P.G. Wodehouse fans are celebrating the wonderful news from Westminster Abbey, where a memorial stone in Poet’s Corner has been dedicated to the beloved author.
You can read more about it here:
- Westminster Abbey Honours P G Wodehouse (Westminster Abbey)
- PG Wodehouse has plum spot in Westminster Abbey (Patrick Kidd, The Times)
- PG Wodehouse commemorated with Westminster Abbey plaque (Archie Hall, The Financial Times)
- PG Wodehouse – the return of the Master (Harry Mount, The Oldie)
- PG Wodehouse to be commemorated by Westminster Abbey (Press Release from The P G Wodehouse Society UK)
- Wodehouse memorial dedicated in Westminster Abbey (Jeffrey Manley, The Evelyn Waugh Society)
Congratulations to everyone involved in making this tribute to Wodehouse possible. I’d love to hear your news and reports of the day.
In the meantime, it seems fitting to close with a dash of Wodehouse.
Living in the country had given Augustine Mulliner the excellent habit of going early to bed. He had a sermon to compose on the morrow, and in order to be fresh and at his best in the morning he retired shortly before eleven. And, as he had anticipated an unbroken eight hours of refreshing sleep, it was with no little annoyance that he became aware, towards midnight, of a hand on his shoulder, shaking him. Opening his eyes, he found that the light had been switched on and that the Bishop of Stortford was standing at his bedside.
‘Hullo!’ said Augustine. Anything wrong?’
The Bishop smiled genially, and hummed a bar or two of the hymn for those of riper years at sea. He was plainly in excellent spirits.
‘Nothing, my dear fellow,’ he replied. ‘In fact, very much the reverse. How are you, Mulliner?’
‘I feel fine, Bish.’
‘I’ll bet you two chasubles to a hassock you don’t feel as fine as I do,’ said the Bishop. ‘It must be something in the air of this place. I haven’t felt like this since Boat Race Night of the year 1893. Wow!’ he continued. ‘Whoopee! How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel! Numbers, 44, 5.’
And, gripping the rail of the bed, he endeavoured to balance himself on his hands with his feet in the air.
‘Gala Night’ in Mulliner Nights
HP
Plumtopia 
I will write more about the occasion when I have the time to do so, but suffice to say for now that it was absolutely wonderful! The highlight for me was the address delivered by the Society’s president Alexander Armstrong, which hit all the right notes beautifully. The service was moving and joyful, the reception afterwards a humdinger of a good time. It was such a pleasure to be present at this historic moment, which Plum so well deserved!
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Thanks for that, Elin, and for sharing your photographs. Great to hear from you. I was there in spirit. xxx
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That is a fine and impressively apposite quotation! Wonderful stuff.
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Thanks Robert. It was difficult to say much about the event without having attended, but I felt the occasion could not pass without celebration and a snippet of Wodehouse — which is always worthwhile.
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This stone stands as an inspiration to all of us who toil in the garden.
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This news and your post were a great way to start my Saturday! Thank you!
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My pleasure! Thank you.
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I’ve updated the piece today to include this post, by the Evelyn Waugh Society: https://evelynwaughsociety.org/2019/wodehouse-memorial-dedicated-in-westminster-abbey/
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An event which has lifted the spirits of his fans the world over….thanks for summarising it here!
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Such a pleasure — thanks Ashok
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Verba volant, scripta manent: At last!
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I wish I had been there. I simply loved your closing dash of Wodehouse.
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Me too, thanks Miss Claire.
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