Editing Lord Peter Wimsey (section)

===Background===
Born in 1890 and ageing in real time, Wimsey is described as being of average height, with straw-coloured hair, a beaked nose, and a vaguely foolish face. Reputedly his looks are patterned after those of academic and poet [[Roy Ridley]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Reynolds |first=Barbara |date=1997 |title=Dorothy L. Sayers, Her Life and Soul |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k_SCHjdtqCQC&dq=lord+peter+wimsey+roy+ridley&pg=PA56 |location=New York, New York, USA |publisher=St. Martin's Press |page=56 |isbn=9780312153533}}</ref> whom Sayers briefly met after witnessing him read his [[Newdigate Prize]]-winning poem "Oxford" at the [[Encaenia]] ceremony in July 1913. 

Twice in the novels (in ''[[Murder Must Advertise]]'' and ''[[Busman's Honeymoon]]'') his looks are compared to those of the actor [[Ralph Lynn]]. Wimsey also possesses considerable intelligence and athletic ability, evidenced by his playing cricket for [[University of Oxford|Oxford University]] while taking a [[British undergraduate degree classification|First]] in history (referred to in ''[[Gaudy Night]]''). He creates a spectacularly successful publicity campaign for Whifflet cigarettes while working for Pym's Publicity Ltd, and at age 40 is able to turn three cartwheels in the office corridor, stopping just short of the boss's open office door (''[[Murder Must Advertise]]'').

Among Lord Peter's hobbies, in addition to criminology, is collecting [[Incunabulum|incunabula]], books from the earliest days of printing. He is an expert on matters of food (and especially wine), male fashion, and classical music. He excels at the piano, including [[Johann Sebastian Bach|Bach]]'s works for keyboard instruments. Lord Peter likes driving fast and keeps a powerful  Daimler (for example, a  12-cylinder or "double-six" 1927 [[Daimler Company|Daimler]] four-seater); he calls these cars "Mrs Merdle" after a character in [[Charles Dickens]]'s ''[[Little Dorrit]]'' who "hated fuss". In the eleventh novel, ''[[Busman's Honeymoon]]'', we are told he has owned nine Daimlers with this name. 
[[File:DaimlerDoubleSixCorsicaCoupe.JPG|thumb|right|A [[Daimler Double-Six sleeve-valve V12|Daimler double-six V12 50hp]] [[Corsica Coachworks|Corsica]] drophead coupé body designed by [[Reid Railton]] (1931)]]
[[File:Daimler Double-Six.JPG|thumb|right|A Daimler double-six V12 50hp four-door saloon made for [[Anna Neagle]] and given to her by her husband]]

Lord Peter Wimsey's ancestry begins with the 12th-century knight Gerald de Wimsey, who went with King [[Richard I of England|Richard the Lionheart]] on the [[Third Crusade]] and took part in the [[Siege of Acre (1189–1191)|Siege of Acre]].<ref>''[[Strong Poison]]'', Ch. XXI.</ref> This makes the Wimseys an unusually ancient family, since "Very few English noble families go that far in the first creation; rebellions and monarchic head choppings had seen to that", as reviewer [[Janet Hitchman]] noted in the introduction to ''[[Striding Folly]]''. The family coat of arms, first mentioned in ''[[Gaudy Night]]'', is "[[sable (heraldry)|Sable]], 3 mice courant, argent; crest, a domestic cat couched as to spring, [[proper (Heraldry)|proper]]". The family motto, displayed under its coat of arms, is "As my Whimsy takes me."<ref>''Clouds of Witness'' reissue, Dorothy Sayers. London: Victor Gollancz, 1935 (preface)</ref>