Number 68 December 2013 What a Year!

he year 2013 has surely Commissioned by the been memorable for Estate and written by WTodehouse fans. In January Sebastian Faulks, Jeeves and we watched the BBC’s the Wedding Bells has Blandings television series. received mixed reviews, but Though purists would not many Wodehouseans have call this an auspicious start, it sparked a great deal already reported being pleasantly surprised by the of comment and thus interest in Wodehouse, an d book. On page 2 are some recent reviews as well as it was well enough received for the BBC to reactions from readers. (There will be more about commission a second series. the book in the March Then came the superb Wodehouse in Exile , 2014 issue.) broadcast on BBC Four The greatest hit of in March. Starring the year, though, is Tim Pigott-Smith and undoubtedly Perfect Zoë Wanamaker as Nonsense , the play- Plum and Ethel, this within-a-play starring drama cast new light Stephen Mangan as on the events leading Bertie Wooster and up to and following the Matthew Macfadyen as Berlin broadcasts. Jeeves (and many other In July we celebrated characters); the excellent the 100th anniversary Mark Hadfield plays of the day Wodehouse saw Percy Jeeves play at Seppings, Aunt Dahlia, Cheltenham and mentally filed the name away – a and Roderick Spode. day which left its mark forever on English Rapturously greeted by both critics and Society literature. (See page 16 for a review of the recent members – see page 3 if you don’t believe us – book on Percy Jeeves.) Perfect Nonsense has put the finishing touches on Everyman’s Library continued its laudable task making 2013 the Year of Wodehouse. of publishing a complete collectors’ edition, and What lies ahead in 2014? Aside this autumn saw two more books added to the from the continuing success of list, stories rarely seen or never before repub- Perfect Nonsense , we will see the lished. (See pages 9 and 20 for more on this.) second series of Blandings , and The year is closing on the highest note yet the spotlight will be thrown on with two events for which the Trustees of the PGW’s poetry (see pages 4 and Wodehouse Estate deserve congratulations. 15). And September 30, 2014, Almost simultaneously, we have the marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of a brand- new Jeeves and Wooster day Plum and Ethel Wodehouse tied novel and two of our favourite Wodehouse the knot. Now, there’s another good characters appearing onstage. reason for celebration! Wooster Sauce – December 2013 Jeeves and the Wedding Bells Some views on the new book by Sebastian Faulks Personal Comments complicated as The Mating Season , which I have always considered to be Wodehouse’s best book, and I could I have such an extreme prejudice towards Wodehouse hardly wait to see how it all turned out in the end. It pastiches and parodies that I have a policy is not Wodehouse, but it is very near of not printing any in these pages. So it. Bertie and Jeeves behave as they imagine my astonishment when I read the ought to and, far more difficult, they book and found myself rather . . . well, speak exactly as they ought to speak. enjoying it. One shouldn’t approach the book Sebastian Faulks is to be expecting pure Wodehouse – it is Sebastian congratulated. Faulks paying homage to Wodehouse, and – Norman Murphy in that sense he does a jolly good job of it. Two disparate views of the book are given What Some Critics Had to Say below. More comments are welcome, but please keep them short. (Note: Patrick Kidd’s review will be – The Editor printed in full in the March issue, along with extracts from other reviews.) After reading an initial chapter, what For me, Faulks captures perfectly sprang to mind was: “This is Wodehouse both the tone and the spirit of Lite.” Like cut-price foodstuffs which look Wodehouse’s originals. What’s more, much the same as the original, but have he does so in a manner that, in much of the essential quality extracted. A Sebastian Faulks at the book’s launch party on November 4. rekindling happy memories of those particular concern was the introduction of books, reinvigorates one’s retro- several new major characters; I think Faulks should spective enjoyment of the originals. have simply created a new plot with the old – Matthew Dennison, The Spectator , November 2 characters, and the reader would have felt so much more at home. But to write a new entry in the Jeeves canon, the I was struck by Bertie’s announcement (p.11) very nerve of it. What Wooster sauce! It is something that he came into money when still at Oxford. Not Faulks is clearly nervous about. In an author’s note, so! We were informed in he is at pains to say that ‘Jeeves Takes Charge’ that It was the sheer volume of the butler that was this is “a tribute and a he is “more or less overwhelming. If one of the heads on Mount thank you” to Wodehouse, dependent on Uncle Rushmore had taken first a body then a breathing form, it could have picked up a hint or two from exhorting his readers to Willoughby” for his this Bicknell. Monumental was the word that came check out the originals. finances. Did Faulks not to mind. No one could have wished – or dared – He need not have worried. notice this, or decide to to call him corpulent: there was no suggestion of Despite an occasional rewrite Wodehousean fact? spare flesh beneath that mighty waistcoat; but it wander into “Wodehouse Shame on him either way. would have been unwise to attempt a by the numbers” — I To sum up – I feel the circumnavigation without leaving some sort of forwarding address or poste restante . opened a random page trouble is that PGW set and immediately saw a the bar so high that it is (Jeeves and the Wedding Bells , chapter 4) “spiffing” — Faulks has simply asking too much done a fine job that is even of the most gifted to reach his heights. faithful to the spirit of the originals while offering a – Murray Hedgcock few novelties. – Patrick Kidd, The Times , November 2 Over the last 40 years I have read many imitations and pastiches, and all of them palled by the second [T]he best comic turn comes from the novel’s own paragraph. Jeeves and the Wedding Bells is in a very double texture. Faulks, like Bertie, is involved in his different league, and to my surprise, after a few own complicated act of dressing up – the literary pages I was hooked and read the book in one sitting. I equivalent of squeezing himself into someone else’s was very impressed by Faulks’s metaphors. For just trousers. Throughout the book we get a sense of one example, Bertie speaks of a lifelong friend: what Faulks hears in Wodehouse’s style. . . . Loopy “Woody and I had seen more scrapes than a barber’s backstories abound, epithets are transferred, and strop.” comparisons stretched. Even the pace pays tribute to The use of quotations and, far more difficult, Wodehouse’s impeccable timing. Bertie’s misquotations is excellent. The plot is just as – Sophie Ratcliffe, The Guardian , November 6

Page 2 8 Wooster Sauce – December 2013 Perfect Nonsense The play enjoyed a near-perfect reception

Perfect Nonsense – written by executed serendipity, speed Robert and David Goodale and of transformation, and joy directed by Sean Foley – had trial and elation at the continuous runs at the Theatre Royal Brighton triumphs, rolls inexorably, and at the Richmond Theatre minute by minute through before settling down at the Duke the evening. Exhausting for of York’s Theatre in London the cast, sheer exuberance for (where it will run until March 8). the audience. Members who saw the show prior * – Including the dog to its official opening (when it was Bartholomew. still being developed and fine- tuned) wrote in with enthusiastic comments. (See also the review on page 18.) Previews at the Duke of York’s Theatre began on October 30 and continued until Press Night on Christine Hewitt reported after seeing the show in November 12. While there were a few critics who Brighton: The audience laughed and clapped found it a bit over the top (Dominic Maxwell of The throughout at various lines or funny little tricks with Times felt that “Wodehouse’s wit was crowded out by the scenery. Overheard during the interval: “The some of the slapstick stagecraft”), the majority found thing about the humour here is that it is under- much to applaud in the production. Following are a stated”; and: “That was brilliant. I will get my few extracts; there will be more in the March issue. Wodehouse books out and read them again.” There were a few small tweaks that I would make here and With his glassy grin and an astonishing laugh that there, but it really is an excellent entertainment. puts one in mind of both a braying donkey and a door creaking open on rusty hinges, Stephen Mangan John Perry saw the Richmond production: Total knock- proves the perfect Wooster, achieving exactly the out! Absolute scream from first to last. Rolling in the right mixture of bonhomie, idiocy and panic. A aisles etc. 5* cast, 5* script, 5* performances, 5* particularly delightful scene finds him playing with a stage-work, 5* scenery effects. Stupendous evening. rubber duck in a foaming bathtub, lost in a little Should run & run. Was told the run was a sell-out, so world of pure happiness. . . . I suspect that if you’ve no ticket yet, beg, borrow or steal one. Wodehouse himself would have loved this Today Richmond, tomorrow the world ? production, and there is no doubt that it captures the Robert Bruce saw the London production shortly after it dotty, sunlit innocence of his work with panache. opened for previews: One of the joys of the London Charles Spencer, The Daily Telegraph , November 13 theatre in recent years has been terrific ensemble playing – a great team of actors demonstrating the What makes the show better than many Wodehouse ease of working with each other and building layers adaptations is that much of the author’s original of funny business and joyful stuff into the words are used. Some particularly glum fate is performance. Perfect Nonsense turns this on its head. compared to ‘something that might have occurred to It has only three people in the cast, yet steadily Ibsen in one of his less frivolous moments’. Bertie, on transforms this, through the course of the play, into a receiving some bad news, said it hit him like ‘one cast of thousands.* The resulting ingenuity, sharply- who has been picking daisies by the railway line and catches the 4.15 in the small of the back’. . . . Wodehouse is notoriously difficult to dramatise but the Goodale brothers have cracked it. Perfect Nonsense shimmers with just the right dose of silliness and self-mockery to suit it to the modern West End. Quentin Letts, The Daily Mail , November 13

Macfadyen and Hadfield turn in tours de force of inspired silliness and versatility. And I don’t see how Mangan, with his honking toff’s laugh and his lovely aura of benign dimness and noblesse oblige, could be bettered as Bertie. By and large, top-hole. Paul Taylor, The Independent , November 13

Page 3 Wooster Sauce – December 2013 Society News

Our Next Meeting No Nonsense top Press! Entertainments Impresario Paul Kent n the last issue of Wooster Sauce , we mentioned the has been swamped by at least two requests for possibility of a special night of Perfect Nonsense for aSnother Wodehouse Quiz. As ever, eager to oblige, he ISociety members, including reduced ticket prices and has duly scheduled the fiendish brain-scrambler for a possible Q&A session with cast members. Unfor- our February meeting. All welcome, no special skills tunately, we failed to work out the details for this required – just a knowledge of all things Wodehousean, event, so those who had expressed interest in it have and a predilection for good, wholesome fun. See you been informed they are on their own. We apologise to at The George on February 18! members for being unable to organise this. Join Our Team! Membership Manager Needed re you comfortable operating a database? If you to identify groups of members for reminders are, and you can spare a bit of time to help run and so forth. Ayour society, then we’d love to hear from you. - receiving and paying in cheques, etc., from Having steered us safely through the last couple of renewing members and updating their years, our Membership Manager, David Lindsay, is records. standing down, and we need a successor to take over - checking and identifying standing order from him early in 2014. payments. Our database runs on Access and contains the Sounds awful, doesn’t it? Especially since it is a membership records of our 1,000-plus members. It is very important job, on which the health of the Society used to ensure members are reminded to pay their depends! But for someone who knows what he or she subs, and to produce mailing labels for Wooster Sauce, is doing, it’s not actually too bad, and there is only one four times a year. The work is timetabled, fairly quite busy period, in May/June every year at renewal time. predictable, and involves: Of course, expenses are paid, but the applicant - liaising, usually by email, with our will need a computer with Access to run the database. membership secretary, treasurer, editor, Liaison is usually done by email and post, so location chairman and members to keep the database is not crucial. Interested? Of course you are. Drop an up to date. email to [email protected] to - producing mailing labels, usually customised discuss it further. What Goes Around Comes Around A new book of Wodehouse verse

n the September issue of Wooster Sauce , we representative. Tony and Eric Midwinter have reported that a new book of Wodehouse’s verse provided appropriate contextual notes where these Iwas in preparation and would be published in the might assist the reader in understanding the context New Year. Arrangements for the publication of the in which the verse was written. Times diarist and collection, entitled What Goes Around Comes Around Society member Patrick Kidd has written a foreword . – A Celebration of Wodehouse Verse, have now been completed, and it will become available in March 2014 at a price of £12 plus postage (£3 in the UK, £5 to Europe, £8 further afield). It is being published privately by Harebrain Publishing and will not be available through Amazon or any similar distributor. The book’s 100 Wodehouse verses have been selected by Tony Ring as a fair representation of the breadth of subject matter about which he wrote – including sport, entertainment, politics, crime, food, and romance. By far the majority date back over a century, and very few are to be found in general anthologies. A few verses of later origin have been included to ensure that this work is fully

Page 4 Wooster Sauce – December 2013 What’s in an AGM?

n Tuesday, October 29, the Society held its It was Murray at his best. Apart from an Annual General Meeting at The George, 213 unnecessary reminder, from his audience’s point of OStrand – not, perhaps an event on a par with the view, of the 1920–21 Test series (Australia five, Lord Mayor’s Show, but we do our best. Outside England nil), he delighted us with his musings on observers have noted with some surprise that our other cricketers whose names Wodehouse might have AGMs are well attended, but we do have two used. It could have been the Australian bowler Hugh advantages: members know that we try and make the Trumble (“my man Trumble”) or fellow Warwick- AGM as short as possible, consonant with legal shire colleagues of Jeeves – Langley, Hands, Santall, requirements, and there is or Quaife (“my man Quaife”). always a good speaker to Murray told us how the amuse us afterwards. immortal Neville Cardus, who As ever, Hilary Bruce was transformed cricket writing fully conscious of her respon- into an art form, had sibilities and conducted the recognised the importance of meeting with laudable names in cricket and had dispatch. She began by never forgotten his horror displaying the Society’s new when, in 1903, Lancashire regalia which had been were thwarted by two presented to her at The Worcestershire players in a Wodehouse Society conven- partnership of 167 runs. tion in Chicago (see picture, (They were H. K. Foster, one of The Chairman’s new regalia was presented to right, and report on page 10). Hilary Bruce by Ken Clevenger in Chicago in October. the famous Foster brothers on She informed us that the whom Wodehouse based Mike Society was in good shape, with which we agreed, Jackson and his brothers, and George Warrington though the change of subscription charge had meant Gaukrodger who scored 91. –N M) Cardus reckoned it an undue load on the Committee and, in particular, was an impossible name for a cricketer, and maybe the Treasurer, in chasing up those who had been he was right. Certainly it is difficult to imagine “my reluctant to take action in this matter. man Gaukrodger”. We have 1,072 members, 125 of whom had joined Then Murray returned to our hero, Percy Jeeves. in the last year. Of these, 75% are UK residents, 10% are He gave us a brief outline of his career and his short American, and the others are spread around the world. time with Yorkshire, then recommended Brian Hilary went on to thank all those who had Halford’s book The Real Jeeves (see Murray’s review helped to make the Society such a success. After a on page 16) and pointed out that Jeeves’s birthplace unanimous vote that Committee members remain is still in doubt. He told us of Jeeves’s death in the members of the Committee, and the meeting came to First World War and how, at Cheltenham, he had a successful conclusion at the 16-minute mark. informed his audience that we Wodehouseans say As a reward for our AGM attendance, the next “Jeeves”, not “Cheese”, when we are being photo- event was an address by Murray Hedgcock entitled graphed. Not a bad way of keeping a name alive, ‘What’s in a Wodehouse Name?’, based on his talk at Murray suggested, and we all agreed enthusiastically. Cheltenham earlier this year to celebrate the An excellent AGM and an excellent talk after- centenary of Wodehouse’s watching Percy Jeeves wards. If only AGMs everywhere could be like this! playing for Warwickshire against Gloucestershire. – Norman Murphy

Page 5 Wooster Sauce – December 2013 Letters to the Editor Reactions, Questions, and Thoughts from Our Readers

From Andrew Pinkett The reason for my rumination is simple. I am I recently joined the Society, and in the June 2013 the son of the newly named ‘Andover Armine’ – a Wooster Sauce I noticed a reference to a long article moniker which would, I am sure, cause the celestial by Thomas Behr about reading Wodehouse. [ See the choir to sing very flat for a while – and feel duty- June issue’s Press Comment, April 9 entry .] This bound to correct a few woeful inaccuracies which sounded like the sort of erudite piece a newcomer might appear minor to most but loom large for me. should read to exercise the brain cells, so I took a Firstly, he was not John Armine, but Armine look. John. Secondly, he had been a Major. Thirdly and Behr soon got down to discussing Aristotles’ most surprising he did not have four children but Nicomachean Ethics . Now, I am sure most members three! At least that’s what my mother Louise has of the Society have read this tome – it’s probably confirmed and being a dutiful son I am minded to required bedside reading for the Committee – but I believe her. So come on, Mike, get it right, please ! must confess it has long remained low on my list of On a lighter note, the pronunciation of Armine books I ought to read. I find that whenever it gets to was a constant source of amusement for my father. the top of the list, some other vital task like ironing He was either Armine as in fine line or Armine as in the shirts or feeding the cat intervenes to thwart me. mean and green; occasionally Armand; once or Anyway, the gist of Behr’s article is that it’s not twice Almond and more often than not a mere enough to read anything just for recreation and mumble resembling none of the above ! amusement. This was rather troubling, but I need At least my son and I have escaped such mirth not have worried. By the end, Behr had concluded for Armine is only our middle name! that reading Wodehouse is good for the soul. What Norman Murphy replies: Mike Swaddling is innocent, a relief. But no doubt you all knew that already. and I take full responsibility. When Mike asked me to trace Armine John Wodehouse, I turned to my well-worn From Martin Scourfield photocopy of Burke’s Peerage (1971 ed.). My error was Your article about Percy Jeeves, the cricketer, to misread the minute 2-point font, which lists Edmond [Wooster Sauce, September 2013 ] stirred a trivial and sister Rosemary, and to give them two more siblings. memory. I’m not certain of the date; it may have But that edition states clearly that Armine John was a been the early 60s. At that time, Oxford and captain in the Royal Welch Fusiliers. My faith in Cambridge students went on an exploration of the Burke’s is now sadly shaken. Amazon. A series of films was shown on BBC television about the expedition. The man who filmed the students in Brazil was called Stanley The Great Engineers Controversy Jeeves. I have no further information, only this Iain Anderson’s article in the September issue of memory. Wooster Sauce (‘Why Engineers Don’t Like The Editor replies: Mr Scourfield may be excused for a Wodehouse’) incited a storm of protest – well, from two slightly faulty memory after more than 50 years. A quick readers, anyway. Following are edited versions of their search of the internet reveals that Stanley Jeeves led an letters. Iain, it’s your turn! exploration of a cave in British Guiana (now Guyana). The film was broadcast on the American documentary From Gerard Palmer series Expedition! (which had included an episode on I was feeling a little low-spirited – probably owing the Amazon trip) sometime in early 1962. Jeeves to the onset of autumn and my 80th birthday subsequently wrote a book about the exploration, looming on the horizon – when the postman Journey to the Lost World , published in 1965. If any delivered my copy of Wooster Sauce . Just the thing reader knows anything else about this Jeeves, do to buck me up, I thought, it’s always full of good enlighten us. stuff. And, sure enough, there were reports of cricket matches and sundry get-togethers, all very From Edmond Wodehouse jolly. I wonder whether Mike Swaddling (‘Armines, But then I came to page 9 and saw the headline Armines Everywhere’, Wooster Sauce , September ‘Why Engineers Don’t Like Wodehouse’ by some 2013) and his fraternal relation haven’t performed rotter of the name of Anderson. I could scarce credit the journalistic equivalent of tripping over the cat what my eyes were seeing – the brain reeled. or perhaps stepping on a golf ball or perchance “Who is this fiend in human form?” I thought. volplaning down the stairs to crash into an occasional “Is he unaware that there are many species of table covered with china and framed photographs ! engineers at large grouped, according to their Page 6 Wooster Sauce – December 2013 particular bent, in some 36 institutions?” I Plymouth Pannier Market. He also helped in the confidently expect this fine body of men and even design of wind tunnels for testing aircraft and finer body of women to arise and smite the blighter. advised on the construction of the Ocean Terminal He should also have a care to remember the law at Southampton. of libel. I should have to consult Jeeves, but I am Despite his work and hobbies, he managed to fairly sure an action would lie. read Wodehouse avidly, and we shared this interest I am an engineer and have enjoyed the Master’s for many years. works since the age of 16, when I used to read them I have often wondered if his liking for on the train to Charing Cross and received many a Wodehouse may have developed from a similar dirty look from fellow commuters for laughing out childhood. Born of English parents in Colombo, loud when they were intent on their crossword Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), he spent his early life puzzles. I think an apology is called for and await travelling from Ceylon to England, then moved the next edition with keen interest. with his mother and brother to England, where he was educated at Leys School, Cambridge. In the late From Alexander Dainty 1920s, he went to Cambridge to study engineering. On reading the latest Wooster Sauce , I took exception He had a slightly Wodehousean experience, playing to Iain Anderson’s ‘Why Engineers Don’t Like in a University dance band in the evening and Wodehouse’. living in lodgings instead of in hall at Jesus College. It was through my father that I developed a He also drove a 1927 Austin Seven, which was very tremendous affection for P. G. Wodehouse, and he much against the University regulations when one was a brilliant engineer involved in the construction was not allowed to have a car within a five-mile of hyperbolic parabolic roofs for such places as the radius of Cambridge. The Newbury Show Sparkles Once More by Tony Ring

only rarely, I suppose, take up a pencil to lose. “Truly well turned- compose – I hope it won’t seem rude or out,” he said. “Clearly Iterse – a Wooster Sauce report in verse. But every one well-bred.” At Summer gave a last hurrah and called for last Ron named the Berkshires near and far to hurry to the winner – he announced Newbury Show. (Newbury is in Berks, you the Berkshire Champ to know.) be a visitor from At half past nine, Sunday a.m., fourteen Dartmouth, Devon; by were there – I counted them. Phil Fowlie name Kilcot Mermaid 7. found his notes to read “Berkshires now. Another Kilcot – Royal The ‘Best of Breed’”. Round and round the Lustre – came in second ring they walked; handlers nervous – being in the muster. ‘Reserve baulked by champions from the national Champion’ is how she shows. First one speeds up – then it slows. will spend Winter 2-0-1-3. It’s really an impressive sight to see the Photos by Tony Ring Hilary Bruce cut black pigs, tinged with white in all the vital places quite a dash handing out rosette and sash both that Ron Fieldhouse, judge, was peering at. It took a bearing our own Soc’s name – as Sponsors – our while for him to choose the first dozen which had to minutes of fame. Sue Fildes – the winning owner – then took Mermaid back into her pen. She went to get her mind in gear and plot how she can win next year! And so to pigs we said goodbye. “Back the Berkshire ”’s still the cry. Off we went to cows and horses; another favourite, of course, is the llama and alpaca stand – obedience taught by word and hand. Not to forget the goats and sheep and poultry, though some may seem to sleep. So make a note that next year’s fun may well be on Sept twenty-one. In short – give Newbury your favour. It really is a show to savour.

Page 7 Wooster Sauce – December 2013 Jeeves, the Model of Servant Leadership by Tom Smith

Editor’s note. This is a précis of the talk that Tom titular head of the Order, its guiding spirit, a delivered at The Wodehouse Society’s convention in great and noble leader . Dearborn, Michigan, in October 2011. To read the full version of his paper, see Plum Lines , Spring 2012, p. 18. Greenleaf was inspired. To him the story of Leo “clearly says that the great leader is seen as servant ervant leadership is, according to Robert first and that simple fact is the key to his greatness”. Greenleaf, the creator of Servant Leadership, the Wodehouseans may already see where I am heading. dSesire to be of service to others through leadership. The problem I had with Hesse’s Leo is One problem I have with this philosophy is that Greenleaf’s own best test. The narrator in Hesse’s although many have written on the subject, it is story does not become wiser. He merely realizes that difficult to define Servant Leadership. Greenleaf’s Leo was running things and that he, the narrator, ‘One Best Test’ of Servant Leadership is: was merely going along for the ride. So I would like to offer a better exemplar of Servant Leadership: Do those served grow as persons? Do they, Jeeves. while being served , become healthier, wiser, It is important to point out that the idea of freer, more autonomous, more likely Servant as Leader did not originate with Greenleaf, themselves to become servants? And , what is Hesse, or Wodehouse. In Wooster Proposes, Jeeves the effect on the least privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further Disposes , Kristin Thompson points out that deprived? characters like Jeeves are part of a long “literary (Servant Leadership , Paulist Press, 2002) tradition of clever servants, stretching back to the plays of Aristophanes and Plautus and extending Robert Greenleaf graduated from a small through such figures as Sancho Panza and Sam Midwestern college around 1920 and joined AT&T, Weller”. Literature abounds with masters who would where he was a senior manager in be lost without their servants. There is training and education. Upon Blackadder, the smart, cunning valet to retiring, he became a management the dim Prince Regent. More recently, we consultant and expert on have Betty Suarez of the TV show Ugly management in large organizations. Betty , who, as assistant to the magazine He also wrote prolifically. In the editor, takes care of all of his needs and 1960s, he was doing consulting teaches him how to treat others with work for a university. In order to respect. understand the students he was So, all goes well for Bertie until Jeeves working with, he decided to read is not available. Then he and his friends, what they were reading. Since the who also rely on Jeeves, fall apart. The German author Herman Hesse Bertie and Jeeves stories revolve around Robert Greenleaf, creator of the two basic formulas: either Bertie or his seemed popular, he read a copy of philosophy of Servant Leadership Hesse’s The Journey to the East . Out friends are in trouble and turn to Jeeves of the experience came Servant Leadership. In for advice, or Bertie’s attempts to solve his friends’ Greenleaf’s words: problems gets his friends stuck even deeper so they have to turn to Jeeves. In this story we see a band of men on a It becomes clear in the first Jeeves story (‘Jeeves mythical journey, probably also Hesse’s own Takes Charge’) that Jeeves runs the show, and Bertie journey. The central figure of the story is Leo, knows it. He says, “I gave up trying to run my own who accompanies the party as the servant affairs within a week of his coming to me.” Bertie’s who does their menial chores, but who also sustains them with his spirit and song. friends also learn to rely on Jeeves. In ‘The Artistic * * * * * Career of Corky’, Bertie says: He is a person of extraordinary presence. All goes well until Leo disappears. Then the I felt like the proprietor of a performing dog group falls into disarray and the journey is on the vaudeville stage when the tyke has abandoned. They cannot make it without the pulled off his trick without a hitch. I had servant Leo. The narrator, one of the party, betted on Jeeves all along, and I had known after some years of wandering, finds Leo and he wouldn’t let me down. It beats me is taken into the Order that sponsored the sometimes why a man with his genius is journey. There he discovers that Leo, whom satisfied to hang around pressing my clothes he had known first as servant , was in fact the and what not. If I had half Jeeves’s brain I

Page 8 Wooster Sauce – December 2013

should have a stab at being Prime Minister or learn that Bertie is at a school where gentlemen learn something. to take care of themselves. This is growth and understanding far exceeding that of Unlike the people Leo serves, the Leo’s masters. people Jeeves serves are aware of what he So, for me, Jeeves is a much better does for them. This is the first step in example of Servant Leadership than Bertie’s attainment of wisdom. But Hesse’s Leo. One wonders what eventually Bertie begins to resent Jeeves’s would have become of Greenleaf’s skills and attempts to show Jeeves that he, notion of Servant Leadership had he Bertie, can also solve problems. Of course, picked up a copy of Carry On, Jeeves this always means Jeeves has to intervene. instead of Hesse’s Journey to the East . Eventually, Bertie becomes resigned to I suspect Greenleaf’s writing would his relationship with Jeeves. He becomes have benefited and perhaps had some wiser about his own abilities and is even necessary humour injected into it. inspired to serve others by providing his But Greenleaf’s best test can still friends with Jeeves’s advice. I believe that stand, and with the inimitable Jeeves his self-knowledge does represent growth. Tom Smith as exemplar, we should all strive to be And if that isn’t sufficient, in The Return of Jeeves we Servant Leaders. Another Milestone for Everyman by Tony Ring

hen Everyman’s Library started their in the American monthly magazine Vanity ambitious project in 2000 to publish a uniform Fair in July and August 1915. As far as I am Wcollectors’ edition of Wodehouse’s writings, they aware, this version has never previously been were greeted with appreciation of their goal and best republished anywhere, so congratulations, wishes for a successful outcome. Since then, the Everyman! quality of the series has maintained superb The Kid Brady Stories and The Man of Means production standards, and any collector would be (ISBN 978-1-84159-189-6) are collected delighted to show off shelves covered in the books. together in a book for the first time. The Kid Each one has a cover with artwork by the same artist Brady stories were written for an American – the distinctive hand of Andrzej Klimowski. He is magazine between 1905 and 1907, and the also to be congratulated on his perseverance and leading character featured strongly in the thanked for his commitment to the Wodehouse cause later novel Psmith Journalist . The Society has over such a long period. also made these stories available to our The two titles published in Autumn 2013 have members in individual publications, and once not only enabled the edition to reach a milestone of again this is their first appearance in an 90 books in the series, but have broken new ground. official book publication. The Man of Means Many readers might have thought that ‘new ground’ stories were written by Wodehouse and his would be impossible within the spirit and intention friend Charles Bovill in 1914 and appeared in of the Everyman series, but the publisher’s broad and monthly magazines on both sides of the flexible Ukridgean outlook has permitted these two Atlantic – Strand in the UK and Pictorial titles to be published: Review in the United States. They were The Swoop and The Military Invasion of collected into a book with a limited print run America (ISBN 978-1-84159-190-2). The by Porpoise Books in 1991. Swoop is a 1909 title which has rarely been We await with considerable interest the republished, although the Society did serialise disclosure of any future plans which Everyman may it in By The Way a few years ago. This edition have for further titles. For more information about reprints the 33 drawings by C. Harrison that the Everyman series, visit their website at accompanied the original text. The Military www.everymanslibrary.co.uk/wodehouse.aspx. Invasion of America was a short adaptation of the same idea, with the site of the action To see the covers of these two new titles and learn more transported to America, which was published about them, see Nick Townend’s article on page 20.

Dark hair fell in a sweep over his forehead. He looked like a man who would write vers libre , as indeed he did. (From The The Girl on the Boat , 1922)

Page 9 Wooster Sauce – December 2013 The Empress Strikes Back A Report of the American Convention, October 18–20

he Wodehouse Society can always guarantee a Our second speaker was Dan Garrison, author of corking good time at its biennial conventions, Who’s Who in Wodehouse . Dan examined ‘Romantic Tand this year was no exception. The bash put on by Plots in Wodehouse: The Greek Comedy Formula’, the Chicago Accident Syndicate, our convention which showed the parallels between many of hosts, was positively oojah-cum-spiff. What better Wodehouse’s stories and key plot devices of Greek place for Wodehouseans to gather, after all, than in a comedy, in particular what was known as ‘new very posh club containing a bar that served the comedy’. This may seem a misnomer since it began biggest and best gin and tonics we had consumed in about 320 B.C., but that is when Menander and the years? And the food at our venue, the Union League rest of the boys stopped writing about gods and Club of Chicago, wasn’t bad either. goddesses and started satirizing contemporary life in The primary action took place in the club’s Athens. Dan convincingly demonstrated that PGW Crystal Room, where an entire back wall was lined was using ‘new comedy’ to the end of his life.. with tables covered stem to stern with goodies of all Then it was Tony Ring’s turn; he spoke on ‘The descriptions. These were the wares for the rummage Frustrations of a Proven Successful Playwright’, sale, raffle, and auction; the stall of remarkably cheap which focused on Wodehouse’s straight theatre Wodehouse books sold out very quickly. work, with emphasis on his collaborations as well as The faithful began his translations or adaptations of arriving on Thursday the others’ plays. Of special interest in 17th, and on Friday this department was Keep Your Head , groups formed for tours a rather unusual piece with a plot of the Club’s artwork and centered on head-hunting, of all of Chicago’s architectural things! gems. Since the city Tony was followed by Peter burned down in 1871, Nieuwenhuizen, a Dutch member some of us were a bit who discussed ‘A Tale of Two cynical about the gems Knights: Sidney and Wodehouse’. bit, but we came back The Sidney in question was Sir admitting that there Philip Sidney, the 16th-century might be more to sky- English poet and soldier who died at Members of Chicago’s City Lit Theater Company scrapers than we had performed two Wodehouse stories to great applause. the battle of Zutphen in the thought. Netherlands. He is famous for the The joint was really jumping by the time of line “Thy necessity is greater than mine,” spoken as Friday evening’s official reception and buffet. That he gave up a drink of water to another wounded sol- ended on a high note as members of Chicago’s City dier while he himself was dying. Peter reminded us how Lit Theater Company treated us to two staged Wodehouse used this line in many forms (correctly readings, both of them short stories from The Man and mangled) more than 20 times in his stories. Upstairs : ‘The Man Upstairs’ and ‘Ahead of The morning session concluded with Nina Schedule’. These are less-known, early Wodehouse Botting Herbst, a Brit stories, but the City Lit folks proved brilliantly just now living in the how delightful they are. Chicago area, who Saturday is the big day in a TWS convention. holds the distinction The daylight hours are spent enjoying Riveting of playing Bobbie Talks, while the evening features fantastic food, Wickham in the first delicious drinks, magnificent music, inspiring season of Jeeves and impersonations, and rambunctious revelry. Who Wooster . Nina had could ask for anything more? everybody laughing This year’s talks were especially riveting. Chris with her memories of Dueker kicked off with ‘Of Mumps and Men’, from working with Stephen which we learned everything we had ever wanted to Fry and Hugh Laurie. know about mumps but were afraid to ask. In a very The afternoon British ex-pat Nina Botting Herbst humorous talk, Chris dispelled any notion that was one of eight enjoyable speakers. session commenced Wodehouse had had mumps twice – very unlikely – with the Dreaded and that it would have affected his libido, as some Business Meeting, conducted by TWS president Ken biographers have claimed. Clevenger. Ken reported that the society’s

Page 10 Wooster Sauce – December 2013 membership is healthy, and treasurer Kris Fowler Finally, Ian Michaud provided an overview of the confirmed that TWS is solvent. We learned the happy PGW Globe Reclamation Project, which is bringing news that TWS now has a new website, and if you’d together Wodehouse scholars from around the world. like to see it, go to www. More about this project can be wodehouse.org. Then Susan read in the September 2013 issue Collicott and Tom Smith of Wooster Sauce . came to the podium to With that, the talks were over announce the location of and it was time for the evening the 2015 convention: reception and banquet. It is Seattle, Washington. (The traditional but not mandatory to dates will be October come in costume, and many 30–November 1, so do preferred to simply dress up for mark it in your calendar.) the occasion. But as usual we In keeping with TWS were awed by the wonderful tradition, Ken stepped variety and originality of those down as president, and who had come in costume, Karen Shotting was Outgoing president Ken Clevenger presented whether as a Wodehouse charac- unanimously elected to Karen Shotting with the presidential regalia. ter or a book title (not easy to take his place. The new vice president is Bob Rains, do), or in period dress. After the delicious meal had Kris Fowler continues as treasurer, and Ian Michaud been consumed and toasts had been drunk, awards will labour on as the society’s membership for the best costumes secretary. were presented. Other The business done, it was time for a little prizes were distributed, entertainment, and this was provided by a cast raffle winners were of thousands – or so it seemed; it was really just announced, and UK 12 people – who did a staged reading of ‘The Society Chairman Riddle of the Starving Swine’. This original Hilary Bruce was sketch by Gayle Lange Puhl, a Sherlockian as presented with a gift well as a Wodehousean, had Sherlock Holmes from the American investigating the mystery of the Empress of Society (see photo, Blandings’s loss of appetite. Although clearly page 5). Later in the pilfered from ‘Pig-hoo-o-o-o-ey!’, it was a evening, the magni- wonderful pastiche, made all the more enjoyable ficent Maria Jette by the handheld puppets used to enact the story. performed some Wode- The antepenultimate speaker was Michael house songs for us. Pointon, who shared stories of the day in 1988 (Maria has already Maria Jette wowed the crowd. when the blue plaque marking PGW’s London released one CD of residence at 17 Dunraven Street (formerly Norfolk PGW songs; another one is in the works.) The evening Street) was unveiled by the Queen Mother. Michael ended on a very jazzy note, with Michael Pointon was instrumental in getting the plaque installed on and Katherine Lewis providing the dance music. the house and therefore had a unique perspective on On Sunday morning, during the traditional the day’s events. farewell brunch, we enjoyed Norman Murphy – our fourth several readings – first a selection and final British speaker of the from ‘The Clicking of Cuthbert’ day – then told us about read by Tad Boehmer and Masha ‘Wodehouse and the Girl Friends’. Lebedeva (the latter enacting These friends encompassed Vladimir Brusiloff in full beard); children such as the Bowes-Lyon then various favourite selections girls (the Queen Mother’s chosen and read by Nina Botting cousins, to whom The Pothunters Herbst and Michael Pointon. After was dedicated), his cousins the this splendid finish, it was time for Deane sisters, women with whom the tearful goodbyes as we took our he enjoyed platonic friendships, leave of Chicago and each other and those for whom he with promises to meet again in entertained feelings deeper and Seattle in 2015. warmer than those of ordinary Two Cleopatterers who won costume Every TWS convention has its friendship. Norman ended by awards included UK Society member- own special ‘feel’. This one will ship secretary Christine Hewitt (right). revealing for the first time in probably be best remembered for public the facts behind the shocking story that PGW its milieu, the superb gin & tonics, and the very high had had an affair – and Ethel had found out about it. standard of talks. Thus sayeth your Editor.

Page 11 Wooster Sauce – December 2013 The Real-Life Archibald Mulliner by Harshawardhan Nimkhedkar have been reading the scholarly works of The name Wodehouse always acts on me like catnip Wodehousian experts for years and have felt there on a cat, so I stopped and sniffed. I knew all about Iis almost no aspect they have not explored. And yet, Ernest Armine and Sir Philip, the two celebrated sometimes something new comes to light. Wodehouses with connections to India – When I stumbled upon this discovery in but this name was new. Any relation to 2011, I wrote to both Norman Murphy and our hero? And what was he doing in Tony Ring for their opinion. They both India? were kind enough to reply encouragingly. Fortunately, the eBay seller had And so, here it is for what it is worth. quoted extensively from the book with You see, I think I have found out who photographs – and the text revealed that PGW may have had in mind when he this Wodehouse was a famous bird limned the character of Archibald Mulliner. imitator! Archibald, Aurelia Cammarleigh’s lodestar Aha! Now, what do we have here? I in ‘The Reverent Wooing of Archibald’, said to my immortal soul. Was this the was a typical Drone in spats. Yet Aurelia man who gave P. G. Wodehouse the idea loved him, overlooking his legendary for Archibald Mulliner? brainlessness. Why? Because Archibald Frederick Armine The more I mused, the more was an inimitable hen imitator! His Wodehouse convinced I became. Unable to keep my enactment of a hen laying an egg was so (1884 –1912) thoughts to myself, I shared this idea convincing, so realistic, that it was out of this world. with my ‘Blandings’ Yahoo group (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/blandings) and also Archibald’s imitation of a hen laying an egg wrote to both Norman Murphy and Tony Ring, was conceived on broad and sympathetic lines. Less violent than Salvini’s Othello , it had seeking their views. I am very glad to say they both in it something of the poignant wistfulness of supported my theory. In my announcement, I quoted Mrs Siddons in the sleep-walking scene of an extract from the book: Macbeth . The rendition started quietly, almost inaudibly, with a sort of soft, liquid crooning – In one of his reports he is warned against the joyful yet half-incredulous murmur of a “making strange animal noises in the mother who can scarcely believe as yet that corridors,” and this mimicry of animals went her union has really been blessed, and that it with him through life, as most of his intimate is indeed she who is responsible for that oval friends will recall his silent delight when the mixture of chalk and albumen which she sees sofa and even the piano had to be moved to lying beside her in the straw. look for that cat whose faint mew was heard, Then, gradually, conviction comes. so life-like that no one suspected the real “It looks like an egg,” one seems to hear author of its cries. His sister records that even her say. “It feels like an egg. It’s shaped like in India this “parlour trick” enlivened many a an egg. Damme, it is an egg!” dinner party or flagging entertainment! And at that, all doubting resolved, the crooning changes; takes on a firmer note; soars into the upper register; and finally The ‘‘he’’ above refers to F(rederick) Armine swells into a maternal pæan of joy – a Wodehouse, a cousin and near contemporary of P. G. “Charawk-chawk-chawk-chawk” of such a Wodehouse. The son of the Reverend Frederick calibre that few had ever been able to listen to Armine Wodehouse and Alice Elizabeth Juliana it dry-eyed. Following which, it was Archibald’s Powys, he was born on 23 June 1884 and later custom to run round the room, flapping the sides of his coat, and then, leaping onto a sofa became Professor of History at Agra College, India, or some convenient chair, to stand there with where he died from enteric fever on 21 September his arms at right angles, crowing himself 1912, aged just 28. After reading about this chap, I purple in the face. became convinced that when our PGW first thought of Archibald Mulliner in 1928, he had had this long- It so happened that in July 2011, while trawling lost cousin in his mind. through the depths of the internet for some matters In fact, an even earlier allusion by PGW to this related to the history of the British Raj, I chanced cousin would be dated 1915 – 13 years before Archie upon the e-Bay listing of an old (1913) book, F. Mulliner’s chicken-imitating debut and only three Armine Wodehouse – A Short Memoir with Some years after the death of Plum’s cat-imitating cousin, Sketches And Verses . It was a posthumous collection when Wodehouse had Ashe Marson imitating a cat- of essays and poems by F. Armine, written while he fight to get Joan Valentine out of a tight spot in was stationed in Agra, India, before his early death. Something Fresh (aka Something New ).

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When I sent my findings to Norman and Tony in July 2011, Tony replied: Mastermind Quiz 9: Thank you for pointing out this item on eBay, and for summarising the arguments that it points to him as the model for Archibald A Wodehouse Christmas Mulliner. I wonder if there is any evidence anywhere that PGW had met him – he went to Cheltenham College according to the extracts, by David Buckle so it is quite likely. Norman may have a better idea. Wodehouse tended to make notes of 1. In which short story does Bertie Wooster little pointers like this, which he kept in puncture Sir Roderick Glossop’s hot water bottle notebooks and referred to from time to time in the small house of Christmas morning, having when working on his novels and stories. It would be expecting too much to find a specific mistaken him for Tuppy Glossop? reference to this subject, I think. 2. Whom does Bertie describe as “jovial and bonhomous as a dame in a Christmas And Norman had definite thoughts to share: pantomime” in Much Obliged Jeeves ? I am sure you are right. I suppose lots of 3. Not being full of the festive spirit, what boys learned how to imitate animal noises – charitable act does Bertie refuse to do for Aunt see also Ashe Marson who enlivens dinner in Dahlia? the Steward’s Room at Blandings by doing an imitation of a cat fight – but a party trick like 4. ‘Another Christmas Carol’ is narrated by which this would certainly be known and Wodehouse character? remembered by the family. However, it is unlikely that PG and his 5. Writing in the American magazine Vanity Fair cousin ever met, although they certainly knew of each other. Frederick was the second of in December 1915, P G Wodehouse gave advice three sons and the third brother, Norman to a Christmas Shopper. What pen name did he Atherton, went into the Navy and captained use? England’s Rugby team six times before the First World War. PG was very proud of this but 6. In which story in Eggs, Beans and Crumpets does said he had never met his cousin; which the narrator state: “Too often, when you implies that he had never met Frederick introduce a ringer into a gaggle of Pekes, there either. (I have not found any reference to his ensues a scrap like New Year’s Eve in Madrid”? ever having visited Gotham in Derbyshire or even mentioning it.) But we do know that PG 7. “And then, one morning, like a voice from did know Frederick’s father, the Rev. F another world, had come the news that the Wodehouse (PG’s own ‘Uncle Fred’). He was one of PG’s four clergyman uncles and the White Sox and the Giants were to give an Miss Powys he married happened to be a very exhibition in London at the Chelsea Football close friend of the Countess of Bradford of Ground. He had counted the days like a child Weston Park, Shropshire (the source for the before Christmas.” These lines comes from Blandings estate). which story in The Man with Two Left Feet ? I found her name in the Weston Park Visitors’ Book frequently and, after her 8. “The days are growing short and cold, / marriage, she brought her husband to stay at Approaches Autumn, ay and chill Yule” are the Weston Park as well. Further, in his Notes and Phrases notebooks, PG notes that Uncle Fred first two lines of which Wodehouse poem? came to Oxford to consult with PG’s brother Armine as to which college Uncle Fred’s eldest 9. “Jeeves was in the sitting-room messing about son Arthur should go to. And when we with holly, for we would soon be having remember that both Armine and his cousin Christmas at our throats and he is always a Frederick then went out to teach at univer- stickler for doing the right thing,” mused Bertie sities in India, not too distant from each other, Wooster in which short story? then I think we have a sufficient connec- tion. One day, I must sit down and count how 10. In ‘Jeeves and the Yule-tide Spirit’, why does many Wodehouses served in India; Frederick’s Bertie cancel a trip to Monte Carlo? brother was there as well in the Indian Army. Congratulations on having found it. (Answers on page 21)

Now I am making this discovery public (after It was as he was passing the Houses of much nagging from the Wooster Sauce editor). The Parliament that the realisation came to him that the strange bubbly sensation that seemed to start next time you read PGW’s description of Archibald’s from just above the lower left side-pocket of his imitation of a hen laying an egg, remember Frederick waistcoat was not, as he had at first supposed, Armine Wodehouse and drink a glass in his honour. dyspepsia, but love. Don’t forget to say a loud ‘Charawk’ at the same (From ‘The Romance of a Bulb-Squeezer’, 1927) time!

Page 13 Wooster Sauce – December 2013 Gladys and Ern: The Further Adventures by Bob Rains and Andrea Jacobsen

This was written for the Society’s Weekend with Wodehouse she heard a modern-day Elisa Doolittle cry out, in Norfolk last year. Tour participants were challenged “Getcher flarze here. Flarze for sale cheap.” Gertie to describe their favourite child character(s) in the was touched by what appeared to be a brother-and- PGW canon. Bob and Andrea were the clear-cut winners. sister team working side by side out of a flower cart. She could not help but notice that whenever the e have encountered the siblings Gladys and flower girl’s attentions were focused on a customer Ern only once, in the immortal ‘Lord and the assembling of a proper bouquet, the young EWmsworth and the Girl Friend’, which Rudyard man appeared to be dipping into the customer’s Kipling famously described as one of the most perfect purse, no doubt with the best of intentions. (We short stories he had ever read. That font of all ought not judge Ern too harshly, as he had developed information, Wikipedia, reports that ‘Lord E and the something of a drinking problem, having been G F’ first appeared in 1926 in the U.S. in Liberty introduced at a tender age to the delights of alcohol magazine and in England in Strand . It was, of course, with the gift of a bottle of port from Lord Emsworth. later collected in Blandings Castle , aka Blandings But we digress.) Gertie, feeling she could take care of Castle and Elsewhere (1935). herself, decided to make a purchase. She bought a It’s actually something of an exaggeration to say vase full of what Gladys described as “gladly-old- that we encounter Ern in the story as he has no eyes”. She took that vase back to the flat, and, the rest speaking role, and his most important action, for is history. which he is due eternal glory – biting Lady As later recounted in Cocktail Time , Gertie got Constance on the leg – occurs offstage. incensed when she learned that her husband, Gladys is another matter altogether. She has a lot Gordon Carlisle, known among his associates as Oily, to say, and she says it brilliantly. Her thoughts, failed to take strong measures when a mug named straight from the heart, are punctuated with “Yes, sir. Cosmo Wisdom had welshed on a sporting wager. Thank you, sir,” even when the thanks are due her, as when she saves Lord E’s own leg from an aroused Gertie said, “I’d have busted him one.” canine. Explaining why she thought it was okay to Mr. Carlisle could well believe it. Impul- siveness and a sturdy belief in direct action take food for the banished Ern, she famously were the leading features of his mate’s explains, “Thank you, sir. I thought if I didn’t ’ave interesting character. Some time had passed none, then it would be all right Ern ’aving what I since the incident occurred and the bump had would ’ave ’ad if I ’ad ’ave ’ad.” gone down now, but there remained green in Gladys is not just uniquely eloquent, she is also a his memory the occasion when a fancied girl of action. In this one story she manages to pick misdemeanour on his part had led Gertie to hit him on the back of the head with a large flowers from the gardens of Blandings Castle, cop vase containing gladioli. It had, in his McAllister on the shin with a stone, calm the opinion, spoiled the honeymoon. aforementioned wild dog before it can attack Lord E, pinch “two buns, two jem-sengwiches, two apples There is a postscript. After he was sentenced at and a slicer cake”, get put in a cattle shed, persuade the Bosher Street Magistrate’s Court to 20 days Lord E that she be allowed to pick more “flarze” for without the option, Ern whiled away his time Ern, and, most important of all, win the heart of studying the writings on high finance of a certain Lord E and turn him from a mouse into a man Robert Bruce. A mere 20 years later, G&E- capable of staring down McAllister and standing up Flarze.com, Ltd., had its long-awaited initial public to the imperious Lady Constance. offering and outperformed the Facebook IPO by So, what can we predict for the future lives of several hundred million pounds. G&E’s sister and such wonderful children? We know that Wodehouse brother founders reported that they had used a tiny contemplated a sequel in which Gladys would return portion of their profits to purchase a rundown estate to Blandings as a ‘tweenie’ engaged to a jealous valet called Blandings Castle, which they intended to or perhaps the local vet, but, sadly, this never came to rehabilitate and turn into a retreat and spa for an fruition. ( What Ho! (2000), p. 132) obscure group known as The P G Wodehouse Society. We think perhaps that these children of the streets of London, given their propensities . . . well, it Bob and Andrea in would go like this: their guises as Oily and Sweetie Carlisle, One day a nice American lady known as at The Wodehouse Gumshoe Gertie, aka Sweetie Carlisle, was Society convention wandering among the stalls of Covent Garden when in October 2013.

Page 14 Wooster Sauce – December 2013 Book Now for an Poet’s Corner Evening of The Haunted Tram Wodehouse Verse! [A gentleman recently wrote to the Daily Express n the September edition of Wooster Sauce, alleging that several times mysterious footsteps have been heard on the top of a South London tram preliminary notice was given of a forthcoming I at night, accompanied by the rattle of a conductor’s Society event which is being presented in chain and (probably, though he does not say so) a conjunction with the poetry outreach charity whispered request for fares. And no conductor was Poet in the City (see www.poetinthecity.co.uk). It visible!] is to be held at 6.30 for 7 pm on Monday, April 14, 2014, in Hall One, King’s Place, 90 York Way, Ghosts of The Towers, The Grange, The Court, London N1 9AG – close to Kings Cross Station. Ghosts of the Castle Keep, The event is expected to last about 90 minutes. Ghosts of the finnicking, “high life” sort Are growing a trifle cheap. This is a unique opportunity to hear readings But here is a spook of another stamp. of a dozen or so Wodehouse verses of a century No thin theatrical sham, ago, written mainly in response to published But a spectre who fears not dirt nor damp: reports of minor incidents from everyday life. We He rides on a London tram. expect that these will be read by established stars from the Arts, whose participation will be By the curious glance of a mortal eye confirmed in the New Year on our website He is not seen. He’s heard. (www.pgwodehousesociety.org.uk) or through His steps go a-creeping, creeping by, He speaks but a single word. Poet in the City. In addition, Hal Cazalet and our You may hear his feet: you may hear them plain, patron Lucy Tregear will sing five of the lyrics For – it’s odd in a ghost – they crunch. which Wodehouse wrote during his musical You may hear the whirr of his rattling chain, comedy career of the 1910s and 1920s. And the ting of his ringing punch. As far as we are aware, this is the first time that an evening of Wodehouse verse has ever The gathering shadows of night fall fast; been offered, and it is another example of the The lamps in the street are lit; extraordinary breadth of his work. We strongly To the roof have the eerie footsteps passed, Where the outside passengers sit. encourage you to persuade a few friends to join To the passengers’ side has the spectre paced; you for an unusual and exuberant evening. For a moment he halts, they say, Tickets went on sale during November. If Then a ring from the punch at the unseen waist, purchased in person or by telephone through the And the footsteps pass away. Kings Place Box Office (020 7520 1490), they cost £11.50. However, purchasing online at That is the tale of the haunted car; www.kingsplace.co.uk brings a £2 per ticket And if on that car you ride You won’t, believe me, have journeyed far discount. Ere the spectre seeks your side. We look forward to seeing many of you and Ay, all unseen by your seat he’ll stand, your friends at King’s Place for what should be And (unless it’s a wig) your hair, an extraordinary evening. Will rise at the touch of his icy hand, And the sound of his whispered “Fare!” To learn about a new book of PGW verse, to be published in 2014, turn to page 4. At the end of the trip, when you’re getting down (And you’ll probable simply fly!) “I didn’t know poets broke people’s necks.” Just give the conductor half-a-crown, “Ricky does. He once took on three Ask who is the ghost and why. simultaneous costermongers in Covent Garden and cleaned them up in five minutes. He had And the man will explain with baited breath gone there to get inspiration for a pastoral, and (And point you a moral) thus: they started chi-iking him, and he sailed in and “‘E’s a pore young bloke wot was crushed to death knocked them base over apex into a pile of By people as fought Brussels sprouts. As they didn’t ought “How different from the home life of the late For seats on a crowded bus.” Lord Tennyson.” (From Uncle Fred in the Springtime , 1939) First published in Punch , July 17, 1903

Page 15 Wooster Sauce – December 2013 The Life and Death of the Real Jeeves as considered by Murray Hedgcock he June issue of Wooster Sauce tells the story of life in the trenches are graphically recorded, leading Percy Jeeves, the Yorkshire-born cricketer who to the night of July 21, 1916, when the 14th Tmade an impression on PGW when playing for Warwicks and 1st West Kents went over the top in Warwickshire at Cheltenham in 1913. But it has been the terrible Battle of the Somme. Most managed only only in the Wodehouse oeuvre that the name, a few paces before they fell. transferred to a marvellous literary character, has With their star-shells lighting up the valley, been properly recognised. So we are indebted to the Germans had a perfect view of the enemy, Brian Halford for his life of Percy Jeeves, entitled The lumbering their way towards them. . . . They Real Jeeves . blundered into a storm of shrapnel, with barely a chance of firing a shot in reply. Percy Jeeves, born March 5, 1888, made his name The action was tantamount to murder, not playing for Goole in the East Riding of Yorkshire. by the German machine-gunners carrying out a Spotted in 1910 by the secretary of the county club, legitimate defensive act of war, but by the R. W. Ryder, Jeeves was recruited by Warwickshire, British officers on their own courageous infantry. making his first-class debut at Edgbaston against the As line after line of men were cut down, only Australians on May 29, 1912. From a modest a few minutes elapsed before two companies of beginning with innings of one and 12, and a bowling the 15th Warwicks was ordered to support the analysis of two wickets for 35 runs, Jeeves steadily attack. C Company, including Percy Jeeves, was one of those chosen. improved until his selection for the Players v. Gentlemen in 1914. He had match Next morning, the 15th figures of five wickets for 68 runs and Warwicks reported one officer and 13 earned the approval of the old England Other Ranks killed, five officers and captain Plum Warner, captaining the 90 Other Ranks wounded, and one amateurs. Jeeves, said Warner, would officer and 31 Other Ranks missing. be an England bowler in the near “One of the latter was Private 611 future. Percy Jeeves. He is still missing.” But life had different plans for the Today Percy Jeeves is one of more young Yorkshireman. than 72,000 names on the Thiepval The obituary sections of Wisden Monument, a memorial to men with from 1915 to 1920 are a touching no known grave, set on the site of the reminder of the price paid by Somme battlefield. “Carved there, at cricketers, page upon page recording Pier and Face 9A 9B and 10B, is the young men who died for their Jeeves’s name, in perpetuity, just a country. There is, perhaps under- few miles from where his body is lost standably, an emphasis on officers – forever.” products of the public schools who ‘Our’ Jeeves, we know, dabbled in found themselves in action within the War to an extent. The real Jeeves months of wearing their First XI colours. But – and we must concede Percy Jeeves that title - did alongside these were thousands of working-class more than dabble. He volunteered, he trained, he recruits like Percy Jeeves who joined up within served – and in the finish, he gave his life. weeks of the outbreak of the war. Percy Jeeves might well have represented his A chapter heading in The Real Jeeves sums up country at cricket, but it was not to be. Brian Halford what awaited Jeeves and his fellows in the 15th has done a service beyond telling us of a cricketer Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment when they whose promise was never to be fulfilled. He has arrived at Boulogne on November 22, 1915, heading reminded us that often, beyond the fun of to camp: Wodehouse and the rewards of the Summer Game, Vile introduction to France. Waist-deep thick lies the harsh reality of a cruel world. liquid mud. The Real Jeeves, by Brian Halford, is published by Pitch The privations, uncertainties, and fears of Army Publishing at £16.99. Jeeves had won the match for his team with figures of 15-3-44-4, so led the Players back into the pavilion. The Warwickshire player was first up the pavilion steps, before Hobbs, Woolley, Gunn, Hitch - great players following in his wake. “There was no player on either side who created a more profound impression than Jeeves,” commented the Post . It was no cheap parochial praise. Jeeves had announced himself as one of the very best. (From The Real Jeeves , chap. 26, concerning the Players v. Gentlemen match of July 1914)

Page 16 Wooster Sauce – December 2013 Two Recent Unabridged Audio Recordings Reviewed by Tony Ring odehouse has been well served by the readers He had an even more difficult job in reading Mike of both abridged and unabridged audiobooks and Psmith , the second half of the 1909 school story Wfor almost 25 years. Chivers Audio first Mike , which was published produced a Jonathan Cecil recording in 1989, separately under different titles and until his recent death he had recorded in 1935 and 1953, which had a almost 40 titles for the company through its cast including numerous adoles- various evolutions (Chivers, BBC Audio and cent schoolboys. Graham’s AudioGo are successive names for the same speaking voice comes across as company). He set a challenging standard for very much in the mid-range, and those following. Simultaneously, Martin he is naturally quite softly- Jarvis was recording a total of almost 20 spoken, ideal for the basic abridged books for CSA Telltapes (now speaking voice of such charac- Canongate). ters. His clarity is exemplary, so, Keen to continue recording unabridged as with The Girl in Blue , it is the difficulty of Wodehouse titles, AudioGo selected Graham Seed to distinguishing between similar characters in dialogue read two very different books, The Girl in Blue and which is the only criticism. Even his angry, grumpy Mike and Psmith . The Girl in Blue , a 1970 book, has Mr Downing didn’t generate a feeling of terror in the none of Wodehouse’s best- listener as it was reported as having caused in known characters, but it does the boys. I wonder to what extent this reaction have Americans of both sexes reflects the way we have been spoiled by the alongside the British characters. long familiarity with Jonathan Cecil’s Graham has a good narrative recordings. voice and has produced a There are still many Wodehouse books recording which is very which have not yet been recorded in unabridged pleasant to listen to, but it is audio format, and it is to be hoped that the fair to say that the ear did not company will continue to use professional always distinguish the speakers readers such as Graham Seed to fill in the gaps. easily during prolonged dialogue sequences. His most Since this article was written, Audiogo has successful accent was that of Chipperfield, the suddenly ceased business and gone into admini- brokers’ man acting as butler to Crispin Scrope; in stration. No details are yet available about the fate of my view his least successful was the American lady existing stock or rights to publish the recordings in Barney Clayborne. future. Little Nuggets ‘The World’s Finest Pork’ shouting at the screen, the contestants (the team who SHARON MITCHELL sent an advertisement from a U.S. went on to become series champions) failed to spot the magazine extolling the virtues of Berkshire Pork: “The Blandings connection.” Berkshire breed of pork has been perfected over a nearly 300-year period to retain its superior taste, Wodehouse and Jazz ALAN WOOD came across an unexpected Wodehouse texture and marbling. Often known as Kurobuta, this reference in jazz musician Dave Frishberg’s online particular pork is celebrated in Japan for its tenderness memoirs (http: // bit.ly/16NoMqX). In discussing the and juiciness.” ( Note . When Crown Prince Hirohito great Gene Krupa and the Austin High School gang visited England in 1921, he so enjoyed the Berkshire (which gave birth to the ‘Chicago’ style of jazz), bacon at Buckingham Palace that he insisted on it for Frishberg writes: breakfast to the end of his life.) The ad included a Once in the car he [Krupa] reminisced about the recipe for Berkshire chops. Austin High School group in Chicago and their assortment of Bohemian friends, characters we A Bad Connection would call “beatniks” in later years. There were Contestants on the BBC Four quiz programme Only avid readers among them, and the English Connect have to spot the connections between groups humorists were favored. Gene remembered Bud Freeman, Bix Beiderbecke, Dave Tough and others of four items out of a ‘wall’ of 16. During the final on quoting dialog from P.G. Wodehouse. Gene said his August 5, MARTIN STRATFORD tells us, one of the own favorite was Three Men In a Boat by Jerome groups on the wall consisted of ‘Wellbeloved, Beach, K. Jerome. He said Bix could quote long passages Voules, and Twemlow’. Martin writes: “Despite my from that book.

Page 17 Wooster Sauce – December 2013 Perfect Nonsense: A Review by Peter Thompson n 14 October, I attended Richmond Theatre to The play appeals not only to Wodehouse lovers see a performance of Perfect Nonsense . Based on by ensuring that all the best lines are there along OThe Code of the Woosters , this was written by brothers with the complex plot, but also to the other members Robert and David Goodale. And a splendid job they of the audience (otherwise known as Those Who have done. Live on the Dark Side) who just want a farce which It opens with the spartan set of a chair and Bertie is clever and performed brilliantly. The actors, I Wooster, and like the rest of the audience, I suspect, I trust, have booked themselves into a rest home after wondered how the play would deal with the story, the run concludes as they will undoubtedly be totally bearing in mind there are but three persons in the exhausted. It is fast and furious from beginning to cast: Matthew Macfadyen as Jeeves, Stephen Mangan end. But thanks to clever production ideas, excellent as Bertie, and Mark Hadfield as Seppings, butler to directing and clever acting, they make the evening Aunt Dahlia. But the Goodales – obviously men who, one to remember. Those who will have you believe like Oofy Prosser, would walk ten miles in tight that an actor’s life is an easy one should be booked in shoes to pick up sixpence and do not like to waste to perform this brilliant piece. That, as they used to wages on a large cast when three very talented men say, would “larn ’em”. can do the job of a dozen – allow Jeeves and Seppings A bonus for Society members is that in the to act out the parts of all the others with hilarious programme notes, there is a familiar name telling us consequences and no loss of Wodehouse quality. You about ‘Jeeves and the West End Stage’ – namely, Tony will probably never see a better Gussie Fink-Nottle, Ring. As ever well researched, beautifully written, nor indeed a better Aunt Dahlia. You will certainly interesting, and informative. Thank you, Tony. never see a similar Roderick Spode, of that you have A note of caution: This works on stage, but beware my personal guarantee, and there is a danger that he if they ever put it on television, DVD, or film. It may steal the evening. works because it is on stage and live. Wodehouse at the Cheltenham Literature Festival

odehouse’s work was featured in two separate works. Hal read Sebastian Faulks’s favourite passage events on the second day of Cheltenham’s from English literature (Bertie as Gussie joining with WLiterature Festival in October, and large audiences were Esmond Haddock in a rendition of A-Hunting We Will present for each. Go ) from The Mating Season , and Sir Terry followed up In the first, Hugo Rifkind hosted a discussion of his with the scene of Gussie Fink-Nottle presenting the prizes work, involving Sir Terry Wogan, Hal Cazalet, and from Right Ho, Jeeves. Both were enthusiastically received Sebastian Faulks; the latter was fresh from an by the almost capacity audience of more than 1,300. extraordinarily interesting discussion with James Later in the day, Martin Jarvis made a live recording Naughtie on aspects of his book Birdsong . Hal and Lara of ‘Jeeves and the Song of Songs’ and ‘Jeeves Takes Cazalet sang two PGW songs (respectively, There Isn’t Charge’ in front of an audience of 700 in the Sky Arts One Girl in the World for Me and Bil l), accompanied by Theatre, which is a large tent. This was another enjoyable Cat Beveridge, to open proceedings, after which the event but, unfortunately, significant and unexpected discussion between the participants and the audience was extraneous noise from generators and other sources may accompanied by two superbly read extracts from the make it impractical to broadcast the recordings. Jonathan Coe on Wodehouse he Guardian of September 7 featured a long and thoughtful article by Jonathan Coe on ‘What’s So Funny About Comic Novels?’ (see http: //bit.ly/13rDLpi). In this piece, Coe seeks to establish principles on the subject, saying tThat it is an area in which British writers are supposed to excel. Having offered a number of suggestions, he concludes: All of this leads us inevitably to P G Wodehouse, the elephant in my comic room, about whom I’ve been silent for far to long. We must admit that there is not a grain of satire or moral seriousness in his novels. . . . While it should have been obvious to me that these very qualities are the key to his greatness, for a long time they made me feel stupidly snobbish about Wodehouse and reluctant even to read him. Some years ago I was lucky enough to be awarded a prize in his name, and with it came a complete set of the Everyman edition of his works. It was only then that I realised the pure, unpolluted humour of which he was possessed was the greatest possible gift he could have offered to the world: the same thing, I suppose, that Italia Calvio had in mind when he extolled the virtues of ‘thoughtful lightness’ or ‘comedy that has lost its bodily weight’. More and more I feel that, just as all art aspires to this condition of music, all humour should really aspire to the condition of Wodehouse.

Page 18 Wooster Sauce – December 2013 Identity Crisis by Roger Bowen

’ve often thought of you as a Wodehouse Spode? I hardly see myself as an embryo I character,” opined a friend who saw me convulsed Mussolini. in laughter by Right Ho, Jeeves . When questioned Gussie Fink- Nottle? No, not sufficiently about exactly which of Plum’s creations I resembled, newt-orientated. my chum seemed uncertain. This threw me into a frenzy of self-examination, and self-doubt, calling And these are just the male characters. If I into question my whole self-image. Did my friend remind people of the females, it just does not bear mean that I brought to mind: thinking about. With Madeline Bassett, no balanced Bertie? Yes, I’m certainly on the vague side, person could share her views on rabbits, elves, and people say well-meaning and good-natured, stars. Constance and Agatha are too bossy and but just short of needing a keeper like Jeeves overbearing, but Dahlia’s a good egg. to organise my life. Never mind, one could easily be compared to characters from the works of other writers. Lord Emsworth? I’m not that vague. Wodehouse’s creations are mostly likeable. How Gally Threepwood? Not enough of a ‘past’. about: “You remind of something out of Edgar Allan Jeeves? Well, I eat plenty of fish, but not Poe or Dostoevsky?” Or: “You are just how I necessarily with the same mental stimulation. imagined Franz Kafka.” Things could be worse. The Words of Wodehouse by June Arnold Solve the clues in the top grid, then transfer the letters from there to the bottom grid, which will give you a description of a Wodehouse character; reading down Column A in the top grid will reveal the character’s name. Answers are on page 21. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Clues: 1 A waitress courted by Jeeves (5) / Macbeth, thane of 5 ____ Prosser, Drones Club member (4) / Riches (6) / ______(6) Noise (3) 2 Frisby’s solicitor in Big Money (7) / Conflict (3) 6 Editor of Peaceful Moments in The Prince and Betty 3 Pay out money (5) / Fish eggs (3) / African desert (6) (Amer. ed.) (7) / Sweetly sentimental (4) 4 Probability (6) / Operatic song (4) / American soldier 7 Butler in A Damsel in Distress (5) / Goblet (7) (2; abbr.) 2G 6E 1D 13F 5F 4C 7E 12C 3L 11H 1I 5A 1A 4H 6C 1L 3H 11C

4A 2J 3B 7I 2C 1E 4F 13A 3H 5C 7C 7G 5K 6B 1G 7A 2E 5O 4M

4D 6F 5H 4E 7H 5H 1L 7C 5N 2F 7D 1J 9C 10E 9N 13E 4F 3A

2A 3M 4N 3D 5B 7L 6K 3G 2B 6D 13D 6J 4J 5J 4B 9D 3N 10J

4I 1B 7K 3A 5G 5M 10I 3C 5D 7B 1C 2K 1K 6G 8E 3P 4D 1J

4K 2I 3I 5I 7J 2D 6A 6L 3E 3K 6I 1H 3O 7M

Page 19 Wooster Sauce – December 2013

The Bibliographic Corner by Nick Townend Two New Wodehouse First Editions

egular readers of this column will know that not been published in book format either in the UK Eileen McIlvaine’s P. G. Wodehouse: A or the US; in fact, not even a single one of the stories CRomprehensive Bibliography and Checklist , published had ever appeared in book format. Between their in 1990, is the standard Wodehouse bibliography. original appearance in Pearson’s and their Section A of McIlvaine is entitled ‘Novels and Semi- reappearance in the Everyman edition, their only Autobiographical Works’ and runs from A1a ( The republication was by The P G Wodehouse Society Pothunters , 1902) to A103a ( The Clicking of Cuthbert , (UK) in a series of seven separate supplements which 1986 (being the short story as a were issued annually to members of the stand-alone US edition, so not Society as they renewed their subscriptions. really a first edition in the The first supplement was issued in traditional sense)). The Addendum December 1998 to members of the Society to McIlvaine , published by the who had renewed their membership for the International Wodehouse Asso- first time. ciation in 2001, extended this to Like the Kid Brady stories, The Military A111, taking account of titles such Invasion of America has only previously been as A Man of Means (A107), Plum published in the US in magazine format, Stones (A108), The Luck Stone being serialised in Vanity Fair in July and (A109), and Tales of Wrykyn and August 1915 (D67.14–15). It is essentially a Elsewhere (A110), all of which re-working of The Swoop for an American were published by specialist market, as its subtitle, A Remarkable Tale of Wodehouse publishers, either the German-Japanese Invasion in 1916 , Galahad Books (see Wooster Sauce , indicates. Once again, the hero is the Boy March 2011, p19) or Porpoise Scout Clarence Chugwater. Books (see Wooster Sauce , The other stories in the Everyman December 2012, p5). Following the publication of the editions have appeared in book format before. The Addendum , Galahad Books published one further six episodes that make up A Man of Means were first title, A Prince for Hire , in 2003. published in The Strand Recently, a mainstream UK publisher has magazine in the UK from April to issued not one but two new Wodehouse first September 1914 (D133.30–35). editions, containing stories never before As mentioned above, they were published in the UK, neither in book form first published in book form by nor in a magazine. By my reckoning, this is Porpoise Books (A107) in 1991. the first such issue by a mainstream publisher The Swoop was first published in in the UK in over 35 years, since Sunset at 1909 (A11a) in paperback; parts Blandings (A100a) in 1977. The publisher is of it were serialised in Story Everyman, and in autumn 2013, as part of its Paper Collectors’ Digest between Everyman Wodehouse series, it published Kid July and September 1969, and it Brady Stories and A Man of Means and The was republished in a facsimile Swoop! & The Military Invasion of America . limited edition of 500 by For our purposes, it is the first half of the first Heineman in 1993 (see Wooster title and the second half of the second title Sauce , December 2011, p24, and that are most interesting from a bibliographic March 2012, p20). So the point of view. Everyman edition of A Man of As the copyright page of the Everyman edition Means therefore represents its first book publication states, the Kid Brady stories were first published in by a mainstream publisher, while the Everyman Pearson’s Magazine , New York, from September 1905 edition of The Swoop represents its first hardback to March 1907. This is correct, but it does not publication in the UK. provide full details: the seven stories were published It is very exciting that the Kid Brady stories and in September 1905, November 1905, January 1906, The Military Invasion of America , which have been so March 1906, May 1906, July 1906, and March 1907 difficult to obtain, are now widely available to the (D48.1–7). Unlike most of Wodehouse’s stories from general public. It does make one wonder what the 1900s, they were not published in a magazine in further buried Wodehouse nuggets will be made the UK. And until the Everyman edition, they had available by Everyman before the series concludes.

Page 20 8 Wooster Sauce – December 2013 A Wodehouse Illustrator Par Excellence

he Chris One entire Beetles Gallery section of the T(located at 8–10 exhibition (within Ryder Street, St the Britain area) James’s, London) was devoted to has long been Cox’s Wodehouse renowned for its illustrations. The dedication to one that really traditional art, its caught my eye immense stock of was a small but watercolours and perfect portrait of illustrations, and Plum himself, its support of in- working at his numerable artists typewriter, his and illustrators. pipe emitting Among these is smoke that rose the London-born into a balloon Paul Cox, a 56- above his head year-old artist containing a mini- Simultaneously, a small but noteworthy procession filed out of the and illustrator house and made its way across the sunbathed lawn to where the big ature likeness of whose work has cedar cast a grateful shade. – Summer Lightning , 1929 Blandings Castle. been seen in This was within publications from (Thanks to Chris Beetles Gallery for permission to print this illustration) my price range, the Daily Telegraph to Vanity Fair . Most notably for but alas, it had already been bought. Imagine my Wodehouseans, he illustrated 16 Wodehouse books chagrin – and delight – when I discovered it had been for the Folio Society (11 from the Jeeves and Wooster purchased by my good friend Robert Bruce as an series, five from the Blandings series). anniversary present for his wife, Hilary (yes, our Thus, when your Editor received an invitation to own Chairman – lucky Hilary!). attend an exhibition of Mr Cox’s work in October, it Another picture I fixated on was the pen-and-ink was the work of an moment to say, “Yes, please!” above, depicting the Beach-led procession of servants The exhibition (which has, alas, ended) centred on taking tea out to the cedar tree. This, too, had been the artist’s views of the world based on his journeys sold already, but given the price tag of £950, I could through Britain and Europe, as well as trips made to have done no more than gaze at it longingly. New York City (his favourite city after London). It was unfortunate that word of this exhibition Almost 250 of Mr Cox’s works were on display at the came too late to include notice of it in the last gallery, and they made for fascinating viewing, with Wooster Sauce – but, oh, what a wonderful experience vivid, colourful representations of landscapes, for yours truly and numerous other Wodehouseans cityscapes, buildings, and people. His eye for detail who were able to make it. And there are still plenty and movement results in a visual feast, and I found of Paul Cox pictures available for sale; see the myself enraptured by endless number of pictures I gallery’s website at http: // bit.ly/187H7AD. was longing to buy. – Elin Murphy Answers to Mastermind Quiz Answers to (Page 13) The Words of Wodehouse 1. ‘Jeeves and the Yule-tide Spirit’ (page 19) 2. Aunt Dahlia 3. Dress up as Santa Claus for a Christmas party 1. Mabel / Cawdor 5. Oofy / wealth / din 4. Mr Mulliner 2. Robbins / war 6. Renshaw / twee 5. P. Brooke-Haven 3. spend / roe / Sahara 7. Keggs / chalice 6. ‘Bingo and the Peke Crisis’ 4. chance / aria / GI 7. ‘One Touch of Nature’ Quote: 8. ‘The Cricketer in Winter’ She was a woman capable of checking a 9. ‘Jeeves and the Greasy Bird’ charging rhinoceros with a raised eyebrow and a 10. So he can spend Christmas with Bobbie well bred stare. Wickham and her family. Character: Mrs Cork ( The Old Reliable )

Page 21 Wooster Sauce – December 2013 Recent Press Comment The Pune Mirror , August 8 P G Wodehouse has lasted where A J Cronin faded. In ‘Are Jeeves and Wooster British?’, Eunice de Souza Silliness, absurdity and the utmost triviality are no quoted David Gilmour, leader of the band Pink Floyd: barriers . . . if they sing.” “My children sigh when they find me reading P G , August 24 (from Caroline Franklyn) Wodehouse . . . they realize why I am reading Right Ho! The Guardian A letter to the editor took issue with one of Elmore Jeeves or The Code of the Woosters for the eighth time; they Leonard’s rules for successful writing, noting that know that for me the Wodehouse Wodehouse often opened a story world is the best of all anti- Jeeves and the Wedding Bells with comments about the weather: depressants.” and “As a feature of the Blandings Castle Washington Post , August 9 Perfect Nonsense stories in particular, it transported (from Janet Nickerson) the reader immediately from the A review by Tim Page of Neil ince the last issue, there have humdrum woes of everyday life to a Powell’s Benjamin Britten – a Life for been dozens of articles referring place where the sun shone, insects Music criticised the idea that Britten tSo the play Perfect Nonsense or the droned and love and laughter “is sometimes described as the most book Jeeves and the Wedding Bells by ruled.” significant English composer after Sebastian Faulks – too many for the death of Henry Purcell in 1695. The Times , August 29 inclusion here (though thanks go to For me, this is such a staggering In a review of the production of those who sent clippings). A small Thark overvaluation that it recalls P. G. at the Park Theatre, London Wodehouse’s line about ‘the raised selection of press quotes and member N4, Libby Purves noted that the eyebrow and the sharp intake of reactions to the book and the play 1927 Aldwych farce encompassed “a breath’.” appear on pages 2 and 3; a fuller over- world of P G Wodehouse arche- view will appear in the March issue. types: tweedy squire, gimlet-eyed The Times , August 12 Meanwhile, we are collating a list of wife, young twits with assertive In his ‘Word Watch’ puzzle, Philip the most significant articles and will girlfriends”. Charles Spencer had Howard asked whether the word post them – with website links where noted something very similar in the ‘persp.’ meant (a) perspiration, (b) possible – on the Society website Telegraph on August 27, specifying, Spanish travel, or (c) a trumpeter’s (www.pgwodehousesociety.org.uk). inter alia , dragon aunts and good- command. His answer – that it was a We apologise to members who do not hearted shop girls. colloquial abbreviation of ‘perspir- use the internet, but trust that they ation’ – noted it was found in The Times , August 30 will be able to persuade a friend to Wodehouse and quoted from The (from Murray Hedgcock) Inimitable Jeeves . show them the material if they are Reported that the late Alexander interested in following the progress McQueen’s house in Dunraven Daily Telegraph , August 15 of these exciting projects. Street was about to go on the market (from Carolyn De La Plain) – and that it had previously been Max Davidson finished an article about why the British owned by Wodehouse (when the street name was on holiday should stick to speaking English by quoting Norfolk Street) and a grandson of Queen Victoria. Wodehouse’s nifty about Monty Bodkin’s hangdog look when about to speak French. Bibliophile , September Chose as their quotation to introduce books for sale in the The Week , August 17 category ‘Erotica’ this from Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit : (from Ian Alexander-Sinclair and David Lindsay) “Love is a delicate plant that needs constant tending and Charles Moore chose among his favourite six books The nurturing, and this cannot be done by snorting at the adored Apologia Pro Vita Sua by Cardinal Newman, and object like a gas explosion and calling her friends lice.” commented that “No Englishman ever mastered prose so completely, unless it be P G Wodehouse”. [Appropriate if Wall Street Journal , September 2 he had done so – remember they were distantly related.] (from Beth Carroll and Caroline Franklyn) In an article entitled ‘Sentences to Make Life The Observer Food Monthly , August 18 Worthwhile’, Mike Dirda paid homage to PGW’s genius Robert McCrum wrote an extensive article on the British for language, ending: “After all, to open almost any of obsession with pigs and interviewed four owners about Wodehouse’s books is to open a door into endless their attraction. He referred to the Empress of Blandings summer.” as one of the characters created by the “prose poet of the pig”, PGW. His subjects included Sue Fildes, breeder of a BBC News Magazine (online), September 12 Berkshire Champion of Champions at the Newbury (from Nirav Shah) Show; and Suzi Westron, who spotted a Berkshire sow 10 An article on butlers in Dubai began: “If P G years ago, started breeding them for food, and now has Wodehouse’s unflappable valet Jeeves had been called up to 70 Berkshires at any one time. upon to work in the Arabian peninsula, you can be sure he would have been perfectly at home.” The Guardian , August 23 (from Mike Swaddling) In Philip Hensher’s tribute to Elmore Leonard, he wrote: New York Times , September 19 (from Andrew Hall) “What makes a novelist last is the music they make – not Carried an interview with the singer-songwriter Sting, their social concerns, not the importance of their subjects. which includes this Q&A:

Page 22 Wooster Sauce – December 2013

Q: What books might we be surprised to find on which had received an impetus when, at the age of 12, he your shelves? discovered the great literary love of his life – P G Wodehouse. A: The complete works of P G Wodehouse, for Birmingham Mail , October 13 their innocent escapism. Reported that an anonymous man had donated a first New York Times , September 20 (from Andrew Hall) edition of the Jeeves Omnibus in its original jacket, to a An article on a sale of decorative art at Christie’s began: Birmingham charity shop, apparently unaware that it “P.G. Wodehouse, writing in his light-hearted mood, was worth in the region of £1,000. would have enjoyed telling the story of Sir Albert Los Angeles Times , October 15 Richardson”, the collection’s owner, who died in 1964. Michael Hiltzik began a birthday tribute article by Financial Times , September 21 writing: “Some people have left such an enduring mark Printed a letter from Society member Christopher Bellew on civilization that we shouldn’t wait for jubilees or other in reply to a column about how books furnish a room: milestones to honor their birthdays. Such is P. G. “Sir, Harry Eyres’ parents seem not to have anything by Wodehouse, that great British master of farce, born 132 P.G. Wodehouse; hardly a well-furnished room.” years ago today. For me, Wodehouse is the antidote to every ill that can arise in life.” Financial Times , September 28 (from Christopher Bellew) Daily Telegraph , October 16 (from Carolyn De La Plain) Sir David Tang was asked what he listens to while In an article entitled ‘For quotes, we’re wild about exercising on a gym bike, a process which he does not Wilde’, Hannah Furness noted that in the latest edition of enjoy. He listens to audiobooks and notes that “good old The Oxford Book of Humorous Quotations , Wodehouse P G Wodehouse always makes me chuckle and even curl could claim a very creditable 42 examples. up, which is always welcomed as a camouflaged rest”. India Today , October 18 The Sunday Times Style Magazine , September 29 The project director of the Mars Orbiter Mission at the The feature ‘Dress to Impress’ quoted menswear Indian Space Research Organisation was reported as designer Sean Crowley at Ralph Lauren as saying that having three books on the table: two technical tomes on Hugh Laurie as Bertie Wooster is his style icon. the Mission and Wodehouse’s The Small Bachelor. “I need P. G. Wodehouse to destress myself. I have had too many Intelligent Life Magazine , September/October sleepless nights ensuring everything goes smoothly with In an article noting that “of all the great novelists, [PGW] India’s mission to Mars,” S. Arunan was quoted as saying. has the least interest in the real world”, writer Ed Cummings identified some of the key clues to appreciating his writing. Sydney Morning Herald , October 21 (from Barry Chapman) Daily Mail , October 3 Clue number 50 Across in the Omega Crossword was: Ran a feature by John Edwards about the football team St “P.G. Wodehouse character played by Hugh Laurie, . . . Gallen, in Switzerland, who were due to play Tottenham Wooster (6)”. recently in a European tournament. A footballer from Rochdale named Jack Reynolds retired from playing and Daily Telegraph , October 28 (from Terry Taylor) took up management of St Gallen in 1912. By the time he In praising Tim Rice’s latest musical, From Here to retired from football 35 years later, he had had a spell as Eternity , Boris Johnson said: “It is a high calling to write manager of the German national team cut short by World the lyrics for musicals. P G Wodehouse – the 20th War I, made Ajax of Holland the pioneers of a new style century’s greatest English phrasemaker – spent a huge of football, and shared a cell with Wodehouse in an amount of time and effort trying to do what Tim does. I internment camp! don’t think he succeeded half so well.” Metro , October 3 (from Christopher Bellew) Evening Standard , October 29 (from Caroline Franklyn) Reported that Boris Johnson had told LBC presenter Nick Barry Humphries wrote about discovering a Wodehouse Ferrari that in 2015, after ceasing to be mayor, “I am novel, “which I began to read and kept on reading. . . . I going to take up romantic novels under the pseudonym did not merely enjoy it but I loved it.” Having not Rosie M. Banks”. previously read Wodehouse, he was now resolved “to tackle Wodehouse’s vast oeuvre with no hope of ever The Times , October 5 catching up with Stephen Fry”. In the feature ‘50 books we all secretly love’, The Code of the Woosters was included in the five representatives of Comedy. Washington Post , November 1 Jonathan Yardley started his very positive review of the The Sunday Times Culture Section , October 6 two latest Overlook reprints in the USA ( If I Were You Went one better with a splash on ‘100 Books to Love’, and and The Small Bachelor ) with a eulogy in praise of the this time The Code of the Woosters was included among 15 whole Everyman/Overlook project, which is nearly ‘Books That Make You Laugh’. reaching its end: “[W]hat especially pleases me is that as the series nears completion, it gives no evidence of The Times , October 8 scraping the bottom of the barrel, indeed provides proof In one of the articles previewing the Cheltenham Literary that Wodehouse’s barrel had no bottom.” Festival, Alan Johnson, MP and former minister, explained to Philip Collins how he effectively continued The Republican (Springfield, Mass.), November 4 his education in the sorting office at Slough Post Office, (from Alvin Cohen) staffed by Asian men whose Indian education was of Phillip Alder began his bridge column with the little use, but who were reading English classics. They Wodehouse quote: “Golf, like measles, should be caught started Johnson on Hardy, extending a course of reading young.” (Alder applied this quote to bridge as well.)

Page 23 Wooster Sauce – December 2013 Future Events for Your Diary Perfect Nonsense at the Duke of York’s Theatre June 2014 Cricket Dates The smash hit play based on The Code of the Woosters is At the time of going to press, the dates of the Gold scheduled to continue its run until March 8, 2014. Bats matches traditionally held in June – against the Dulwich Dusters and the Sherlock Holmes Society of December 29, 2013 London Walks Wodehouse Walk London – had not yet been settled. This information Richard Burnip is leading a Wodehouse-themed walk will be published in the March Wooster Sauce ; in the for London Walks. The usual fee is £9, but Society meantime, keep an eye on the Society’s website, where members get a discounted price of £7. No need to the dates will be posted as soon as they are known. book a place; just be at exit 2 (Park Lane east side) of Marble Arch Underground station at 2.30 p.m., and July 15, 2014 Summer Meeting at The George identify yourself as a Society member. The date is set, but news of the entertainment is yet to come. Whatever happens, it will be fun, so be sure to February 18, 2014 Winter Meeting at The George mark the date on your calendar. Spring will be just around the corner when we gather at The George once again. On this night we will keep October 16, 2014 Dinner at Gray’s Inn cosy with a pub quiz. Bring your pencils and your Our biennial dinner has a special treat in store in order little grey cells! to honour a key event in PGW’s life. Hold onto the date; further details to come in March, and appli- April 14, 2014 Poet in the City Readings cations will be sent out with the June issue. A special treat for Wodehouse poetry lovers as the Society teams up with the charity Poet in the City for November 18, 2014 Autumn Meeting at The George an evening of Wodehouse verse. See page 15 for No news on the entertainment for this meeting yet, details on how to get tickets. but stay tuned. Houses – and Dreams – for Sale n late August, word was received that the house in Dunraven Street (previously Norfolk Street) once owned by the Wodehouses was on the market (see Press Comment). Then, in October, BOB RAINS reported that P.G. aInd Ethel’s home in Remsenburg, New York, was also available. The property includes six bedrooms, five baths, a pool, and 1.5 acres of land; asking price: $2.8 million (app. £1.8 million).The owner presented information about the sale to The Wodehouse Society (U.S.) as a courtesy before it was put on the market. TWS’s pipe dream is use the house, a Mecca for Wodehouseans, as a museum and hostelry for Plum-minded pilgrims. Wanted: A Wodehousean with deep pockets! CONTENTS 1 What a Year! 14 Gladys and Ern: The Further Adventures 2 Jeeves and the Wedding Bells : Some views on the 15 Book Now for an Evening of Wodehouse Verse! new book 15 Poet’s Corner: The Haunted Tram 3 Perfect Nonsense : A near-perfect reception 16 The Life and Death of the Real Jeeves 4 Society News 17 Two Recent Unabridged Audio Recordings 4 What Goes Around Comes Around 17 Little Nuggets 5 What’s in an AGM? 18 Perfect Nonsense : A Review 5 Members Offers: For Sale or For Free 18 Wodehouse at the Cheltenham Literature Festival 6 Letters to the Editor 18 Jonathan Coe on Wodehouse 7 The Newbury Show Sparkles Once More 19 Identity Crisis 8 Jeeves, the Model of Servant Leadership 19 The Words of Wodehouse (acrostic) 9 Another Milestone for Everyman 20 Bibliographic Corner: Two New Wodehouse First 10 The Empress Strikes Back Editions 12 The Real-Life Archibald Mulliner 21 A Wodehouse Illustrator Par Excellence 13 Mastermind Quiz 9: A Wodehouse Christmas 22 Recent Press Comment

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