Category: PG Wodehouse

Morning DJ

Radio 3 is not frightened of being quirky. On Sunday there was six hours of music with no interruptions. Sacred River was introduced by Neil MacGregor at 9.00 am and then flowed along presenter-less until 3.00 pm.

Box of Delights

In Salad Days a magic piano is entrusted  to Jane and Timothy by a passing tramp. Frodo Baggins inherits the Ring from his cousin Bilbo and is told by Gandalf to take care of it. For Bertie Wooster in The Code of the Woosters the MacGuffin is an 18th century silver cow-creamer. It is an… Continue reading Box of Delights

School Dinners

I’m not one for school reunions. At least ten years ago there was a drinks party in London for all the boys in “my” year at Eton. It was excruciating as the few I recognised I wasn’t especially keen on and otherwise it was a sea of strange faces. I ended up talking to the… Continue reading School Dinners

Classic Detective Stories

The Golden Age of the classic detective novel was the middle of the 20th century. Wilkie Collins is often cited as founder of the genre when he wrote The Moonstone in 1868 which was developed by Conan Doyle and his contemporaries but we treat today with the mid 20th century.

Quiz Answers

When you open this website sometimes you must think “I don’t want this. This is just what I don’t want. What I want is Wodehouse and I want Wodehouse now.”

Christmas Present

Imagine having a dinner party and inviting Mustafa Ataturk, Béla Bartók, Cecil B DeMille, Alexander Fleming, Anna Pavlova, Pablo Picasso and PG Wodehouse.

An AGM

To the AGM of the PG Wodehouse Society on Monday evening. They have moved around a bit over the years.

What’s Up?

An unusual convention in Bridge is the Lightner double, described by Susanna Gross in The Spectator as “a bolt out of the blue which strikes fear into your heart. There you are, having bid confidently to slam, when suddenly one of your opponents pulls out the red card. Eek! It’s a Lightner double, which means they… Continue reading What’s Up?

Pouncing

The Earl of Ickenham believed in pouncing. Let him explain the Ickenham System in his own words. I call it that. Just giving you the bare outlines, you stride up to the subject, grab her by the wrist, clasp her to your bosom and shower burning kisses on her upturned face. You don’t have to… Continue reading Pouncing

The Have Yachts

When I was forty, two of my first cousins gave a party at my favourite Chinese restaurant, Mr Kong in Lisle Street. It closed at the end of 2015 so don’t go looking for it. When I was fifty I gave a small dinner party at my club. When I was sixty …