George Leybourne (1842-84), the great 'Lion Comique', was born Joe Saunders in Gateshead. After early struggles in London, he became hugely popular in his persona as a 'swell'. His greatest number was always 'Champagne Charlie', written in 1866 (the Salvation Army made a hymn out of it - why should the devil have all the best tunes?) but he also wrote 'The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze' (about Leotard), 'Up in a Balloon' (1868) and 'If Ever I Cease to Love' (1871), which has become a standard at the New Orleans Mardi Gras.
For a sensational annual salary of £1500, Leybourne was obliged to play the swell off as well as on stage, appearing richly dressed at all times, driving to engagements in a carriage and four, and plying his public with champagne provided by the wine shippers. Leybourne scandalized polite society with his vulgar appropriation of upper-class dress and manners. At the old Wear Music Hall in Sunderland in 1875, he drove round town in a carriage and pair for publicity, and drew the colossal sum of £60 a week. The theatre had to go 'twice nightly' to accommodate all who wished to see him.
Leybourne, a generous, heavy-drinking man, in a rare political statement, gave benefit performances in support of the Nine Hours Movement for a shorter working day.