The
History behind Lord of Scandal
Lord of Scandal is set against the
glittering world of Regency high society. It was an age of personal
display and, for characters such as Horatio Nelson, self-promotion.
There was a growing hunger for glamorous and humorous images, with the
drawings of Gillray or Rowlandson reproduced in their thousands. Tinted
pictures of popular heroes and heroines such as boxers, balloonists and
opera singers were printed as pin ups.
Last year I asked readers to vote for the
person they considered to be the ultimate Regency
celebrity. There was a huge response and the results are now in! A
BIG
thank you to everyone who voted, especially for the fascinating comments
that accompanied your nominations.
Here are the results:
With an impressive 48% of the vote, the runaway
winner was Jane Austen. Whilst acknowledging that she was not a
"celebrity" in her own time, people commented that her current celebrity
status was based on achievement and they valued enormously the
contribution she had made to literature.
In second place with 18% of the vote was Lord Byron.
The man who was "mad, bad and dangerous to know" was, in the words of
one voter a
man who was built up, lionized and torn down in the same fashion that
modern celebrities experience.
In third place on 12% was Beau Brummell.
One reader commented: "He was famous for nothing in particular, like
many of our celebrities today who are just famous without having any
particular accomplishments."
Mary Shelley got 4% of the vote, as did
the Prince Regent himself. There were also honourable mentions
for war heroes Nelson, Wellington, Cochrane and
Napoleon, and for several fictional creations such as Mr Darcy.
Please
Email
me If you would like to receive a copy of my article: The Cult of Celebrity in the Nineteenth
Century (originally published in the Historical Novel Review).
