A dandy is a man who places particular importance upon physical appearance and personal grooming, refined language and leisurely hobbies. A dandy could be a self-made man both in person and persona, who emulated the aristocratic style of life regardless of his middle-class origin, birth, and background, especially during the late 18th and early 19th centuries in Britain.
The Regency era of British history is commonly understood as the years between c. 1795 and 1837, although the official regency for which it is named only spanned the years 1811 to 1820. King George III first suffered debilitating illness in the late 1780s, and relapsed into his final mental illness in 1810. By the Regency Act 1811, his eldest son George, Prince of Wales, was appointed Prince Regent to discharge royal functions. When George III died in 1820, the Prince Regent succeeded him as George IV. In terms of periodisation, the longer timespan is roughly the final third of the Georgian era (1714–1837), encompassing the last 25 years or so of George III's reign, including the official Regency, and the complete reigns of both George IV and his brother and successor William IV. It ends with the accession of Queen Victoria in June 1837 and is followed by the Victorian era (1837–1901).
George Bryan "Beau" Brummell was an important figure in Regency England, and for many years he was the arbiter of British men's fashion. At one time, he was a close friend of the Prince Regent, the future King George IV, but after the two quarrelled and Brummell got into debt, he had to take refuge in France. Eventually, he died from complications of neurosyphilis in Caen.
Fop became a pejorative term for a man excessively concerned with his appearance and clothes in 17th-century England. Some of the many similar alternative terms are: coxcomb, fribble, popinjay, dandy, fashion-monger, and ninny. Macaroni was another term of the 18th century more specifically concerned with fashion.
Alfred Guillaume Gabriel Grimod d'Orsay, comte d'Orsay was a French amateur artist, dandy, and man of fashion in the early- to mid-19th century.
In British English slang, a toff is a stereotype for someone with an aristocratic background or belonging to the landed gentry, particularly someone who exudes an air of superiority. For instance, the Toff, a character from the series of adventure novels by John Creasey, is an upper class crime sleuth who uses a common caricature of a toff – a line drawing with a top hat, monocle, bow-tie and cigarette with a holder – as his calling card.
"Prince Charming" was a number-one single in the UK Singles Chart for four weeks in September 1981 for Adam and the Ants. Written by Adam Ant and Marco Pirroni, and featuring on the album of the same name, it was Adam and the Ants' second number-one single in a row and was the fifth biggest hit of 1981.
Beau Brummell is a 1954 British historical film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed by Curtis Bernhardt and produced by Sam Zimbalist from a screenplay by Karl Tunberg, based on the 1890 play Beau Brummell by Clyde Fitch. The play was previously adapted as a silent film made in 1924 and starring John Barrymore as Beau Brummell, Mary Astor, and Willard Louis as the Prince of Wales.
Major-General Lord Robert William Manners, CB was a British soldier and nobleman.
Henry Wale, known professionally as Henry Oscar, was an English stage and film actor. He changed his name and began acting in 1911, having studied under Elsie Fogerty at the Central School of Speech and Drama, then based in the Royal Albert Hall, London. He appeared in a wide range of films, including The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), Fire Over England (1937), The Four Feathers (1939), Hatter's Castle (1942), Bonnie Prince Charlie (1948), Beau Brummell (1954), The Little Hut (1957), Beyond This Place (1959), Oscar Wilde (1960), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), The Long Ships (1963) and Murder Ahoy! (1964).
William Arden, 2nd Baron Alvanley was a British Army officer, peer and socialite, who was a friend of Beau Brummell and one of a close circle of young men surrounding the Prince Regent.
George IV of the United Kingdom has been depicted many times in popular culture.
Ian Francis Kelly is a British writer and actor. His works include historical biographies, stage and screenplays.
Beau Brummel is a 1924 American silent historical drama film starring John Barrymore and Mary Astor. The film was directed by Harry Beaumont and based upon Clyde Fitch's 1890 play, which had been performed by Richard Mansfield, and depicts the life of the British Regency dandy Beau Brummell.
Watier's Club was a gentlemen's Club established in 1807 and disbanded in 1819. It was located at 81 Piccadilly on the corner of Bolton Street in west London.
English writer Lord Byron has been mentioned in numerous media. A few examples of his appearances in literature, film, music, television and theatre are listed below.
On Dandyism and George Brummell, by Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly, is a biographic essay about the British dandy Beau Brummell (1778–1840) and about the way of life that is dandyism. In English, the essay "Du dandysme et de George Brummell" has been published under the titles "Of Dandyism and of George Brummell" and "The Anatomy of Dandyism".
Josiah Cottin (1771–1843) was an English army officer. He is now remembered for his association with a notorious courtesan, who assumed the name Julia Johnstone.
Brummell is a 1931 operetta in three acts and five scenes by Reynaldo Hahn to a libretto by Rip and Robert Dieudonné. Its protagonist is the English dandy Beau Brummell (1778-1840), although the storyline is entirely fictional.
Scrope Berdmore Davies (1782–1852), often given incorrectly as Scrope Beardmore Davies, was an English dandy of the Regency period. He is known as a friend of Lord Byron, the dedicatee of Byron's poem Parisina. He is the subject of a 1981 biography.
