Powell came close to endorsing a real-life model in Denis Capel-Dunn, a lawyer and wartime lieutenant-colonel in the Intelligence Corps, who was briefly Powell's senior officer. Capel-Dunn was nicknamed "The Papal Bun", and was derided by his subordinates for his appearance and demeanour. He was described by his contemporaries as "a very fat, extremely boring, overwhelmingly ambitious arriviste. His conversations were hideously detailed and humourless". He was responsible, apparently through spite, for preventing Powell's promotion to the rank of major. When the historian Desmond Seward proposed Capel-Dunn as the original Widmerpool, Powell replied that he "might be on to something". Denis Capel-Dunn married overseas (Cuba) Elizabeth Hessey (daughter of Brigadier William Francis Hessey) and their first daughter Hester Capel-Dunn married the brother of actor Laurence Olivier - Gerard Dacres Olivier; the caricature may well be a red herring.