Ian Kelly

Vivienne Westwood

Vivienne Westwood is one of the icons of our age; fashion designer, activist, co-creator of punk, global brand and grandmother; a true living legend. Both her name and brand are recognised the world over, whilst at home in the UK she has attained National Treasure status as the nation's favourite fearless female icon. This is her story. Told for the first time in all its glamour and glory and with her unique voice, unexpected perspective and passionate honesty: "The living deserve respect. The dead deserve the truth; Ian and I are working together on this and I am excited that this will be my story, the story nobody ever did before."

Giacomo Casanova was one of the most beguiling and controversial individuals of his or any age. Braggart or perfect lover? Conman or genius? He made and lost fortunes, founded state lotteries, wrote forty-two books and 3,600 pages of memoirs recording the tastes and smells of the years before the French Revolution - as well, of course, as his affairs and sexual encounters with dozens of women and a handful of men. His energy was dazzling. Historian Ian Kelly draws on previously unpublished documents from the Venetian Inquisition, by Casanova, his friends and lovers, which give new insights into his life and world. His research spans eighteenth-century Europe. This is the story if a man, but also of the book he wrote about himself. His own memoirs have brought him two centuries of notoriety. They have also changed forever the way we think and write about ourselves - and about sex. At the same time that revolutions - scientific, industrial, political and artistic - remade the world in the eighteenth century, Casanova created an intimate and exhaustive study of what he saw as the most revolutionary article of all - himself. The world, and the way we look at ourselves in it, would never be the same again.

Actor, Spy, Lover, Priest

Casanova

Benedict Cumberbatch reads Ian Kelly's Casanova

Part biography, part Regency cookbook containing some of the most sumptuous menus and recipes ever created, Ian Kelly journeys with Careme on his meteoric rise from Parisian orphan to international celebrity - through the turmoil of the French Revolution to the kitchens of the Brighton Pavilion, to the upstairs-downstairs life of the palaces of the Russian Tsars, the first French Rothschilds and Napoleon himself.

The Life of Antonin Carême, the First Celebrity Chef

Cooking for Kings

A tale of murder, comedy and tragedy: the riotous story of the one-legged superstar of Georgian London. In 1776 Foote’s was the most talked-of name in the English-speaking world. By 1777 it was almost unmentionable. Samuel Foote, friend of David Garrick and Dr Johnson, is the greatest lost figure of the eighteenth century; his story defies belief and has only been forgotten for reasons both laughable and shocking. Foote’s rise to fame was based on three unrelated accidents: his extraordinary gifts as an impressionist, a murder within his family which he turned into a true-crime bestseller, and the loss of his leg after a disastrous practical joke. Out of this was born the most singular career in stage history. He flouted convention in transvestite roles, evaded the censors by selling his scurrilous satires as ‘Tea Parties’, wrote a series of plays for one-legged actors – accordingly not much revived – and established London’s Theatre Royal, Haymarket. Then came two scandalous trials that rocked Georgian high society. Trials of such magnitude they kept America’s Declaration of Independence from the front pages of the London papers. In a unique conflation of biography and social and medical history, award-winning historian Ian Kelly uncovers the hidden world of ‘the Hogarth of the stage’. From Sheridan to Dickens to Dudley Moore, Foote’s influence continues, but Mr Foote’s Other Leg is not just a tragicomic tale of this Oscar Wilde of the eighteenth century, it is also the story of the first media storm, the first true-crime bestseller, the first victim of celebrity culture, and a joyous hop around the mad theatre of London life – high and low.

Comedy, Tragedy and Murder in Georgian London

Mr Foote's Other Leg

In Georgian London no one is more famous than Samuel Foote. Satirist, impressionist and dangerous comedian, friend of David Garrick and Dr Johnson, he is a bona fide celebrity in an age obsessed with fame. He even has the ear of the King. But when Foote finds himself at the centre of a media storm - and under the surgeon's knife - there's only one question on everyone's lips: does fame make you mad? Based on Ian Kelly's award-winning biography, Mr Foote's Other Leg is a riotously funny play exploring our obsession with celebrities, through the true story of the Oscar Wilde of the eighteenth century. It premiered at Hampstead Theatre in September 2015, in a production directed by Richard Eyre and featuring Simon Russell Beale as Foote. 'Written with panache and wit - as lively and entertaining a historical biography as you are ever likely to read' Sunday Times on Ian Kelly's biography of Samuel Foote

In Casanova, noted author Ian Kelly traces the life of Giacomo Casanova, a man whose very name is synonymous with sensuality, seduction and sexual prowess. But Casanova was more than just a great lover. A businessman, diplomat, spy, and philosopher, he authored more than twenty books, including a translation of The Iliad. Confidant to many infamous characters—including Madame de Pompadour, Voltaire, and Catherine the Great—Casanova was undoubtedly charismatic. But how exactly did he seduce himself into infamy? In this richly drawn portrait, Casanova emerges as very much a product of eighteenth-century Venice. He reveled in its commedia del arte and Kelly posits that his successes as both a libertine and a libertarian grew from his careful study of its artifice and illusion. Food, travel, sex: Casanova’s great passions are timeless ones and Kelly brings to life in full flavor the grandeur of his exploits. He also articulates the fascinating personal philosophy that inspired Casanova’s quest to bed all manner of women. A riveting look at the life of the most legendary lover of all time, this is destined to become the definitive biography of Giacomo Casanova.

Actor, Lover, Priest, Spy

When Samuel Foote was buried clandestinely in the cloisters of Westminster Cathedral, he may or may not have been reunited with his missing leg. (In eighteenth-century London it was customary for amputees to be buried with their sawn-off limbs, which were kept embalmed for this purpose.) How Samuel Foote lost his leg is one of the many extraordinary and gruesome elements in the story of a unique character in the most colourful period of British history. Samuel Foote, although forgotten now, was a major figure of Georgian London. Friend of Johnson, Garrick, Fielding, Goldsmith, Sheridan, Boswell and Franklin, Foote was the most famous and the funniest man in England. He first made his name by writing a bestselling pamphlet about the family scandal that culminated in his uncle's murder (by another uncle). This story captivated coffee-house London and helped him escape the debtors' prison in which his decadence and debauchery at university had landed him. Foote's subsequent life was full of infamy, controversy, and violence, ending chaotically in two notorious trials encompassing bigamy, buggery, and defamation. But most importantly Foote is now reclaimed as a great actor, dramatist, impresario, the first celebrity impressionist, and, Kelly argues, the singular founding father of the British sense of humour.

Mr. Foote's Other Leg

Ian Kelly Militaria Master Catalogue August 2015

"If people turn to look at you in the street, you are not well dressed, but either too stiff, too tight, or too fashionable." -- Beau Brummell Long before tabloids and television, Beau Brummell was the first person famous for being famous, the male socialite of his time, the first metrosexual -- 200 years before the word was conceived. His name has become synonymous with wit, profligacy, fine tailoring, and fashion. A style pundit, Brummell was singly responsible for changing forever the way men dress -- inventing, in effect, the suit. Brummell cut a dramatic swath through British society, from his early years as a favorite of the Prince of Wales and an arbiter of taste in the Age of Elegance, to his precipitous fall into poverty, incarceration, and madness. Brummell created the blueprint for celebrity crash and burn, falling dramatically out of favor and spending his last years in a hellish asylum. For nearly two decades, Brummell ruled over the tastes and pursuits of the well heeled and influential, and for almost as long, lived in penury and exile. With vivid prose, critically acclaimed biographer Ian Kelly unlocks the glittering, turbulent world of late-eighteenth/early-nineteenth-century London -- the first truly modern metropolis: venal, fashion-and-celebrity obsessed, self-centered and self-doubting -- through the life of one of its greatest heroes and most tragic victims. Brummell personified London's West End, where a new style of masculinity and modern men's fashion were first defined. Brummell was the leading Casanova and elusive bachelor of his time, appealing to both men and women of his society. The man Lord Byron once claimed was more important than Napoleon, Brummell was the ultimate cosmopolitan man. "Toyboy" to Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, and leader of playboys including the eventual king of England, Brummell inspired Pushkin to write Eugene Onegin, and Byron to write Don Juan, and he influenced others from Oscar Wilde to Coco Chanel. Through love letters, historical records, and poems, Kelly reveals the man inside the suit, unlocking the scandalous behavior of London's high society while illuminating Brummell's enigmatic life in the colorful, tumultuous West End. A rare rendering of an era filled with excess, scandal, promiscuity, opulence, and luxury, Beau Brummell is the first comprehensive view of an elegant and ultimately tragic figure whose influence continues to this day.

The Ultimate Man of Style

Beau Brummell

In association with Accies Trust. Foreward by Alison Walker In Accies 25 year rollercoaster, Ian Kelly has produced a season by season fan's diary through the 25 years of Accies, on and off the pitch, from 1985 to 2010. This encompasses the final nine seasons at Douglas Park, through the seven homeless years, and the contrasting first nine seasons at New Douglas Park. For fans and watchers of the game, the book offers valuable insights into how football in general has changed through this period in terms of television, internet and supporters trusts. Ian has been an Accies supporter since the mid 70s. He has seen Accies play games on 52 league grounds, in all four divisions of the Scottish League, as well as one awful day in Buckie! Ian, who is a qualified accountant, has been Treasurer of the Accies Trust since 2005, and is very much an Accies stats man. He is thankful for the Trust's support with this publication.

Hamilton Accies 25 Year Roller Coaster Ride

In 1776 Foote's was the most talked-of name in the English-speaking world. By 1777 it was almost unmentionable. Samuel Foote, friend of David Garrick and Dr Johnson, is the greatest lost figure of the eighteenth century; his story defies belief and has only been forgotten for reasons both laughable and shocking. Foote wrote the first true-crime bestseller, was the first celebrity impressionist and lost his leg after a bet with the Duke of York when a practical joke went disastrously wrong. Out of this was born the most singular career in stage history. In this unique biography not only does award-winning historian Ian Kelly uncover the tragicomic tale of this Oscar Wilde of the eighteenth century, but he tells the story of the first media storm and the first victim of celebrity culture, and offers a joyous hop around the mad theatre of London life - high and low. Ian Kelly's Mr Foote's Other Leg has also been adapted into a play by the author.

Ian Kelly

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