William Makepeace Thackeray - as well you know.
Anyway, the wife and I had a bet on how long it would take before the first historically-unlikely black character appeared. I had five minutes (this not being the BBC) and she took 2 minutes. Lo and behold, on 1 minute, 59 seconds and 57 hundredths of a second, there was a black chick at Becky and Amelia's school.
Fine result for the wife, there.