For those of us who try to dress properly, life is full of hurdles. One of them can be summed up thus: how can I ensure that I have a beautifully presented shirt to wear each day when I am travelling? The answer to this important question is not as straightforward as some might suppose. “Use hotel laundries,” I can hear many a reader murmur. But I have learnt over many years that sometimes the standard of these facilities can be woefully low, and it is not difficult for a bad laundry to ruin a good shirt. Therefore I make it a rule on my travels to wash my own shirts. Consequently, I always ask for an iron and an ironing board to be placed in my room. But some hotels – particularly in Italy – refuse to supply these items, usually claiming that ‘fire regulations’ necessitate their refusal. How, in these circumstances, can one avoid the risks of hotel laundries and yet still appear in a smart shirt? I believe I have finally found the answer.

 First, I went along to number 77 Jermyn Street, to my favourite shirt maker, to have some very particular shirts made for me. Thomas Harvie and George Hudson founded their company in 1949. Their first premises were in Duke Street. Later they moved into Jermyn Street, where the firm now run by their descendants, Richard Harvie and Andrew Hudson, currently occupies numbers 77 and 97 – as well as a shop at 55 Knightsbridge. Nowadays much is done via the website, whereupon you can create and order your own shirts, by choosing the pattern, the style of both the collar and the cuff and the length of the sleeves. (This is a remarkable facility, particularly for those who find it difficult to get up to town or who reside overseas.) But for the true bespoke, you need personal attention, so that your own measurements, style and preferences can be translated into the paper pattern – unique to you - which will be used to make your shirts. It is this pattern, after all, which is the essence of bespoke. The ever affable Richard Harvie dealt with my order.