopter, then proposed to her above one of my family buildings. I might take a date out in a helicopter to the country for a weekend — I’m a member of the mile-high club. Or excursions in the yacht — I charter in St Tropez. But usually it’s restaurants — Drones, or Cipriani, in Mayfair.
“I try to live as a 41-year-old, but I feel more like I’m 25. I love to live with the young. And I love it when beautiful women downplay their sexiness: women who are so beautiful they don’t need to overindulge themselves.”
CHESTER KING, 34, GOLF-CLUB OWNER
“During the day I wear a suit — Kilgour or William Hunt,” says King, director of Stoke Park Club in Buckinghamshire. “But what I wear on a date depends on the girl I’m taking out. I have two looks: if I’m doing the Notting Hill thing, I’ll wear Maharishi or Dries van Noten with limited-edition Nikes from New York. Otherwise it’s a navy one-buttoned suit, a white shirt, a pocket handkerchief and velvet or suede Tod’s shoes. I would love to raid Roger Moore’s wardrobe for The Spy Who Loved Me. He looked pretty hot, though I don’t really look at what other men wear — I only look at women.
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“My friends call me the Love Machine, not because of sex, but because I’ve got a big heart. If someone’s beautiful, I tell them — what does it matter? I’m quite romantic. I like doing things properly, in style. In February, I took a girl to New York. We flew first class, stayed in the corner suite at the Mandarin Oriental and took a chauffeur-driven trip to Megu, this unbelievable new Japanese restaurant. I try to take a date somewhere they’ve never been before. A dream date for me is to do the English countryside thing — roast duck in front of an open fire. But I like spontaneity: I always have my passport with me. I like to say, ‘Let’s go to Thailand tomorrow.’”