Denis Capel-Dunn - Character Model

Character Model

The novelist planted clues in the third volume of his autobiography that Widmerpool was based on Capel-Dunn, referring to the nickname of an unnamed officer under whom he worked briefly in the Cabinet Office during the war. This is The Papal Bun - "a play upon his double barreled surname, creed, demeanour, personal appearance ... a never failing source of laughter."

Kenneth Rose discovered that the historian Desmond Seward had managed to deduce Widmerpool's identity. This Rose put to Powell, who, in his elliptical way, replied: "My impression is that Seward, a most amusing fellow, is on to something there ...". The identification of Widmerpool as based upon Denis Cuthbert Capel-Dunn was then confirmed in Powell's Journals.

A Dance to the Music of Time is not a Roman à clef, and Widmerpool's career is not synonymous with that of Capel-Dunn. Indeed pre-War episodes owe something to other sources, as do Widmerpool's later career as a spy, university chancellor and cult member. Unlike Widmerpool, Capel-Dunn was never promoted to full colonel, possibly on account of fears of the position he might then assume in the Intelligence Corps.

In the Channel Four TV adaptation of the novels Widmerpool was played by the Shakespearean actor Simon Russell Beale who was said to bear a resemblance to Capel-Dunn. Russell Beale was subsequently elected President of the Anthony Powell Society, an office he retains.