Parts Party – You Have Been Bearded
1September 2, 2013 by Victorian Body Parts Conference
Guest Post by Belle Stennett (Birkbeck College)
Parts Party-goers, now is the time to get you all in the mood with a touch of levity. Join in our fun and games by compiling your very own list of favourite face furniture (aka beards)!
Here are our Top 3 Hirsute Victorians for your delectation, in descending order:
No 3: Augustus Egg
For sheer audacity, Augustus Egg and his snappy little number – a trifle restrained but adorable. This is the all time best scraggy beard. Fried, scrambled, coddled, poached…the eggy brunch beard is tops.
No 2: Edward Lear’s nod to beards
(Subject of this unforgettable limerick and sporting a dashing spoonbill number)
There was an old man with a beard,
Who said it is just as I feared!
Two owls and a hen four larks and a wren
Have all built their nests in my beard.
A true ecological delight and a sure fire hit with Springwatch fans (like the BBC’s Bill Oddie), very on trend with environmentalists and the natural habitat…however, a reluctant man for all seasons – awake with the lark and kept awake all night by the hooting of the owl.
No 1:
The infamous ‘door knocker’ beard belonging to, yes, Mr Dickens himself. So celebrated is this beard that it merits a whole page at the BL blog.
Dickens missed a magnificent marketing ploy: the door knocker door knocker!
Knock knock! who the dickens is there?
Me of course, the inimitable Charles.
The infamous door knocker could have been cast in bronze and embellished the front doors of his adoring fans worldwide. What a coup to have had a stand at the Great Exhibition as Prince Albert swept by ordering gross after gross for his beloved’s numerous palaces and colonial subjects.
A miniaturised Mr Dickens with his humongous beard would add a certain pizzazz to any front door. We at Parts Party will be approaching ‘Dragons Den’ for an exclusive deal (even the dragons must have heard of Charles Dickens): surely they will embrace the pan appeal of this product and realise the potential of a sprouting global market. Indeed, could the Dickens Museum be tempted with such souvenirs? Watch this space!
And tell us, dear reader…which bearded wonder would you like to invite to the Parts Party?
Victorian Body Parts 
[…] so full of tea and biscuits, without our erudite and fabulous friend Belle Stennett, author of the beards ballot, and eighteenth-century PhD extraordinaire. The voting continues apace, so go and show your […]