Plumtopia, World of Wodehouse

Win a copy of Wodehouse Prize winner ‘Fatty O’Leary’s Dinner Party’

The Right Hon. was a tubby little chap who looked as if he had been poured into his clothes and had forgotten to say `When!’

from Very Good, Jeeves

Who is your favourite large/fat/generously proportioned Wodehouse character and why? 

Last week, I reviewed the 2015 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize shortlist for comic fiction. This week, I’m offering the chance to win your very own (ever so slightly used) copy of the prize winning entry, Fatty O’Leary’s Dinner Party by Alexander McCall Smith. The book follows the adventures of obese American businessman, ‘Fatty’ O’Leary on a visit to the Irish homeland of his ancestors. It’s one of those holidays on which everything that can go wrong, does, for McCall Smith’s plump and pleasant hero. Fatty O’Leary’s Dinner Party was one of two shortlisted books with a ‘weighty’ theme this year. The heroine of Helen Lederer’s Losing It is an overweight minor celebrity who must meet a weight-loss goal to avoid financial ruin.

This competition, Plumtopia’s first, aims to celebrate some of the weightier characters of P.G. Wodehouse’s world. As a ‘woman of substance’ myself, I appreciate Wodehouse’s inclusion of plus sized heroines. His amusing descriptions of larger characters are simply that — amusing descriptions. Wodehouse doesn’t stoop to nastiness or passing judgement. This is one of many reasons why Wodehouse is loved by such a diverse range of people.

HOW TO ENTER

To enter the competition, simply answer the question:

Who is your favourite large/fat/generously proportioned Wodehouse character and why?

Please include the name of the story (if you can remember it).

RULES
1. You may enter as many times as you like.
2. Entries must be posted as a comment to this piece.
3. The most amusing and/or convincing response will be chosen by me, and anyone else who happens to be in the house or at the pub at the time of judging. The judges’ decision will be final.
4. Entries should be less than 5000 words — a good deal less. But don’t hold back if you want to write an essay.
5. Entries close at midnight GMT, Sunday 12 July 2015.
6. The winner will be announced at Plutmopia and contacted personally if contact details are available in their comment (e.g. a WordPress name or link to page with contact details). It is not advisable to share your address in your comment.
7. The winner shall receive, upon provision of their postal address to mrsplum@hotmail.com, one slightly used (read by me) copy of Fatty O’Leary’s Dinner Party.
8. If the total cost of postage exceeds £15 GBP, I reserve the right to panic and not send the bally thing at all. In this unlikely event, I will contact the winner and offer a substitute prize of similar value.
9. If no valid entry is received by the closing date, the prize will be given to my mother.

Whether this is worth your time and effort is another matter, but I’ve had a marvellous time writing the rules.

HP

15 thoughts on “Win a copy of Wodehouse Prize winner ‘Fatty O’Leary’s Dinner Party’”

  2. Cakebread from ‘Money in the bank’. It’s one of my favourite books & his character is so funny. I recall him having a big rear, so hope he qualifies. I love his forgetfulness & the way he plays the butler

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  3. Hands down, my favorite “plump” character is Aunt Dahlia! She’s described by Bertie in Much Obliged, Jeeves as “short and solid, like a scrum half in the game of Rugby football” but also “as jovial and bonhomous as a dame in a Christmas pantomime”.

    For your next competition, Honoria, might I suggest the question “Who is your favorite pink/red/mauve faced Wodehouse character?”. The list would almost be too long…

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  4. Pingback: Blandings Centenary: Something Fresh by P.G. Wodehouse « Plumtopia

  5. There’s only one who is the star of any Blandings’ and that has to be the Empress of Blandings, snort snort…. I wanted to say Aunt Dahlia, but Corky has already said her. Well, you didn’t say it had to be human:)))

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  6. Egad, can anyone beat Her Supreme Highness? Here was I messing around with fat uncles and all the time the Empress was getting outside her essential calories without a bottle of Slimmo in sight. Still, apart from the odd snort and snuffle, hers is really a passive, non-speaking part, content to be led around by the likes of Beach. Now there’s a substantial citizen and a man of whom no word of reproach can be uttered. While his chaffinch trills and the port flows, he is everybody’s favourite (apart from, no doubt, the Efficient Baxter). Speaking of butlers, Jeeves’s uncle Charlie Silversmith has to be considered. But he shriveled the innocent Catsmeat’s soul to the size of a parched pea. Not a favourite. Alaric, Duke of Dunstable, is both dotty and capricious. Rodney, Lord Blicester, is the fattest uncle at the Drones but again is really just a walk-on. Love Aunt Dahlia but it is ungallant to refer to women of a certain age as “fat”. Right now, having, as it were, weighed all the evidence in the balance, I would have to plump for Bingo’s uncle and nemesis, Mortimer, Lord Bittlesham, who fell for Rosie M. Banks and then his cook, Jane Watson, thus dedicating his life to furtherance of his waistline. Yes, Lord Bittlesham it has to be.

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    1. What ho Sally. An announcement will be posted shortly. Delayed slightly by my spending the last week confined to quarters on the sick list. Apologies for the additional suspense.

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  8. Pingback: Honoria presents the prizes: ‘Fatty O’Leary’s Dinner Party’ competition « Plumtopia

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