A brush with Teasy-Weasy

QUESTION Was Raymond Bessone (1911-92), nicknamed Mr Teasy-Weasy, the first celebrity hairdresser?

Bessone was certainly Britain’s first celebrity hairdresser. He shot to fame in the Fifties as the flamboyant hairdresser to the stars.

sporting a fashionable pencil moustache and slicked back hairstyle, he was a great self- publicist, appearing in glossy magazines, the Press and films, especially the Look At Life shorts shown before the main feature at cinemas.

In 1956, Diana Dors caused a sensation by flying him to the U.s. at the cost of £2,500 — the price of a house at the time — for a shampoo and set.

It is thought he got his nickname from the hairdressing term ‘teasing’, which means to backcomb hair into a bouffant.

The world’s first celebrity hairdresser long predated Bessone. In 17th-century France, the hair of a wealthy monsieur was in the hands of his valet de chambre, while madame’s tresses were entrusted to her personal maid. That is until the arrival of the legendary Monsieur Champagne.

While nothing is known of his background, not even his real name, he was the first to raise hairdressing to an art form. His clients happily put up with his temperamental outbursts: he was known to walk out mid-styling or insult his blue-blooded clientele to their faces.

His behaviour inspired the play Champagne — Le Coiffeur, first staged at Theatre Du Marais in 1663, shortly after his death. It was the first time that the word coiffeur, meaning hairdresser, was used in print.

The play satirised the relationship with Champagne’s most famous client, Princess Marie de Gonzague, future wife of King Wladyslaw IV Vasa of Poland.

Champagne had created a new industry, and he was followed by memorable characters such as the 18th- century coiffeur Legros de Rumigny, the first official hairdresser of the French court.

Legros wrote a book containing 38 Trim: Raymond Bessone tending to the locks of actress Pamela Russell hairstyles, opened a hairstyling school and was hairdresser to Madame de Pompadour, celebrated mistress of Louis XV. His equally famous successor was Leonard-Alexis Autie, better known as Monsieur Leonard, who created elaborate hairstyles up to 5 ft high and included or imitated objects such as a serpent, a rising sun and an olive tree. His most famous client was Marie Antoinette.

The first celebrity hairdresser of the modern era was the Polish-born Antoine de Paris (real name Antoni ‘Antek’ Cierplikowski). Working first in Paris and later new York, he created the famous bob of the Twenties, inspired by the French heroine Joan of Arc.

His celebrity clients included Coco Chanel, edith Piaf and Josephine Baker.

Mrs K. O’Brien, Belfast.

QUESTION Where does the term ‘last ditch attempt’ come from?

THIs saying has its origins in a speech by William of orange, later William III, who exhorted the people to ‘fight and die in the last ditch’. In the context that the phrase was used, the last ditch refers to the innermost defensive barrier around a besieged position.

some claim the speech was made after William became joint monarch of england with his wife Mary, in exhortation to the english to save their own country, but it is generally recognised as originating during the Anglo-Dutch wars.

In early July 1672, William of orange, commander of the Dutch army, blocked the advance of a French army, which was allied to england. He achieved this by flooding large parts of Holland between Amsterdam and Dordrecht. It is from this action that the quote originates.

Charles II had previously tried to bribe William by offering to make him the

Stadtholder (leader) of the Dutch states in return for his surrender. William refused the offer, but following his victory, he was awarded the title on July 17 by the Dutch.

There are two citations for the first written use of the saying. The first is from a Daniel Defoe poem of 1706 entitled The True Born englishman. This satire on english nationalism would not seem out of place today.

The second is from Bishop Burnet’s History of His own Time. Its exact date isn’t known, but it is believed to have been written some time before 1715.

William of orange became joint monarch of england in 1689 as a result of the Glorious Revolution when the British Parliament invited him and his wife Mary to take the throne in place of James II, Mary’s father.

In Parliament’s view, a Protestant Dutch king was preferable to an english Catholic. After the death of Mary in 1694, William continued to reign as sole monarch until his death in 1702.

Bob Dillon, Edinburgh.

QUESTION Do female voices also break upon reaching puberty?

THE female voice evolves from childhood to menopause, under the varied influences of oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone.

However, like the male voice, the most pronounced changes take place during puberty. The female voice might take up to four years to change fully. The process generally begins between the ages of ten and 14.

Females go through their growth spurts approximately two years before males. Many physical changes occur; the larynx increases in thickness and length, and the female vocal folds increase, but by only 3mm to 4mm compared with the increase of 10mm in the male.

Because the changes are less pronounced and more gradual than those for the male voice, the term ‘break’ is not used, though a fundamental frequency change one-third lower than that of a child is normal.

The female voice is fairly consistent until the time of the menopause when vocal muscle atrophy leads to lowered intensity, vocal fatigue, a decreased range and a loss of vocal quality.

Dr Ian Smith, Cambridge.

IS THERE a question to which you have always wanted to know the answer? Or do you know the answer to a question raised here? Send your questions and answers to: Charles Legge, Answers To Correspondents, Daily Mail, 2 Derry Street, London, W8 5TT; fax them to 01952 780111 or email them to charles.legge@dailymail.co.uk. A selection will be published but we are not able to enter into individual correspondence.