George Gordon Byron

Lord George Gordon Byron was a British Romantic poet and playwright during the early 19th century.

He was the sixth Baron Byron and a great-nephew of Lord William Byron. (AUDIO: The Witch from the Well)

Weeks before leaving for Switzerland, Byron abandoned his wife Annabella and daughter Ada. (AUDIO: The Witch from the Well)

While staying at the Villa Diodati near Lake Geneva in Switzerland in June 1816, Byron challenged his friends Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley and John Polidori to a competition to see which of them could write the best ghost story. Mary Shelley's science based horror novel Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus and Polidori's short story The Vampyre both came to be written as a result of the competition.

Following the arrival of a seriously wounded Eighth Doctor at the Villa Diodati and his apparent death shortly thereafter, Byron suggested conducting an experiment to determine whether the "corpse" could be reanimated by lightning. While both Mary and Polidori strongly objected, Byron performed the experiment with Percy's assistance.

A younger version of the Eighth Doctor, who arrived after his future self had been revived by the lightning, commented that Lord Byron's look was "very Byronic." (AUDIO: Mary's Story)

Byron died of fever in Greece in 1824. (PROSE: Managra)

The Fourth Doctor told Sarah Jane Smith that he was an old friend of Byron. (PROSE: Managra)

Aleister Portillon was an admirer of Byron and had a whole collection of books about him, including the biography written by Marchand. (AUDIO: The Witch from the Well)

Julius Otago believed that the Eighth Doctor was going for a Lord Byron look with his velvet jacket and stated that it would be tragic if it failed to impress the ladies. The Doctor told him that it was actually a Wild Bill Hickok outfit and that he had never had any complaints about it. (COMIC: Children of the Revolution)

In an alternative timeline created by, the Fourth Doctor correctly identified the Eighth Doctor's clothes as a Wild Bill Hickok outfit. The Eighth Doctor commented that people often mistook it for a Lord Byron costume. (AUDIO: The Light at the End)

Lieutenant Mike Yates compared the Eighth Doctor's appearance to that of Lord Byron. (AUDIO: Foreshadowing)

Other information
There were three Byron Reprises in Europa: Mad Byron (a vampire), Bad Byron (who called himself Albé), and Dangerous Byron. (PROSE: Managra)

Behind the Scenes

 * He was portrayed by Hugh Grant in the Spanish film Rowing with the Wind.