Join London’s chaps and chapettes dressed in their finest attire arrive for what has become the event of the season.

This year’s decadent soiree sees the ‘night of a thousand waistcoats’ return to the elegant and Grade-2 listed Bloomsbury Ballroom for an evening of surrealist music hall acts, outlandish side shows, raucous live music and beautifully shaken cocktails. The theme of the Ball is “eccentric”, and features Gonzo Dog-do Bar Band as headliners. Britain’s only tribute act to Vivian Stanshall’s 60s musical legends, Gonzo Dog-do Bar Band is a dada music-hall electro psychedelic outfit that will entertain, delight and befuddle in equal measure.

Other acts will include a real live flea circus, tap dancing ladies, one-armed jugglers, birdsong impersonators and more.

In the cocktail bar, the Flirtinis will teach you how to flirt, Viv the Spiv will teach you how to smoke contraband chocolate and Bourne & Hollingsworth’s bartenders will teach you how to drink 1930s cocktails.

Entertainment will not cease throughout the evening, guests can laugh at the amusing sideshows and vignettes, or indulge in a bit of old fashioned courting by exchanging romantic missives with another guest in “the Chap Room.”

The dress code for this night of a thousand waistcoats is: eccentric, eclectic, electric, esoteric. Anyone arriving in Polyester will be politely asked to stand near a naked flame and handed some tweed.

.................................................................................................................. COMPETITION: Win 1x Pair of tickets to attend the Grand Anarcho-Dandyist Ball on 1st December. To enter the competition, send an email to katie at katie@run-riot.com with the correct answer in the ‘subject’ box. The winner will be randomly selected.

Q: When was polyester invented?

A: 1)1941 2)1961 3)1978 4)1971