ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS: Does anyone know if Champagne Charlie was real? Is there a question to which you want to know the answer? Or do you know the answer to a question here? Write to: Charles Legge, Answers To Correspondents, Daily Mail, 9 Derry Street, London W8 5HY; or email [email protected].
uk By Charles Legge Published: 01:36, 7 August 2024 | Updated: 01:52, 7 August 2024 e-mail View comments QUESTION: Does anyone know if Champagne Charlie was real? Champagne Charlie was a stage name of George Leybourne, a renowned 19th-century English music hall performer. Born Joseph Saunders in Gateshead in 1842, Leybourne worked as a mechanic in the Midlands before he adopted his stage persona and became famous for his songs that celebrated high living and excess. His act coincided with a period when the British Empire was nearing its peak and the middle classes were able to afford the finest luxuries, including champagne.
William Gladstone was said to drink a quart of champagne every day at lunch. As Chancellor of the Exchequer, he oversaw a trade deal with France that saw a surge in consumption of champagne, from 547,000 gallons a year in 1859 to 4.5 million gallons a year by 1868.
Leybourne capitalised on this by penning the immensely popular five-verse song Champagne Charlie, thus earning his new title. Throughout a performance he would swig from a bottle of Moet, singing: 'Some epicures like burgundy, hock, claret and moselle / But Moet's vintage only satisfies thi.
