Wodehousekeeping

The Coming of Bill with Gwen Sheldon

Tue, 31 Mar 2026 23:00:00 GMT

Gwen Sheldon has stayed on the line to help me look at The Coming of Bill (1919, but really 1914), Also known as Their Mutual Child or The White Hope, it's a rare serious novel (though featuring some choice quips) with a plot supplied for Wodehouse by a helpful magazine editor called Bob Davis.

There will be spoilers.

Content note: discussion of eugenics, nazis, racism, death, and general bad times. (Surely some mistake? -Ed)

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Reference works consulted

Sophie Ratcliffe, P. G. Wodehouse: A Life in Letters

Norman Murphy, A Wodehouse Handbook

Richard Usborne, Wodehouse At Work to the End

Daniel Garrison and Neil Midkiff, Who's Who in Wodehouse

Madame Eulalie's Rare Plums website

Other works by Wodehouse mentioned:

My Man Jeeves

The Man Upstairs and Other Stories

Bring on the Girls (with Guy Bolton)

"A Prisoner of War"

Piccadilly Jim

Jill the Reckless

"By Advice of Counsel"

"The Good Angel"

"Love Me, Love My Dog"

A Damsel in Distress

The Little Nugget

The Globe 'By the Way' Book

The Man With Two Left Feet and Other Stories

Also mentioned:

Bob Davis

Jack Johnson

James Jeffries

Wodehouse's adopted daughter Leonora Cazalet

Rembrandt van Rijn

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

L M Montgomery, The Blue Castle

Lemony Snicket, A Series of Unfortunate Events

Short musical snippets included or parodied:

Noël Coward, "Don't Let's Be Beastly to the Germans"

Dire Straits, "Lady Writer"

Helen Morgan, "Bill" (Wodehouse/Kern)

Elvis Presley, "Old Shep"

Nobuyoshi Koshibe and Katsuo Ohno, Theme from "Mysterious Cities of Gold"

The Gothic Archies, "Scream and Run Away"

"Napoleon" (Wodehouse/Kern)

Kimya Dawson, "It's Been Raining"

Kenny Carter, "Showdown"

The Seven Inches (my band) "Our Gang of Friends" and "Bad Genes"

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My Man Jeeves (and the Reggie Pepper stories) with Gwen Sheldon

Sun, 01 Mar 2026 13:14:26 GMT

Ian is re-rejoined by Gwen Sheldon to look at THE FIRST JEEVES BOOK (if you think it counts): My Man Jeeves, a UK only collection of eight short stories, half of which are among the earliest Jeeves stories, all set in New York. The other half are Reggie Pepper stories, Reggie being an early prototype of Bertie Wooster. We also look at the three other Reggie Pepper stories that were published in magazines but were left out of the book collections during The Master's lifetime.

There will be spoilers.

You can e-mail me at wodehousekeeping@gmail.com

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Stories covered in this episode:

"Leave it to Jeeves"

"Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest"

"Jeeves and the Hard-boiled Egg"

"Absent Treatment"

"Helping Freddie"

"Rallying Round Old George"

"Doing Clarence a Bit of Good"

"The Aunt and the Sluggard"

"Disentangling Old Percy"

"Concealed Art"

"The Test Case"

Reference works consulted

Sophie Ratcliffe, P. G. Wodehouse: A Life in Letters

Robert McCrum, Wodehouse: A Life

Norman Murphy, A Wodehouse Handbook

Richard Usborne, Wodehouse At Work to the End

Daniel Garrison and Neil Midkiff, Who's Who in Wodehouse

Madame Eulalie's Rare Plums website

Other works by Wodehouse mentioned:

The Man Upstairs and Other Stories

The Man With Two Left Feet and Other Stories

Carry On Jeeves

The Inimitable Jeeves

"Jeeves Takes Charge"

"Extricating Young Gussie"

"Bertie Changes His Mind"

The Adventures of Sally

"Rough-Hew them How We Will"

Love Among the Chickens

Something Fresh

A Gentleman of Leisure

"The Fatal Kink in Algernon"

Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit

"Fixing it for Freddie

"Unpleasantness at Kozy Kot"

A Few Quick Ones (US version)

"Deep Waters"

Brother Alfred (play/film)

Not George Washington

The Globe By the Way Book

Thank You Jeeves

Piccadilly Jim

"George and Alfred"

Plum Pie

"Jeeves Makes an Omelette"

A Few Quick Ones

"The Wigmore Venus"

"Archibald's Benefit"

Also alluded to:

Harry Leon Wilson, Ruggles of Red Gap

Ian Carmichael and Dennis Price, "What Would I Do Without You, Jeeves?"

Bud Fisher, Mutt and Jeff

R Outcault, Buster Brown

James Sant, The Soul's Awakening

Agatha Christie

Herbert Westbrook

N A Knox

F Opper, Happy Hooligan

Laurence Grossmith

George Grossmith Jr.

George Grossmith Sr. and Weedon Grossmith, Diary of a Nobody

Leslie Havergal Bradshaw

Cupid's Inspiration, "Yesterday Has Gone"

Billy Sunday

Douglas Fairbanks Sr.

Fred Stone

Making Good with Mother

Cutting Out Venus

World of Wooster

Jeeves and Wooster

Helen Wodehouse

George Herriman, The Dingbat Family and Krazy Kat

The Beatles, "Baby's in Black"

Boost for Birdsburg!

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The Man With Two Left Feet and Other Stories

Sun, 01 Feb 2026 10:11:22 GMT

A solo episode this time, as I (Ian Cockburn) turn to 1917's The Man With Two Left Feet and Other Stories, P. G. Wodehouse's second collection of short stories for adults, which includes "Extricating Young Gussie", the story that first introduces the legendary characters Bertie Wooster (here apparently called Bertie Mannering-Phipps), Aunt Agatha and - in a cameo role - Jeeves. There are plot spoilers. Content note: see below next to individual stories.

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Stories covered, with start times:

"Bill the Bloodhound" 6m

"Extricating Young Gussie" 17m

"Wilton's Holiday" 33m 46s

"The Mixer: He Meets a Shy Gentleman" 42m

"The Mixer: He Moves in Society" 49m

"Crowned Heads" 54m

"At Geisenheimer's" 1h 1m

"The Making of Mac's" 1h 11m (CN: suicide)

"One Touch of Nature" 1h 22m

"Black for Luck" 1h 27m

"The Romance of an Ugly Policeman" 1h 35m

"A Sea of Troubles" 1h 43m (CN: suicide)

"The Man with Two Left Feet" 1h 46m

Other works by Wodehouse mentioned

The Man Upstairs and Other Stories

Piccadilly Jim

Something Fresh

The Reggie Pepper stories

"Three From Dunsterville"

"Deep Waters",

"Fixing it for Freddie"

The golf stories

The Girl on the Boat

Bustanoby's

"In Alkala"

"By Advice of Counsel"

"Something to Worry About"

"The Man Upstairs"

"The Man Who Disliked Cats"

My Man Jeeves

The Prince and Betty

Uneasy Money

Joy in the Morning

Nuts and Wine (revue)

A Man of Means

Reference works consulted

Sophie Ratcliffe, P. G. Wodehouse: A Life in Letters

Robert McCrum, Wodehouse: A Life

Norman Murphy, A Wodehouse Handbook

Richard Usborne, Wodehouse at Work to the End

Madame Eulalie's Rare Plums website

Also mentioned

George Grossmith, Jr.

Harry Leon Wilson, Ruggles of Red Gap

Percy Jeeves

Leslie Havergal Bradshaw

The Beatles, "Get Back"

Magnetic Fields, "Goin' Back to the Country"

O. Henry

The Golden Butterfly (film adaptation of "The Making of Mac's")

M. F. Carey, "Learning McFadden to Waltz"

Leonora Cazalet

Denis Mackail "At Mr Besley's"

Do the Right Thing podcast

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Piccadilly Jim with Nigel Townshend

Sat, 01 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Ian is joined by Nigel Townshend to enthuse over 1917's Piccadilly Jim, a breakthrough novel for Wodehouse. Nigel voices his displeasure at the 2004 film version. There are plot spoilers.

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Other works by Wodehouse mentioned

Leave it to Psmith

The Little Nugget

A Damsel in Distress (film screenplay)

A Gentleman of Leisure

"Concealed Art"

The Riviera Girl (musical, with Guy Bolton and Emmerich Kalman)

Bring On the Girls (memoir, with Guy Bolton)

Love Among the Chickens

"Rallying Round Old George"

Anything Goes (musical)

Reference works consulted

Sophie Ratcliffe, P. G. Wodehouse: A Life in Letters

Robert McCrum, Wodehouse: A Life

Norman Murphy, A Wodehouse Handbook

Barry Day, The Complete Lyrics of P. G. Wodehouse

Lee Davis, Bolton and Wodehouse and Kern

Madame Eulalie's Rare Plums website

Also mentioned

The three film adaptations of the book

Blandings (TV series)

New York Giants

The Regent Grill

Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese

Hugh Laurie

George Herriman, "The Dingbat Family" & "Krazy Kat" comic strips

Delmonico's

Bachelors' Club

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Uneasy Money with Tom Bailey

Tue, 30 Sep 2025 23:00:00 GMT

Drop the Dead Monkey! Ian is joined by writer and artist Tom Bailey to look at 1916's Uneasy Money, Wodehouse's second serial for the Saturday Evening Post, which had a personal significance for Plum and Ethel Wodehouse, as it is set in Long Island, setting of their courtship and early married life; and like them, the hero and heroine are married at the "Church 'Round the Corner" on Madison Square, also the inspiration for the song of the same name by Wodehouse and Jerome Kern. Tom and Ian debate the merits or otherwise of Wodehouse's more romantic novels, and of romance stories in general.

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Other works by Wodehouse mentioned

"Bill" (song)

"At Geisenheimer's"

"Extricating Young Gussie"

Something Fresh

Performing Flea

A Gentleman of Leisure

Psmith Journalist

The Swoop

"Church Round the Corner" (song) in Sally

Indiscretions of Archie

Bachelors Anonymous

Ring For Jeeves (the Jeeves novel without Bertie)

Reference works consulted

Sophie Ratcliffe, P. G. Wodehouse: A Life in Letters

Robert McCrum, Wodehouse: A Life

Norman Murphy, A Wodehouse Handbook

Barry Day, The Complete Lyrics of P. G. Wodehouse

Lee Davis, Bolton and Wodehouse and Kern

Madame Eulalie's Rare Plums website

Also mentioned

Michael Buerk

Nicolae Ceaușescu

Bob Peck

Jeeves and Wooster

David Nobbs

The Rise and Fall of Reginald Perrin

Charles Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop, Bleak House, Pickwick Papers

Oscar Wilde

George Eliot

Olga Tokarczuk The Empusium, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of The Dead

Thomas Mann The Magic Mountain

Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote

Henry Fielding, Tom Jones

Laurence Sterne, Tristam Shandy

Tobias Smollett

Jonathan Coe

Honoré de Balzac

Emile Zola

Vanity Fair (US)

Mary Poppins

F Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

Edna May

The Belle of New York (Musical)

Lady Constance MacKenzie

Sarah Bernhardt

How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies

John Mortimer, The Rumpole stories

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations

Superman III

Hergé,the Tintin stories

Ionicus (Joshua Charles Armitage)

Rashomon

Bringing Up Baby

The Church of the Transfiguration, New York

Alice Fraser, A Passion For Passion

Georgette Heyer

When Harry Met Sally

Nora Ephron, Heartburn

Sherlock Jr

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Psmith Journalist with Matthew Bellwood

Sun, 31 Aug 2025 23:00:00 GMT

Host Ian Cockburn (of the Shropshire Cockburns) is rejoined by storyteller and writer Matthew Bellwood to discuss Psmith Journalist, the third Psmith novel, and one of the first of Wodehouse's novels to be set in America. The novel first appeared in The Captain from 1909-10 but didn't appear in book form till 1915, by which point it had already been repurposed in 1912 for the US version of The Prince and Betty

A tale of yellow journalism in gangland New York.

This podcast contains spoilers, and some discussion of racism.

You can e-mail me at wodehousekeeping@gmail.com

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Wodehousekeeping cannot be muzzled

Other works by Wodehouse mentioned

Mike and Psmith

The Luck of the Bodkins

Psmith in the City

The Prince and Betty

A Gentleman of Leisure

The Kid Brady stories

The Little Nugget

The Luck Stone

"The Episode of the Live Weekly"

Reference works consulted

Sophie Ratcliffe, P. G. Wodehouse: A Life in Letters

Robert McCrum, Wodehouse: A Life

Norman Murphy, A Wodehouse Handbook

Madame Eulalie's Rare Plums website

Also mentioned

Columbo: Strange Bedfellows

Twin Peaks

The Godfather

Boardwalk Empire

Charles Dickens, David Copperfield

Colin From Accounts

Carol Vorderman

Ted Kessler, Paper Cuts

Al Capone

Monk Eastman

Groucho Marx

Doctor Who

Sandie Shaw, "Reviewing the Situation"

John Mitchell Jr.

Stella Gibbons, Cold Comfort Farm

Cole Porter

Noël Coward

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Something Fresh with Tania Agnihotri

Thu, 31 Jul 2025 23:00:00 GMT

Ian is joined by Tania Agnihotri to look at Something Fresh, AKA Something New, the first Blandings novel, published 1915. The book introduces the immortal Lord Emsworth, Freddie Threepwood, Beach the butler and the Efficient Baxter, though much of the focus is on this month's imposters at the castle. Content note: bad American accents.

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Other works by Wodehouse mentioned:

The Mr Mulliner Stories

"The Story of Webster"

"The Truth About George"

Mike and Psmith (part two of Mike)

The Ukridge stories

Love Among the Chickens

The Luck Stone

"The Matrimonial Sweepstakes"

"The Delayed Exit of Claude and Eustace"

"A Man of Means: The Episode of the Hired Past"

Psmith in the City

"The Crime Wave At Blandings"

The Reggie Pepper stories

"Ruth in Exile"

Right Ho, Jeeves

"Pearls Means Tears"

"Strychnine in the Soup"

Leave it to Psmith

"The Goalkeeper and the Plutocrat"

"A Man of Means: The Episode of the Live Weekly"

"A Pal Like You" from Oh, Boy!

Reference works consulted

Sophie Ratcliffe, P. G. Wodehouse: A Life in Letters

Robert McCrum, Wodehouse: A Life

Norman Murphy, A Wodehouse Handbook

Paul Kent, Pelham Grenville Wodehouse

Madame Eulalie's Rare Plums website

Also mentioned

Saki, "Mrs Packletide's Tiger"

George Ade

Herbert W. Westbrook

William Townend

Samuel Johnson ("A man who is tired of London...")

Alfred Harmsworth

Simpson's in the Strand

Philip Peveril Wodehouse

Georgette Heyer

J M Barrie, The Admirable Crichton

Jeeves and Wooster (TV series)

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The Man Upstairs and Other Stories (Part Two) with Gwen Sheldon

Wed, 09 Jul 2025 17:57:20 GMT

I am rejoined by Gwen Sheldon to peruse the first collection of Wodehouse short stories for a general audience, The Man Upstairs and Other Stories (1914), a bumper crop of nineteen stories and a favourite of both of us. Because there is so much to discuss, we have split it into two parts. In the second part we look at the remaining eleven stories, including the two stories whose success persuaded Wodehouse to move to America, "Archibald's Benefit" (his first golf short story) and "The Good Angel" (the first Keggs story, and first mention of a Lord Emsworth). Also in this batch we have a rare football-themed story, a Knights of the Round Table parody, and a highly autobiographical love story. We also each list our ten favourite stories. There will be spoilers.

You can e-mail me at wodehousekeeping@gmail.com

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Stories covered in this instalment, with start times:

"Archibald's Benefit" / "Reginald's Record Knock" 2m 09s

"The Man, The Maid, and the Miasma" 10m 44s

"The Good Angel" 17m 12s

"Pots o' Money" 30m 08s

"Out of School" 38m 46s

"Three from Dunsterville" 43m 53s

"The Tuppenny Millionaire" 51m 26s

"Ahead of Schedule" 55m 22s

"Sir Agravaine" ih 05m 50s

"The Goal-Keeper and the Plutocrat" 1h 06m 40s

"In Alcala" 1h 16m 16s

Other works by Wodehouse mentioned

Love Among the Chickens

"The Truth about Webster"

A Damsel in Distress

"Mr Punch's Spectral Analyses. IV - An Official Muddle"

"Love Me, Love My Dog"

The Coming of Bill

Over Seventy

Something Fishy

"The Crime Wave at Blandings"

"Creatures of Impulse"

"Jeeves in the Springtime"

William Tell Told Again

"The Idle King"

"At Geisenheimers"

Reference works consulted

Richard Usborne, Wodehouse at Work to the End, notes to Sunset at Blandings

Sophie Ratcliffe, P. G. Wodehouse: A Life in Letters

Robert McCrum, Wodehouse: A Life

Norman Murphy, A Wodehouse Handbook

Madame Eulalie's Rare Plums website

Also mentioned

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Robert Browning

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Idylls of the King

Gene (band)

Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Romeo and Juliet

Flanders and Swann, At The Drop of Another Hat (stage patter)

"Purity" Statue, Times Square, New York City, 1909

Thomas Mallory, Le Morte D'Arthur

Shrek

James Thurber, The 13 Clocks and The White Deer

Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in the Court of King Arthur

J B Priestley, The 31st of June

Ted Lasso

André Messager, Mirette

Alice Dovey

Leslie Bradshaw

William Townend

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The Man Upstairs and Other Stories (Part One) with Gwen Sheldon

Wed, 09 Jul 2025 17:52:20 GMT

Content note: mention in "Rough-Hew Them How We Will" of attempted suicide and of animal cruelty in "The Man Who Disliked Cats".

You can e-mail me at wodehousekeeping@gmail.com

Make a donation at ko-fi.com/wodehousekeeping

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Stories covered in this instalment, with start times:

"The Man Upstairs" 12m 33s

"Something to Worry About" 23m 52s

"Deep Waters" 32m 10s

"When Doctors Disagree" 41m 47s

"By Advice of Counsel" 49m 13s

"Rough-Hew Them How We Will" 57m 03s

"The Man Who Disliked Cats" 1h 02m 57s

"The Fatal Kink In Algernon" (later rewrite of the above) 1h 11m 50s

"Ruth in Exile" 1h 17m 40s

Other works by Wodehouse mentioned

The Man With Two Left Feet and Other Stories

Over Seventy

Uneasy Money (preface)

"When Papa Swore in Hindustani"

The Code of the Woosters

Joy in the Morning

A Gentleman of Leisure

"Jeeves and the Chump Cyril"

The Swoop

The Luck Stone

"Sir Roderick Comes To Lunch"

Right Ho, Jeeves

"The Fatal Kink In Algernon"

"Aunt Agatha Takes the Count" (AKA "Aunt Agatha Makes a Bloomer")

The Adventures of Sally

Reference works consulted

Richard Usborne, Wodehouse at Work to the End

Sophie Ratcliffe, P. G. Wodehouse: A Life in Letters

Robert McCrum, Wodehouse: A Life

Norman Murphy; A Wodehouse Handbook

Madame Eulalie's Rare Plums website

Also mentioned

The Ainu people of Japan

O. Henry, "The Gift of the Magi"

F. Opper, Alphonse and Gaston (comic strip)

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

William Shakespeare, Othello and Hamlet

Lord Roberts

Agatha Christie's character Hercule Poirot

George Herriman, Alexander and Krazy Kat (comic strips)

Michael Tisserand, George Herriman: A Life in Black and White

The Book of Ruth (The Bible)

Herbert Westbrook

The Billiken

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The Kid Brady Stories and A Man of Means

Tue, 17 Jun 2025 10:53:08 GMT

A solo episode. Ian delves into two short story cycles, The Kid Brady stories (1905-7) and A Man Of Means (1914, with C. H. Bovill) which posthumously were collected into a single volume. The Kid Brady stories are boxing tales set in New York, while A Man of Means is a quasi-novella wherein a hapless clerk from Bury St Edmonds inadvertently keeps getting richer and richer. There will be spoilers.

CN: brief discussion of racism

Other Wodehouse works mentioned

Over Seventy

Psmith Journalist

The Prince and Betty

The Gold Bat

The White Feather

The Coming of Bill AKA The White Hope

The Reggie Pepper Stories

The Inimitable Jeeves

The Indiscretions of Archie

Something Fresh

Not George Washington (with H W Westbrook)

Nuts and Wine (Revue) (with C H Bovill)

The Globe By The Way Book (with H W Westbrook)

Big Money

Bachelors Anonymous

Bring on the Girls (with Guy Bolton)

Reference works consulted or mentioned

madameeulalie.org

Norman Murphy, A Wodehouse Handbook

Garrison and Midkiff, Who's Who in Wodehouse (third edition)

David Jasen P. G. Wodehouse: Portrait of a Master

Also mentioned

Kid McCoy

Too many other real life boxers to mention

Jack Johnson vs James J Jeffries

Damon Runyan

Randy Newman, Short People (song)

Harold Begbie, The Curious and Diverting Adventures of Sir John Sparrow, Bart.

Charles Dickens, David Copperfield

Seymour Hicks, The Gay Gordons (musical comedy)

Phyllis Bedells

C H Bovill, Honi Soit (revue)

Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote

Tobias Smollett, Roderick Random

Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers

George Barr McCutcheon, Brewster's Millions

The Bumpkin Billionaires, comic strip originally in Whoopee comic

Guglielmo Marconi

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The Little Nugget with Nigel Townshend

Wed, 30 Apr 2025 23:00:00 GMT

Ian Cockburn is joined by his old friend Nigel Townshend to dissect Agatha Christie's favourite Wodehouse novel The Little Nugget (1913). A tale of kipnapping at an English private preparatory school, presumably inspired by Wodehouse's time as a guest at Emsworth House school. There will be spoilers.

Other Wodehouse works mentioned

Piccadilly Jim

Full Moon

Thank You, Jeeves

The Luck Stone

The Eighteen-Carat Kid (variant version of The Little Nugget)

The Indiscretions of Archie

Much Obliged, Jeeves

Psmith Journalist

Also mentioned

The Beano and Dandy comics

The BBC radio Jeeves adaptations with Richard Briers and Michael Hordern

Agatha Christie, Hallowe'en Party

Baldwin King-Hall

Herbert Westbrook

King Cophetua

Harry Hershfield, Desperate Desmond (comic strip)

Napoleon Bonaparte

Reference works consulted

madameeulalie.org

Robert McCrum, Wodehouse: A Life

Garrison and Midkiff, Who's Who in Wodehouse volume 3

Sophie Ratcliffe (ed.), P. G. Wodehouse: A Life in Letters

Norman Murphy, A Wodehouse Handbook

Wodehousekeeping Podcast links

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Wodehousekeeping on Facebook

Buy me a coffee on Ko-fi

email: wodehousekeeping@gmail.com

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The Prince and Betty (UK Version) with Alexander Rennie

Mon, 31 Mar 2025 23:00:00 GMT

Ian is joined by Alexander Rennie once more to look at the UK version of the novel The Prince and Betty (1912). The US version has a very different plot closely based on the earlier novel Psmith, Journalist (serialised 1909-1910, book version 1915). We touch lightly on the US version but the main discussion of it will follow in the episode on Psmith, Journalist.

Alexander's own podcast is Forgotten Towns

Other Wodehouse works mentioned

Psmith, Journalist

The Swoop

"The Good Angel" (AKA "The Matrimonial Sweepstakes")

A Gentleman of Leisure

Psmith in the City

The Prizegiving scene in Right Ho, Jeeves

The Steggles stories in The Inimitable Jeeves

The J. Washburn Stoker character in Thank You, Jeeves

Also mentioned

Mills and Boon

Boris Karloff

Ellaline Terriss

Seymour Hicks

The Monégasque Revolution of 1910

Carry On Films

Stephen Leacock, "Gertrude the Governess"

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

Yes Minister

Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese

Kigeli V Ndahindurwa of Rwanda

Reference works consulted

Daniel H. Garrison and Neil Midkiff, Who's Who in Wodehouse (Third Expanded Edition)

Neil Midkiff's notes on the different versions at Madame Eulalie's Rare Plums

Norman Murphy, A Wodehouse Handbook

Sophie Ratcliffe, P. G. Wodehouse: A Life in Letters

Wodehousekeeping Podcast links

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Wodehousekeeping on Facebook

Buy me a coffee on Ko-fi

email: wodehousekeeping@gmail.com

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Tales of Wrykyn and Elsewhere

Sat, 01 Mar 2025 08:39:52 GMT

Ian looks at the 1997 posthumous collection of Wodehouse short school stories, Tales of Wrykyn and Elsewhere, featuring stories that first appeared in magazines from 1901-1911. No plot spoilers for once, except one that comes with an advance warning.

WIkipedia page for the book

Madame Eulalie's Rare Plums links:

List of Doyle/Holmes references in Wodehouse's early works

Index to school stories viewable at Madame Eulalie

Guide to early series characters, and an attempted explanation of which Jackson is which

Other Wodehouse works mentioned

All of the school novels

Tales of St Austin's

Psmith in the City

The Prince and Betty

The Luck of the Bodkins

Not George Washington

Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit

"Treating of Cribs"

"The Fifteenth Man"

"From a Detective's Notebook" (The World of Mr Mulliner)

"The Great Sermon Handicap"

The Joan Romney stories

Also mentioned

Daniel H. Garrison and Neil Midkiff, Who's Who in Wodehouse (Third Expanded Edition)

Tony Ring and Geoffrey Jaggard, Millennium Wodehouse Concordance

Henry Bohn's Classic Library (used as "cribs" by Edwardian schoolboys)

Barry Pain

The works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Otto Penzler (ed.) Sherlock

Peter Cannon, "The Adventure of the Noble Husband"

Without A Clue

Charles Hamilton, the Greyfriars Stories

F C Burnand, "Happy Thoughts"

Sir Walter Scott, "Marmion"

Lewis Carroll, "Eight or Nine Wise Words About Letter Writing"

Punch

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Psmith in the City with Josh Cockburn

Sat, 01 Feb 2025 13:18:27 GMT

Ian is rejoined by his brother Josh to scrutinise "Psmith in the City" AKA "The New Fold", the second Psmith novel, serialised in 1908-9 and collected in book form in 1910. It is a highly autobiographical account of reluctantly working in a London bank. Mike and Psmith's schooldays are behind them, but Mike is still fixated on cricket and Psmith is still out to cause disruption wherever possible. There will be spoilers and a soupçon of politics. Special thanks to the website Madam Eulalie's Rare Plums.

Article mentioned in the show that helped explain the reference to the Unionist party

Bradshaw's interview with Wodehouse, quoted in the episode

Mark Hodson's annotations of the novel

Other Wodehouse books and stories mentioned

The Gold Bat

Mike at Wrykyn (Jackson Junior)

Mike and Psmith (The Lost Lambs)

Psmith Journalist

Leave it to Psmith

Big Money

Not George Washington

Over Seventy (Autobiography)

The Luck Stone

The Swoop

Money in the Bank

"The Goalkeeper and the Plutocrat"

"L'affaire Uncle John"

"Comrade Bingo"

Wodehouse reference books mentioned and/or consulted

Richard Usborne, Wodehouse at Work to the End

Robert McCrum, Wodehouse: A Life

Norman Murphy, A Wodehouse Handbook

Sophie Ratcliffe, P. G. Wodehouse: A Life in Letters

Also mentioned

The Fosters of Worcestershire

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Leslie Havergal Bradshaw

Hall Caine

Manchester United

Jimmy and Tom Turnbull

Jerome K Jerome, Three Men in a Boat

George Ade

Jack Hobbs

The Marx Brothers

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A Gentleman of Leisure with Gavin Bradbury

Mon, 20 Jan 2025 22:36:03 GMT

Ian is joined by former teenage Wodehouse obsessive Gavin Bradbury to look at Plum's first country house novel, A Gentleman of Leisure AKA The Intrusion of Jimmy from 1910. The book is at once a light romantic story, an exposé of the corruption in the New York police force, a satire of "gentleman criminal" style stories, and a precurser to the Blandings novels. Ian is unable to be impartial about one of the first Wodehouse novels he ever read, whereas Gavin is more critical.

We discuss the differences between the novel and the related novella "The Gem Collector", why this book was such a hit on stage and screen, changing mores in acceptable morality in early twentieth century entertainment, how Jimmy Pitt differs from our ideal Wodehouse leading man, and what's still missing from the later classic formula.

Other Wodehouse books mentioned:

The World of Mr Mulliner

The Coming of Bill

Something Fresh

The Man Upstairs

The Heart of a Goof

Psmith in the City

Psmith, Journalist

The Luck of the Bodkins

Also mentioned:

Fawlty Towers

The Young Ones

The Kenny Everett Show

Coronation Street

A Sharp Intake of Breath

The Lennie and Jerry Show

Tony Hancock

James Cagney

Philadelphia Story

Bringing Up Baby

Cary Grant

Wodehouse TV adaptations

John Stapleton

Douglas Fairbanks

John Barrymore

Tim Key

E.W. Hornung, Raffles

(The real) Spike Mullins

Trading Places

Alan Bennett

Steve Coogan

Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote

Charles Dickens, Pickwick Papers

Sir Walter Scott, "Marmion"

The Seven Inches, "Stop Pestering Me"

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The Luck Stone

Tue, 24 Dec 2024 22:29:41 GMT

Ian looks at the final public school novel by Wodehouse, a lurid adventure story called The Luck Stone, first published in Chums magazine from 1908 to 1909 under the pseudonym "Basil Windham". It was first published in book form posthumously in 1997. There will be spoilers.

The story can be read here

Content note: national stereotyping, imperialism, racism.

Other Wodehouse works mentioned:

Performing Flea

Mike at Wrykyn

Mike and Psmith

The Head of Kays

Little Nugget

Psmith Journalist

"The Man Who Disliked Cats"

"Sir Roderick Comes to Lunch"

"The Metropolitan Touch"

The Mating Season

Not George Washington

Other books mentioned

Sophie Ratcliffe, ed., P. G. Wodehouse: A Life in Letters

Richard Usbourne, Wodehouse at Work to the end

Wilkie Collins, The Moonstone

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Sign of the Four

Rudyard Kipling, Kim

F. Anstey, Baboo Jabberjee

Frank Richards, The Greyfriars stories

Also mentioned:

Dennis the Menace/The Bash Street Kids (The Beano)

William Townend

Herbert Westbrook

Anthony Home

Lord Roberts

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Mike And Psmith with Matthew Bellwood

Mon, 18 Nov 2024 09:44:32 GMT

Ian is joined by storyteller Matthew Bellwood to discuss Mike and Psmith, the second half of the double novel Mike, published in 1909. This is the debut of the beloved character Psmith, and the final public school novel by Wodehouse published in his lifetime.

There will be spoilers. May contain knuts.

Mike and Psmith at Project Gutenberg

The Lost Lambs (magazine version) at Madame Eulalie

Other Wodehouse works referenced:

Mike at Wrykyn

Psmith in the City

Psmith, Journalist

Leave it to Psmith

Something New

Joy in the Morning (Preface)

The Globe By The Way Book

"The Reformation of Study Sixteen"

"The Stone and the Weed"

"Society Gossip"

Also referenced:

Richard Usborne, Wodehouse At Work To The End

Norman Murphy, A Wodehouse Handbook

Doris Buckler, "Thanks to Psmith"

Terry Pratchett

Douglas Adams

Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

Stella Gibbons, Cold Comfort Farm

Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Rupert D'Oyly-Carte (the inspiration for Psmith)

Sir Kreemy Knut (Sharp's Toffee mascot)

E C Segar, Thimble Theater

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Sherlock Holmes stories

F Anstey, Babboo Jabberjee

Charles Dickens, David Copperfield

Rudyard Kipling, Stalky and Co

E W Hornung, the Raffles stories

C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne, the Captain Kettle stories

Arthur Ransome

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Mike At Wrykyn with Alexander Rennie

Tue, 01 Oct 2024 05:00:14 GMT

Ian is rejoined by Alexander Rennie of the "Forgotten Towns" podcast to discuss Mike at Wrykyn, the first half of the double novel Mike, published in 1909. It's a public school story focused on cricket and introduces a new series character.

Other Wodehouse books mentioned

Mike and Psmith

Psmith in the City

Psmith Journalist

Leave it to Psmith

Very Good Jeeves

Ring For Jeeves (the novel where Jeeves appears without Bertie Wooster)

Laughing Gas

The Mating Season

A Gentleman of Leisure

Also referenced:

Norman Murphy, A Wodehouse Handbook (copiously)

Richard Usborne, Wodehouse at Work To The End

Sophie Ratcliffe, P. G. Wodehouse, A Life in Letters (source of all the letters quoted)

Alec Waugh

Malcolm Muggeridge

George Orwell

The Foster family of Worcestershire

The Haileybury walkout

Clement Atlee

Various cricketers

Victoria Wood

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The Swoop with Peter Falconer

Mon, 02 Sep 2024 11:51:19 GMT

Ian is joined by composer Peter Falconer, of the How I Hobby podcast, to look at The Swoop! or, How Clarence Saved England: A Tale of the Great Invasion (1909) a spoof of three separate Edwardian trends: invasion literature, the boy scout movement, and the music hall. Thanks again to madameeulalie.org. There will be spoilers.

Content note: racism

Other Wodehouse works mentioned:

The Military Invasion of America (US version of the story)

The Next Invasion

Eggs, Beans and Crumpets

The Man Upstairs

Do Butlers Burgle Banks

Weekend Wodehouse

Love Among the Chickens

Over Seventy

The Inimitable Jeeves

Summer Lightning

The Prince and Betty

Also mentioned

Ionicus

Vladimir Nabokov

J R R Tolkien

John Le Carré

Shirley Jackson

William le Queux, The Invasion of 1910

Alfred and Hildebrand Harmsworth

Saki When William Came

Baden-Powell Scouting For Boys

George and Weedon Grossmith Diary of a Nobody

I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (radio show)

Ici on parle français (play)

Ocean's Twelve (film)

Big Train (TV show)

Paul Hatcher, The World Stare-out Championship Final

John Major, My Old Man

Henry Lauder

Andy G, "Tawny Owl"

Aerated Bread Company

Norman Murphy, A Wodehouse Handbook

Bart Kennedy

Edgar Wallace

Bugsy Malone

Douglas Adams

Rob Grant and Doug Naylor

Terry Pratchett

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The Globe By The Way Book with Gwen Sheldon

Thu, 01 Aug 2024 10:01:28 GMT

I am joined by Gwen Sheldon to look at extracts from The Globe By The Way Book — A Literary Quick-Lunch for People Who Have Only Got Five Minutes to Spare (1908) in particular the spoof serial "Women, Wine and Song". We also look at "For Love or Honour" (1907) a serial from the Globe By the Way daily newspaper column. Both works were written with Herbert Westbrook, the Prince of Slackers. Thanks to Madame Eulalie's Rare Plums website for sharing these out-of-print delights!

https://www.madameulalie.org/articles/Deconstructing_The_Globe_By_the_Way_Book.html

https://www.madameulalie.org/globe/women_wine_song_01.html

https://www.madameulalie.org/grp/For_Love_or_Honour.html

Also referenced:

"Jeeves Takes Charge" from Carry On, Jeeves

"Goodbye to All Cats" and "The Amazing Hat Mystery" from Young Men in Spats

Norman Murphy, A Wodehouse Handbook

Wodehouse scholars John Dawson, Karen Shotting and Neil Midkiff

Lewis Carroll

William Haselden, the book's illustrator

The work of Glen Baxter

Hall Caine

Winston Churchill

Jonathan Swift

Alexander Pope

The Suffragette movement

Bioscopes and myrioramas

The radium craze

The Saphead (film)

Flanders and Swann, "A Song of the Weather"

E Phillips Oppenheim

Peter Motteaux (the "Was for him the work of a moment" chap)

Stella Gibbons, Cold Comfort Farm

Francis Beaumont, The Knight of the Burning Pestle

There is little more to tell.

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Not George Washington with Mora

Mon, 08 Jul 2024 12:24:03 GMT

Ian Cockburn talks to Mora about the first of two collaborations with Herbert Westbrook, Not George Washington (1907), a semi-autobiographical novel about life in Edwardian London as a struggling writer. There will be spoilers.

Free eBook of Not George Washington at Project Gutenberg

Not George Washington public domain audiobook at LibriVox

(NB the book is not public domain in all countries)

Also mentioned in the podcast:

Reference books and resources:

Norman Murphy's A Wodehouse Handbook

Sophie Ratcliffe's P.G. Wodehouse: A Life in Letters

Daniel Garrison & Neil Midkiff Who's Who in Wodehouse

Madame Eulalie's Rare Plums

The White Feather with Ujjwal Deb

Fri, 01 Mar 2024 15:51:18 GMT

Ian talks to Ujjwal Deb about the eighth P. G. Wodehouse book, "The White Feather" (1907), a public school novel set at Wrykyn School, in some ways a sequel to "The Gold Bat". Spoilers feature early and often.

Topics discussed include:

Wodehouse's popularity in India
Ujjwal's experience on the TV show Mastermind
The schoolboy code of honour
The possible real-life origin of Wrykyn
Whether the Jackson in this book is any relation to Mike (of Mike and Psmith)
Motor cars and motoring regulations in the Edwardian age
Racism in boxing in the period, and in public school life and literature.
C. S. Calverley and Thomas Babington Macaulay (both quoted in the book)
The history and meaning of the symbol, "the white feather"
Tom Brown's Schooldays by Thomas Hughes

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Love Among the Chickens with Thom Robinson

Sun, 21 Jan 2024 12:27:44 GMT

Ian talks to writer Thom Robinson about the seventh Wodehouse book, "Love Among the Chickens". There will be spoilers.

Among Wodehouse's books, this is:

The first intended for a general audience, as opposed to schoolboys or young children

The first to involve a love story

The first to introduce a major recurring character, which is Ukridge

The first with golf as a major element.

The first to be properly published in the USA

It exists in two versions (four versions actually, but two book versions): The original 1906 book and the 1921 rewrite. We look at both versions to discuss how the changes reflect his development as a writer.

Also discussed:

William Townend, who gave him the plot

Herbert Westbrook, partial model for Ukridge

The trip Wodehouse took to Lyme Regis with the "Lyon cubs", that provided the setting

Arthur Conan Doyle's The Stark-Munro Letters, a probable influence on the novel

The narrator Jeremy Garnet's description of his working life as a novelist, and how far it is likely autobiographical

The self-deprecating humour about being unable to write convincing female characters

The old "Have someone pushed into the water so you can rescue them" wheeze

Thom's old podcast with Hazel Smoczynska: https://soundcloud.com/yammerofthegods

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The Head of Kay's with Josh Cockburn

Tue, 07 Nov 2023 12:24:59 GMT

Ian talks to his brother Josh about the sixth Wodehouse book, "The Head of Kay's". It's yet another school story. There will be spoilers.

Also discussed or referenced

Summer Moonshine

Psmith in the City

Jeeves and the Wedding Bells by Sebastian Faulks

The Boys of Castle Cliff School by R. A. H. Goodyear

Toddy Scores Again by Alfred Judd

A Wodehouse Handbook by N. T. P. Murphy

Let's Do It: The Birth of Pop by Bob Stanley

N.A.Knox

Seymour Hicks.

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5: William Tell Told Again

Fri, 20 Oct 2023 12:39:48 GMT

Ian looks at P.G. Wodehouse's only book for younger children, "William Tell Told Again".

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4: The Gold Bat with Alexander Rennie

Mon, 25 Sep 2023 15:30:58 GMT

Ian talks to Alexander Rennie about the third Wodehouse novel, "The Gold Bat". It's another school story. Despite the title, there is no cricket this time but plenty of rugby and a bit of boxing, ferret-keeping and shadowy secret societies.There will be spoilers.

Alexander's podcast is called "Forgotten Towns".

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3: Tales of St Austin's

Tue, 22 Aug 2023 12:41:56 GMT

I talk about the third book by P.G. Wodehouse, his first short story collection, "Tales of St Austin's", again with a public school theme. There will be spoilers.

Also mentioned in the podcast: Norman Murphy's "A Wodehouse Handbook".

There is a wealth of material at Madame Eulalie including the original magazine versions of these stories.

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2: A Prefect's Uncle with Alexander Rennie

Tue, 25 Jul 2023 20:14:43 GMT

Ian talks to Alexander Rennie about the second Wodehouse novel, "A Prefect's Uncle". It's another school story, with a lot of cricket. There will be spoilers.

Alexander's podcast is called "Forgotten Towns".

There is a wealth of material at Madame Eulalie available as always.

Also mentioned in the podcast: Sophie Ratcliffe's "P.G. Wodehouse: A Life in Letters"

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1: The Pothunters with Julia Ediger

Sun, 16 Jul 2023 14:31:48 GMT

In our first episode we discuss Wodehouse's first book, "The Pothunters" (1902), a public school novel.

There is a wealth of material at Madame Eulalie including annotations of the novel, the serialised version and relevant articles by Wodehouse on school stories.

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