Happy Birthday, P.G. Wodehouse

‘P. G. Wodehouse was born on 15 October 1881, at 1 Vale Place, Epsom Road Guildford’ begins Frances Donaldson in her 1982 Authorized Biography, summing the matter up rather neatly. The house in Surrey was not the Wodehouse home.The family lived in Hong Kong, where P.G.’s father Henry Wodehouse was a magistrate in the Colonial Civil Service. His mother Eleanor was visiting England, staying with a sister in the neighbouring village of Bramley. Eleanor was visiting friends in Epsom Road when the infant Plum popped out unexpectedly. The house is remembered today with a blue plaque over the door. I’m … Continue reading Happy Birthday, P.G. Wodehouse

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Introducing Wodehouse to a modern audience

This piece began as a story about my search for Sebastian Faulks’ new book ‘Jeeves and the Wedding Bells’ in my local bookshop. With the giddy excitement of a school girl, I had rushed forth to purchase my copy, but found things less straightforward than expected. The book was not filed under ‘F’ for Faulks as is, I believe, customary. Nor was it among the new releases. But after some first rate detective work, and much tut-tutting under the breath, I discovered the bally thing in the ‘humour section’, under ‘W’, next to Wodehouse. I greatly dislike finding Wodehouse in … Continue reading Introducing Wodehouse to a modern audience

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