 The name " Widmerpool " was assumed by many critics to derive from Widmerpool a Nottinghamshire village . In a 1978 interview , Powell said he first came across the name in a 17th @-@ century book , Memoirs of the Life of Colonel Hutchinson , which features a Captain of Horse , Major Joseph Widmerpoole , who served in Cromwell 's army under John Hutchinson during the English Civil War . Powell viewed this Widmerpoole as a mean @-@ spirited and disagreeable character and " had his name down for really quite a long time as a name I was going to use " . 
