It is four years since I was made redundant. I segued into a seven-day, fifty-two weeks a year job. You are reading it now.
I was not opposed to working full-time for a few more years but my Jameson gene (laziness) predominated, so I have been muddling along doing a few bits and pieces – all unpaid. By far the most fun is being website editor of the PG Wodehouse Society. The Society has an efficient, long-standing webmaster so my IT ignorance is not a problem. Right now I’m a bit behind with the washing and some Future Events have become past events but I have been dealing with a succession of inquiries about aspects of the Wodehouse oeuvre. Twice I have managed to reply without assistance; on all other occasions I turned to Tony Ring who wears his expertise like a matador’s cape flashing it expertly and impressing me and my correspondents.
Tony completed and expanded Geoffrey Jaggard’s Millennium Wodehouse Concordance. This was published in eight volumes between 1994 and 2001: Wodehouse in the Clubhouse, Wodehouse at the Anglers’ Rest, Wodehouse Goes to School, Wodehouse Among the Chickens, Wodehouse at Blandings Castle, Wodehouse in Woostershire, Wodehouse with Old Friends, Wodehouse with New Friends. I have only managed to buy the last seven volumes but find them invaluable in checking up on names of characters, where they appear and so on.
There is a lot more reference material in print and on-line. One book stands out: In Search of Blandings, by the late Norman Murphy, published in 1981. The blurb on the back cover gives a flavour of what’s inside.
Behind the superb language and imagery of PG Wodehouse lies a background of reality. People, places, names and incidents in Wodehouse’s life appear under different guises. Aunt Dahlia, Bertie Wooster, Jeeves and Ukridge are all based on people he knew – and Blandings Castle does exist.
For seven years the author followed clues in Somerset House, the British Museum, county directories and reference books. The result is a fascinating study in detection culminating in the identification of the great houses that Wodehouse knew which made one of the best-loved settings in English fiction – Blandings Castle.
Christopher,
In my years of following your blog today is the first time I recall reading of any reference to domestic burdens (‘behind with the washing’). I always assumed that such tedious tasks were undertaken by your hired hand.
I must, however, give credit were it is due. Your daily writings demonstrate your faithful devotion to your followers, even in the face of hostile and tiresome comments, and nullify any notion of laziness. I wonder how many of us could continue to write an interesting and informative daily journal without originality diminishing over four years?
With regard to domestic duties may I take this opportunity of welcoming you to the real word, which, until today, I believed you did not inhabit.