I’m a hat guy - guilty as charged.

While on duty I remain, and always shall remain, the sharp-suited swashbuckler you have all come to know and love. But in my private life, I love nothing more than to accessorise my dome with a topper or two.

For many blokes, hats are a wonderful way to style up your swede when you used to love pratting about with your hair. And prat about with my hair, I did…

As a younger chap I used to frivolously experiment with my locks. During my surfer phase my hair was bleached blond and down to my shoulders. In my goth years it was cropped jagged and dyed blacker than the night. There have been mohawks, faux-hawks, and everything in between, including a time when the variety of colours adorning my bonce once forced a zoo keeper to question whether or not I was an escaped parrot.

These days, however, I’m just getting a little too old for that sort of thing, and so the party time when it comes to abusing my scalp has ended. Still, boys just wanna have fun, and over the last few years I’ve embraced headgear to the fullest.

The adornment of choice has for some time been a flat cap. Even before Cillian Murphy et al made them very cool again I’d always been a fan of this signature topper of the 19th century........

© Shropshire Star