Peter Warlock was a composer and music critic whose real name was Philip Hesltine,. He had changed his name because he had alienatated the musical community that had initially greeted him as a prodigy.
From THE BLUE HOUR, by Lilian Pizzichini
Ok, I have to admit I had never heard of Peter Warlock until I read about him in The Blue Hour, Lilian Pizzichini's fascinating autobiography of Jean Rhys, but it seems Ms. Rhys wasn't the only one to base a fictional character on this charismatic personality. According to Lilian Pizzichini:
In Women In Love D.H. Lawrence described Warlock as a "heavy, broken beauty'...As well as appearing as Halliday in Women In Love and in Jean's short story, Peter would feature in other friends' novels. He is Coleman in Aldous Huxley's Antic Hay, and Giles Revelstoke in Roberson Davies' A Mixture of Frailties. Osbert Sitwell gave him a walk-on part in one of his novels.An example of his unique behavior, according to Lilian Pizzichini:
Peter liked to shock people. Adrian [Allinson] told a story about him spotting a Salvation Army officer walking up the street with a begging cup. She was knocking on his neighbours' doors. He swiftly undressed and answered her knock at the door naked. He was holding a chamber pot with the same supplicatory gesture. He enlivened his guests stay in the countryside by taking a motorbike ride at great speed around the village in the middle of the night, naked.
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