An aunt of mine had her wedding rehearsal dinner at Chicago’s University Club. Having recently read Around the World in 80 Days at the time, it seemed a very close approximation to that book’s London Reform Club. (And hey, Wikipedia says the Reform Club is still extant and has even been admitting women since 1981.)
I used to live down the street from what became the QI Club. It can’t have been there for too long–I left Oxford at the end of 2000 and the location was then an Indian restaurant. That corner location was a bit cursed: it housed three or four very different businesses, including a bookstore and a different restaurant, in the six years I lived nearby.
Anyway, I’m rather sad that the QI Club didn’t show up until after I’d gone. Not that I could have afforded the 250 quid back in those days.
The one in Melbourne is still men-only, though there has been increasing pressure to admit women. Perhaps the clubs are unrelated? I had assumed from the names that they were, but maybe they’re not.
Not so - as noted, the price isn’t particularly high (the more famous ones are probably rather more than £250 a year, but there are plenty of clubs in London you can join for £500 or less per year.)
What keeps them exclusive is that you can’t just pony up the money and join. You generally have to be “proposed” by an existing member, or at least have your application thoroughly vetted and approved by the club. In addition, there’s often a long waiting list for the popular clubs.
One of my work colleagues is a member of a club just off the Strand which is popular among media types, and I’ve been there as his guest occasionally.
Your comment about the (fictitious) Diogenes Club stirred my memory-the 1970 movie “The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes” depicted Mycrofy cranking the handle of a starneg device-a machine to gently tilt a bottle of old port (so as not to dislodge the sediment).
Thats how I picture a London Club-galsses of port and rich cigars!