Dan Leno was the stage name of George Calvin (1869-1904); he was considered the greatest comedian of the Victorian Music Hall and pioneered a style of stand-up comic we are familiar with today. His performances were based around a character – recruiting sergeant, a beefeater showing tourist round the Tower and the like – and his act usually started with a snatch of song followed by a character monologue. Orlando Dando The Volunteer was a musical comedy written by Basil Hood and Walter Slaughter for Leno in 1898.