Dickon Edwards

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Dickon Edwards
Also known asDickon Angel
Born
Richard Edwards [1]

(1971-09-03) 3 September 1971 (age 54)
Origin Bildeston, Suffolk, England
Genres Indie pop
OccupationsMusician, Writer
InstrumentsVocals, guitar
Website dickonedwards.com

Dickon Edwards (born Richard Edwards; [1] 3 September 1971), also known as Dickon Angel, is a St Leonards-on-Sea-based [2] indie pop musician and diarist. [3]

Contents

He was a founding member of the bands Orlando and Fosca, and briefly played guitar in the band Spearmint. [4] [5] He also wrote the lyrics for a song on the Scarlet's Well album Black Tulip Wings, 'Narcissus in the Maze'.

He has kept a blog called The Diary at the Centre of the Earth since 8 December 1997 [6] (predating the 1999 coining of the term "blog" [7] - he terms it an "online diary"). Excerpts from the blog were included in Travis Elborough and Nick Rennison's A London Year [8] the follow-up title A Traveller's Year, [9] Our History of the 20th Century, [10] and Bus Fare [11] and the blog was also featured in an edition of the BBC1 arts programme Imagine . [12] In May 2017, it was recognised as the UK’s longest running web diary by the Centre for Life-Writing Research at King’s College London, as part of their exhibition Dear Diary. [13]

In September 2004 he wrote the afterword for a new edition of Jerome K. Jerome's The Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow. [14]

In September 2007, he contributed an account of his first trip to Tangier with Shane MacGowan, plus a set-list from his club night Beautiful & Damned, plus a photo of himself with Anne Pigalle, walking a lobster in homage to the French poet Gérard de Nerval, to The Decadent Handbook, edited by Rowan Pelling. [15]

In March 2008 he released a printed collection of lyrics titled The Portable Dickon Edwards, which was released in a limited edition alongside Fosca's The Painted Side of the Rocket album. [16]

Edwards was one of 57 modern dandies featured in the 2013 book by Rose Callahan (photographs) and Nathaniel Adams (words) I Am Dandy: The Return of the Elegant Gentleman. [17]

In 2021, Edwards completed a PhD on Ronald Firbank and the Legacy of Camp Modernism at Birkbeck College, University of London. [18]

In October 2025 a collection of Edwards' diary entries from 1997 to 2007, edited by Robert Wringham and with an introduction by Travis Elborough, was published by P & H Books, entitled Diary at the Centre of the Earth. Vol. I. The book also contained 'supplementary material' in the form of magazine articles and interviews, together with 2025 annotations. [19]

Personal life

Known for his dandy aesthetic, [20] Dickon has peroxide blond hair and is often seen in a white, blue, or silver-grey three-piece suit, the silver-grey suit being a bequest from fellow London dandy Sebastian Horsley. [21] Edwards is a son of the quiltmaker and author Lynne Edwards MBE, [22] and the cartoonist Brian "Bib" Edwards. [23] [24] His brother was the Adam Ant [25] guitarist, Tom Edwards. [26]

References

  1. 1 2 Edwards, Richard (8 December 1997). "Diary at the Centre of the Earth". Dickon Edwards. Retrieved 26 March 2024. My name is Richard Edwards. My friends and family call me Dickon, but these days I tend to proffer myself to strangers as Richard, in an attempt to be helpful.
  2. ↑ DickonEdwards.com 31 December 2024. Retrieved 1 June 2025.
  3. ↑ Top Ten Literary Diarists The Guardian. 1 January 2014. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  4. ↑ Dickon Edwards The Minds Construction Quarterly. Winter 2003. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  5. ↑ A Spearmint Biography Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine Spearmint.net. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  6. ↑ The Diary at the Centre of the Earth Dickonedwards.co.uk. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  7. ↑ "It's the links, stupid". The Economist. 20 April 2006. Retrieved 5 June 2008.
  8. ↑ Introduction A London Year. 3 October 2013. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  9. ↑ Contributors A Travellers Year, 1 October 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  10. ↑ Elborough, Travis (2017). Our History of the 20th Century: As Told in Diaries, Journal and Letters. Michael O'Mara Books. ISBN   978-1782437352.
  11. ↑ Elborough, Travis (2018). Bus Fare: Collected Writings on the London Bus. AA Books. ISBN   978-0749579289.
  12. ↑ https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007cjd3 BBC1 Imagine episode: 'www.herecomeseverybody.co.uk', broadcast 5th December 2006
  13. ↑ Dear Diary: A Celebration of Diaries and their Digital Descendants, an exhibition held 25th May - 7th July 2017 at the Strand Campus, King's College London, curated by Prof Clare Brant and Dr Polly North. https://www.kcl.ac.uk/cultural/projects/2017/dear-diary
  14. ↑ Jerome, Jerome K. (2004). The Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow. Snowbooks. ISBN   978-1905005048.
  15. ↑ Pelling, Rowan (2007). The Decadent Handbook: For the Modern Libertine. Dedalus Books. ISBN   978-1903517642.
  16. ↑ Press Release for Painted Side of the Rocket. Butisitart.org. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  17. ↑ Callahan, Rose (2013). I Am Dandy: The Return of the Elegant Gentleman. Gestalten. ISBN   978-3899554847.
  18. ↑ Dickon Edwards PhD Thesis final version. BIROn - Birkbeck Institutional Research Online. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  19. ↑ Edwards, Dickon (2025). Diary at the Centre of the Earth vol. I. P & H Books. ISBN   9781910631867 . Retrieved 9 February 2026.
  20. ↑ I am Dandy has arrived! Lives of the Dandies. 29 September 2013. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  21. ↑ Fix Up Look Sharp: Dickon Edwards Meets Turbonegro's English Gent The Quietus. 20 October 2011. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  22. ↑ Bildeston - Former teacher lands honour for craftwork Archived 2016-02-03 at the Wayback Machine Suffolk Free Press. 3 January 2008. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  23. ↑ Hooper-scharf, Terry (8 February 2014). "COMIC BITS ONLINE: Tribute To Brian "Bib" Edwards by John Schiltz". Hoopercomicart.blogspot.com. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
  24. ↑ "Diary at the Centre of the Earth » Seeing Dad". Dickonedwards.com. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
  25. ↑ "Adam Ant cancels shows due to death of guitarist". Nme.com. 27 January 2017. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
  26. ↑ Noble, Jason. "Fundraising page launched for Suffolk-based Adam Ant guitarist Tom Edwards". Ipswich Star . Retrieved 3 August 2020.
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