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Dirty Dick, real name Nathaniel Bentley (c. 1735 – 1809), was an English merchant known for his filthy appearance. Once nicknamed "the beau of Leadenhall Street", in his late thirties Bentley became parsimonious and stopped cleaning himself and his shop. He and his shop became well known and were lampooned in the press. People visited the outlet to see the squalor and noted that he was polite and had impeccable manners. Rumours circulated that he had not washed since his fiancée had died on their wedding eve and that he had locked the dining room, complete with the wedding feast, and left it to moulder. Bentley moved out of his shop in 1804 and its contents were sold off. A publican purchased some of the contents, including mummified rats and cats, and used them to decorate his pub, which he renamed Dirty Dicks. Bentley died in Scotland. His story was known by the writer Charles Dickens, and Bentley's locked dining room may have inspired the locked room of Miss Havisham in Great Expectations. (Full article...)