History Characters / VillageTalesTheLads

* GoodShepherd: A ... well, [[IncrediblyLamePun canonical]] example.

* TenorBoy: ''Heldentenor'' boy. His voice got him into the choir, the Church, and a Church college, which got him into Oxford and the priesthood; and as Rector, he tends to choral services. (The Duke, with his weakness for the IncrediblyLamePun, likes to note that Noel "sings for his living.")[[note]]"Living" being an appointment to a parish post in the Church of England.[[/note]]

* MrFanservice: There are plenty of characters InUniverse who find his [[{{Twink}} twinkish]] (even now), PrettyBoy look delicious.

--> "The sacrifice – like all sacrifice – often seems unbearable; and unjust. But God has his reasons, and those reasons, being his, must be good."

** Which, coupled with his [[UsefulNotes/TheWestMidlands Wolvo and Black Country]] working-class antecedents, led to the formation of the InUniverse charity-appeal and village-concert group, singing Northern {{Soul}}, with a ducal BassoProfundo thrown in: "The Fonts," consisting of Noel, Sher, The Breener, Teddy, Edmond, and His Grace as basso. There's a lot of swooning InUniverse when Noel does a Jackie Wilson cover at village concerts (especially on Sher's part. And Hetty's).

* BadassBaritone: And you can count on his singing.

* BadassBaritone: [[VocalDissonance Surprisingly]], when he sings at village concerts and as part of "The Fonts" (also at village concerts). With a bit of GutturalGrowler tossed in. ''What'' he sings are [[IntercourseWithYou sexy songs]], mostly Northern {{Soul}} – and largely Junior Walker tracks. [[SerenadeYourLover To Edmond.]] And [[LetsDuet sometimes]] ''with'' Edmond.

--> "Sher Mirza slept, deeply and profoundly, looking like nothing less than an Endymion by Praxiteles. Like many of those whose lives centred upon literature, and music, and art, he embraced sleep, and dreams, and dreaming, with the abandoned passion of a lover; and lived his waking days yet gently tethered by the tendrils and filaments of gossamer dreams."

* BigEater: And burns it all off. His wife is too discreet to [[GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex say just how]].

[[AllLovingHero A gentle man]], but [[GoodIsNotSoft tough when he needs to be]]; [[TheLostLenore widower of the late Pauline, ''née'' Stamford]]; nowadays [[CelibateHero celibate]], he and Sher Mirza being to his surprise chastely in love and [[ChastityCouple too conscientious to act on it]]; a [[IllGirl sickly child]] turned handsome and athletic, and unashamed of his Black Country origins beneath the sharp brains and Oxford education.

* AgainstMyReligion: He's rediscovered it in his [[RecoveredAddict recovery]], and it is the anchor for his and Noel's AnchoredShip on his side. It still chafes him at times, and his relationship to Islam is complicated, not least when he [[RantInducingSlight thinks people are treating him differently because he's Muslim]]. The Hon. Gwen and The Breener point out that people are indeed doing so: by [[MinnesotaNice cutting him more slack]] than they cut people whose religions they understand and ''know'' they understand, [[UnwantedAssistance because they don't wish to offend him]]; and they note that he'd complain if it were the other way around, too. (The Breener also points out that Muslims have never suffered legal disabilities in the UK … as Roman Catholics ''have'' done, and, "catch yerself on, y' idjit. ''Jaysus''.")

* [[{{Fangirl}} Fanboy]] (InUniverse): Was giddy and dazed with happiness when the Duke brought certain hirsute, motorcycle-riding telly chefs down for the Village [[UsefulNotes/{{Fete}} Fête]] and they asked him to join them in a cookery demonstration.

* RaisedCatholic: And stayed Catholic. Even his religiously-mixed marriage was cleared through channels first. Goes in healthy fear of wee Mgr Folan – for the reason that the monsignor is, as The Breener says, "Socrates in a Roman collar." Otherwise, he's ecumenical about most things.
--> '''To James, about the Rector, before the Duke gave the parishes – and Mgr Folan – Rovers:''' "Jaysus, hasn't he an Irish Cat'lic for an unpaid driver?"

* MulticoloredHair: Briefly had blond tips in his playing days, after the manner of certain other cricketers. It's an InUniverse OldShame to him now.
--> "The Breener muttered, with a guilty smile, something about emulating Warne and KP, for luck, in his youthful hairstyle choices...."

* IcyBlueEyes: There's a lot of {{HornyViking|s}} in his lineage.

* TallDarkAndHandsome: Averted. He's not that tall, and as for dark, well, he ''is'' brown-eyed and dark-haired, but he's AmbiguouslyBrown, in fact, and indeed [[RavenHairIvorySkin ivory]] as to skin tone.[[note]]Justified and lampshaded, InUniverse. His mother's English, and the Mirza Khans, as conquering nobles, have MixedAncestry from all over Southwest Asia; the steppe – "Khan" means "Khan" and Mughal means Mongol, after all, even –; and Byzantium and Georgia and Circassia. And, ''being'' a nawabal family, they tend to value RavenHairIvorySkin and avoiding sun and the suggestion of labor and low caste, as the Nawab notes, lampshading that the very concern is probably a triumph of culture over egalitarian religious teachings.[[/note]] But two out of three ain't bad.

* {{Adorkable}}: Dead sexy, but fundamentally shy.

* CoolTeacher: As his sister Ameena points out, he's fronting it, without meaning to, despite being actually simply {{Adorkable}}-Though-Sexy:

[[AllLovingHero A gentle man]], but [[GoodIsNotSoft tough when he needs to be]]; [[TheLostLenore widower of the late Pauline, ''née'' Stamford]]; nowadays [[CelibateHero celibate]], he and Sher Mirza [[BiTheWay being to his surprise chastely in love]] and [[ChastityCouple too conscientious to act on it]]; a [[IllGirl sickly child]] turned handsome and athletic, and unashamed of his Black Country origins beneath the sharp brains and Oxford education.

* BiTheWay: He was never revolted by the bare possibility he might love a man; he just never expected it to happen. Of course, as Sher Mirza is [[EvenTheGuysWantHim Sher Mirza]], this may be a case of IfItsYouItsOkay bordering on (now that Noel's wife is dead) SingleTargetSexuality.

* ChickMagnet / EvenTheGuysWantHim: Even though the attention is [[SingleTargetSexuality unwelcome, nowadays]], and often was both unwelcome, [[CluelessChickMagnet unexpected]], and [[IDidntMeanToTurnYouOn unintended]] even in the past, when, Sher being Unambiguously [[BiTheWay Bisexual]], he did occasionally and guiltily indulge it.

* {{Gayngst}}: Past master of it, although in fact [[BiTheWay bisexual]]: ''past'' master. He overcame it and its [[RecoveredAddict consequences]]. Being the ChickMagnet and knowing that EvenTheGuysWantHim was no picnic when he [[AgainstMyReligion felt guilty for sleeping with either]]. Being aboard an AnchoredShip as part of a ChastityCouple may be the best place for him and for his sanity, and he suspects it to be so.

* BiTheWay: Averted and lampshaded for and by Teddy. [[InsistentTerminology The term you are looking for is ''pan''.]]
** As he is now permanently partnered with Edmond, this is now (a) irrelevant and (b) irresistible to him as a source of [[IncrediblyLamePun typically Teddy humor]], allowing him to joke that he's now [[SingleTargetSexuality "''Peter''-Pan-sexual."]]

* EthicalSlut: When younger. As a schoolboy with a [[BiTheWay wide range of options]], he [[ReallyGetsAround really got around]].

* RaceFetish: Has been the object of several, to his disgust; but he himself tends very strongly – and his uncle the Nawab explicitly calls it a [[SharedFamilyQuirks family tradition]] – to go for the EnglishRose and her spear-side counterparts. (His mother is after all an English Rose who [[ConvertingForLove converted for love]], and a remote female connection did the same the other way and became Amelia, Lady Clare, so....) ''See'' HasAType, above.

* FatherToHisMen: He's tough in the kitchen, but his ''brigade'' and all the hotel staff would charge hell with a pail of petrol for him.
* GreenEyes: PrettyBoy? Check. Works with a lot of natural stuff and veg.? Tick. InTouchWithHisFeminineSide? Well, whaddya know....

* TheClan: Irish, Catholic, rural family ring any bells? And one, moreover, which has been trading properties, children, and wives between the County Kerry and County Fermanagh branches (and various Cassidys and Gallaghers): which connection to StrokeCountry, where The Breener's da, Breandán, was born, is how The Breener qualified as an ''England'' cricketer.

* FarmBoy: Test {{Cricket}} was the quest, and farewell the paternal acres.

[[LongHairedPrettyBoy Charming, wild-maned, sexy]] [[SupremeChef chef]]. Civil partner of [[spoiler: by ''Literature/TheDayThouGavest'', husband of, and planning to adopt sprogs with]] Edmond Huskisson. Born in rural Cheshire; won a [=BBC=] reality-show culinary series[[note]]a pretty clear {{Expy}} of Series/TheGreatBritishBakeOff[[/note]] and [[FrenchCuisineIsHaughty went off to France to train]]; by preference a pâtissier. As [[InUniverseNickname The Celebrated Hipsta Chef]], a darling of press and broadcast. His first job back in England was at one of the Duke's clubs; later, the Duke brought him to the Woolfonts to resurrect the local gastropub and hotel. [[TheDitz Spacey]], sweet (outside the kitchen: ''in'' the kitchen ... he once made GordonRamsay cry, in fear, on live TV), [[OlderThanTheyLook eternally boyish]], and of course a Lib Dem. Too naive for politics, really....

* SergeantRock: An utter sweetheart … ''outside'' the kitchen. Inside, well.... Remember: he once (InUniverse) reduced GordonRamsay to tears.

* RaceFetish: Has been the object of several, to his disgust; but he himself tends very strongly – and his uncle the Nawab explicitly calls it a [[SharedFamilyQuirks family tradition]] – to go for the EnglishRose and her spear-side counterparts. (His mother is after all an EnglishRose who [[ConvertingForLove converted for love]], and a remote female connection did the same the other way and became Amelia, Lady Clare, so....) ''See'' HasAType, above.

* EnglishRose: Don't even ''think'' it. She's ''[[BerserkButton Welsh]]''. Otherwise, though....

->''"[[FundamentallyFunnyFruit Mango]] is an underrated fruit, yah?"''

* PuppyDogEyes: Specifically, [[BrownEyes brown ones.]] Yet another reason why everyone wants to take him home and feed him soup.

* BrownEyes: Yes, and honeyed at that. More interesting perhaps is that they have a very slight epicanthic fold: Mirza Khan Means Khan.

* TallDarkAndHandsome: Averted. He's not that tall, and as for dark, well, he ''is'' [[BrownEyes brown-eyed]] and dark-haired, but he's AmbiguouslyBrown, in fact, and indeed [[RavenHairIvorySkin ivory]] as to skin tone.[[note]]Justified and lampshaded, InUniverse. His mother's English, and the Mirza Khans, as conquering nobles, have MixedAncestry from all over Southwest Asia; the steppe – "Khan" means "Khan" and Mughal means Mongol, after all, even –; and Byzantium and Georgia and Circassia. And, ''being'' a nawabal family, they tend to value RavenHairIvorySkin and avoiding sun and the suggestion of labor and low caste, as the Nawab notes, lampshading that the very concern is probably a triumph of culture over egalitarian religious teachings.[[/note]] But two out of three ain't bad.

* GoodIsNotDumb: He's a bookish [[{{Badass}} badass]] who was sent to Oxford on full bursary because he was just that bright.

** Which, coupled with his [[UsefulNotes/TheWestMidlands Wolvo and Black Country]] working-class antecedents, led to the formation of the InUniverse charity-appeal and village-concert group, singing Northern {{Soul}} / {{Motown}}, with a ducal BassoProfundo thrown in: "The Fonts," consisting of Noel, Sher, The Breener, Teddy, Edmond, and His Grace as basso. There's a lot of swooning InUniverse when Noel does a Jackie Wilson cover at village concerts (especially on Sher's part. And Hetty's).

* ElegantClassicalMusician: Spear-side version, at any keyboard, though he's at home sexing up a stage singing {{Motown}} at the village concert.

* StraightGay: When he chooses. Although it seems uncomfortably like his days in the [[ ArmouredClosetGay closet]] to him.

* BadassBaritone: And you can count on his singing

--> "The sacrifice – like all sacrifice – often seems unbearable; and unjust. But God has his reasons, and those reasons, being his, must be good."