An apartment in a grand Neo-Baroque blue-plaque Mayfair house, formerly a Royal residence of Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke, has gone on sale for £2.25 million.
We asked some leading lights of comedy and literature to nominate the books that always make you laugh out loud
A new exhibition celebrating the life and works of PG Wodehouse reveals the secrets of England's greatest literary humorist – including his beloved pipe collection. Plum Pie: The Life & Work of PG Wodehouse is at Heywood Hill, London W1J 5HH until 16 October
A new exhibition celebrating the life and works of PG Wodehouse reveals the secrets of England's greatest literary humorist – including his beloved pipe collection. Plum Pie: The Life & Work of PG Wodehouse is at Heywood Hill, London W1J 5HH until 16 October
A new exhibition celebrating the life and works of PG Wodehouse reveals the secrets of England's greatest literary humorist – including his beloved pipe collection. Plum Pie: The Life & Work of PG Wodehouse is at Heywood Hill, London W1J 5HH until 16 October
Find out where to start with P. G. Wodehouse's comic novels by exploring some of our favorites.
A critic once remarked on how most of Wodehouse’s characters are the same people disguised under different names in different novels. The comic rejoinder he received was full of sparkling wit and humourous levity. “A [...]
When I traced P G Wodehouse to his lair down an English-feeling country lane on Long Island he had not long entered his Eighties, recalls PETER LEWIS. Asked what he made of being 80 he had answered: ‘Well, the hot blood of the seventies has cooled.’
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The fiction that makes us laugh the most is, paradoxically, often the most profound and intelligent, argues John Self. So why isn’t it being rewarded?
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There are prizes, normally named after PG Wodehouse, given to literary comic novels and non-fiction, and these books will have blurbs saying "hilarious" on them. This is infinitely funnier than any of them.' DAVID BADDIEL'The funniest series of books ever written in the English language' RICHARD OSMAN'Hilarious' THE TIMES'Absolute f**king genius' CAITLIN MORAN'With a genuine belly laugh to be found on almost every page, it only cements Partridge's status as the world's greatest comedy character' EMPIRE'Partridge... has become the man our time deserves. Aha!' THE TIMES'This is a deeply silly book. It's also glorious...[with] proper belly laughs on pretty much every page' i NEWS'Every sentence screams pure Partridge...a spoof that comes close to comic genius' DAILY EXPRESS'Expect plenty of laughs' HEAT'Not only has Alan Partridge created an entirely new storytelling structure, it's very funny indeed' JON RONSON In Big Beacon, Norwich's favourite son and best broadcaster, Alan Partridge, triumphs against the odds. TWICE. Using an innovative 'dual narrative' structure you sometimes see in films, Big Beacon tells the story of how Partridge heroically rebuilt his TV career, rising like a phoenix from the desolate wasteland of local radio to climb to the summit of Mount Primetime and regain the nationwide prominence his talent merits. But then something quite unexpected and moving, because Big Beacon also tells the story of a selfless man, driven to restore an old lighthouse to its former glory, motivated by nothing more than respect for a quietly heroic old building that many take for granted, which some people think is a metaphor for Alan himself even though it's not really for them to say.* Leaving his old life behind and relocating to a small coastal village in Kent, Alan battles through adversity, wins the hearts and minds of a suspicious community, and ultimately shows himself to be a quite wonderful man. * The two strands will run in tandem, their narrative arcs mirroring each other to make the parallels between the two stories abundantly clear to the less able reader.; 304 pages; 12/10/2023
PG Wodehouse (1881-1975) – Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, known as ‘Plum’ to his family and friends – was one of the most entertaining novelists in the English language. He’s probably best known for his Jeeves and Wooster characters, but he also wrote a host of other books as well as plays, lyrics and a series of short stories. I’ve been reading Wodehouse all my life – sometimes a dangerous occupation when on public transport, because there’s a belly laugh on every page. He had the most exquisite turn of phrase, so much so that Seán O’Casey labelled him ‘English literature’s performing flea’. And what a sublime list of characters populated his pages... Gussie Fink-Nottle, Galahad Threepwood, Tuppy Glossop, Pongo Twistleton, Oofy Prosser and Bingo Little. Then, of course, there was Psmith (‘the P is silent’...) Total, sheer bliss. This is the front hardboard cover (sadly there’s no dust jacket) of The Inimitable Jeeves, published in 1923. It’s not worth anything, but it’s a pleasure to own.
In our latest essay in which a critic reflects on a cultural work that brings them joy, Nicholas Barber pays tribute to the blissfully escapist comic novels of PG Wodehouse.
"It is a good rule in life never to apologize. The right sort of people do not want apologies, and the wrong sort take a mean advantage of them. P.G. Wodehouse
A new exhibition celebrating the life and works of PG Wodehouse reveals the secrets of England's greatest literary humorist – including his beloved pipe collection. Plum Pie: The Life & Work of PG Wodehouse is at Heywood Hill, London W1J 5HH until 16 October
A critic once remarked on how most of Wodehouse’s characters are the same people disguised under different names in different novels. The comic rejoinder he received was full of sparkling wit and humourous levity. “A [...]
The touching friendship between crime writer Agatha Christie and Jeeves creator PG Wodehouse can be revealed in correspondence published for the first time.
Can dim wittedness of an individual be better described than this? Minds like Monty Bodkin’s may not always work at express speed, but they are subject to the same subconscious process as those of more brain-burdened man. The bizarre tastes of an individual perfectly explained. From time to time he sniffed sensuously. Elsewhere throughout this fair domain the air was fragrant with the myriad scents of high summer, but not where Lord Emsworth was doing his sniffling. Within a liberal radius of the Empress’s headquarters other scents could not compete. This splendid animal diffused an aroma which was both distinctive and arresting. Attractive, too, if you liked that sort of thing, as Lord Emsworth did Bad vibes cannot be told more humorously He trembled. It would have pained the immaculate Monty, could he have known that his prospective employer was picturing him at this moment as a furtive, shifty-eyed, rat-like person of the gangster type, liable at the first opportunity to sneak into the sixes of innocent pigs and plant pineapple bombs in their bran-mash You should know what to say when Yes, that’s how I remember him. One of those fellows you can count on to say the wrong thing. Reminds me rather of a man I used to know in the old days called Bagshott. Boko Bagshott, we called him. Took a girl to supper once at the Garden. Supper scarcely concluded when angry old gentleman plunges into the room and starts shaking his fist in Boko’s face. Boko rises with chivalrous gesture `Have no fear, sir. I am a man of honour. I will marry your daughter’ `Daughter’ says old gentleman, foaming at little at the mouth `Damn it, that’s my wife’ Took all Boko’s tact to pass it off, I believe.
'Is there a better P. G. Wodehouse character than Psmith? No there is not. Thank you for agreeing' John Self 'An incomparable and timeless genius' Kate Mosse _____________________________________ 'It seems to me that you and I were made for each other. I am your best friend's best friend and we both have a taste for stealing other people's jewellery.' Lady Constance Keeble has both an imperious manner and a valuable diamond necklace. The precarious peace of Blandings is shattered when her necklace becomes the object of desire for some well-connected jewel thieves - among them the Honourable Freddie Threepwood, who wants the reward money for a bookmaking business, and Psmith, the elegant socialist. On patrol with the impossible task of bringing order to Blandings is the Efficient Baxter, whose strivings lead to a memorable encounter with the castle flowerpots.
An apartment in a grand Neo-Baroque blue-plaque Mayfair house, formerly a Royal residence of Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke, has gone on sale for £2.25 million.
The author’s reputation, long tarnished by charges of Nazi collaboration, will be restored as his papers find a new home
When I traced P G Wodehouse to his lair down an English-feeling country lane on Long Island he had not long entered his Eighties, recalls PETER LEWIS. Asked what he made of being 80 he had answered: ‘Well, the hot blood of the seventies has cooled.’