2020 Escape to Wodehouse
‘There are moments, Jeeves, when one asks oneself, “Do trousers matter?”‘
‘The mood will pass, sir.’ Continue reading 2020 Escape to Wodehouse
Category: Finding Plumtopia
My personal quest.
Wodehouse and Plumtopia
Originally posted on Ukebloke's Ukeblog:
Once again, I’ve taken my eye off the Ukeblog ball for five minutes and more than two years have elapsed. After this most recent Ukeblog hiatus, I felt moved to post something, having just… Continue reading Wodehouse and Plumtopia
Six reasons why P.G. Wodehouse is Stephen Fry’s hero
If I were to construct a Plumtopian society according to my own specifications (which, regrettably, nobody has asked me to do) BBC Radio 4 would be one of the first things I’d bung into the package. In addition to producing high quality radio, the Radio 4 website is also well worth exploring. It contains, among other things, this little gem: Six reasons why P.G. Wodehouse is Stephen Fry’s hero Fry and Wodehouse are always an irresistible combination. For a second helping try the 2017 broadcast (currently available on repeat) of Stephen Fry on PG Wodehouse, as part of the BBC … Continue reading Six reasons why P.G. Wodehouse is Stephen Fry’s hero
How to pronounce Wodehouse
A kindly soul once corrected my pronunciation of P.G. Wodehouse, and I’m profoundly grateful to him for saving me from making a complete ass of myself when I began mixing in Wodehouse Society circles (if only he’d taught me how … Continue reading How to pronounce Wodehouse
The Adventures of Honoria Plum
He was sorry, he wrote, that he would be unable to see Miss Petherick-Soames on the morrow, as they had planned, owing to his unfortunately being called away to Australia. He added that he was pleased to have made her … Continue reading The Adventures of Honoria Plum
The enduring appeal of PG Wodehouse: If you think it’s just farcical butlers and upper-class twits, think again!
In 2015, BBC radio presenter Kirsty Lang interviewed director Rob Ashford and writer Jeremy Sams about their stage musical adaptation of P.G. Wodehouse’s A Damsel in Distress. It’s one of Wodehouse’s many transatlantic tales, and delves into the world of musical theatre. The central character is an American composer of musical show tunes, and he manages to navigate life efficiently enough without the assistance of a manservant. KIRSTY: Now Jeremy, it’s a very engaging production, but the story’ is very much of its time. How confident were you that it would work for a 21st Century audience? JEREMY: Well you … Continue reading The enduring appeal of PG Wodehouse: If you think it’s just farcical butlers and upper-class twits, think again!
PG Wodehouse goes to Washington
The next convention of The Wodehouse Society (US) is being held in Washington D.C on the 19th-22nd of October 2017. It is difficult to imagine a more genial occasion than one which brings together fans of an author once described by Stephen Fry (in his introduction to the anthology What Ho!) as: ‘…the finest and funniest writer the past century ever knew’ Stephen Fry In 2015, some of you may recall, I had great pleasure in attending my first convention, Psmith in PSeattle. These fabulous binges occur just once every two years, and in 2017 the event is being held … Continue reading PG Wodehouse goes to Washington
Utopia 500 years (Plumtopia 5)
You may not have noticed, in the hullabaloo of 2016, that this year marked the 500th anniversary of Sir Thomas Moore’s Utopia. As the year draws to a close (and good riddance to it) I wanted to spend a few moments reflecting on Plumtopia, which celebrates a more humble fifth anniversary this year. Sir Thomas Moore invented the word Utopia as a name for the fictional world he created in 1516. The word is derived ‘from the Greek ou-topos meaning ‘no place‘*. Few people today have read Moore’s original work, but the term he created has evolved to acquire meaning … Continue reading Utopia 500 years (Plumtopia 5)
A Visit to the Wodehouse family archives
On a beautiful autumn day, I left London’s Victoria Station for the glorious Sussex countryside to visit the home of Sir Edward Cazalet, P.G. Wodehouse’s step-grandson. I had met Edward and his wife Camilla, Lady Cazalet, in London during the summer, and they generously invited me to visit their home to view the family’s archive of Wodehouse materials. The train journey was a pleasant, uneventful affair, which did not seem, to me, to be in quite the proper Wodehouse spirit. I ought to have been playing ‘Persian Monarchs’ with a genial stranger, or thumbing through a volume of poems by … Continue reading A Visit to the Wodehouse family archives
I have dyspepsia!
Yesterday I received the Doctor’s diagnosis of an ailment that has been troubling me for some time. I have dyspepsia! I don’t suppose a doctor ever received such a joyous response to this news as mine did. I practically whooped around the surgery. For now, I can read my favourite poem, by Lancelot Mulliner in ‘Came the Dawn’, with the added poignancy of personal suffering. DARKLING (A Threnody) By L. BASSINGTON MULLINER (Copyright in all languages, including the Scandinavian) Black branches, Like a corpse’s withered hands, Waving against the blacker sky: Chill winds, Bitter like the tang of half-remembered sins; … Continue reading I have dyspepsia!
Plumtopia 