News from the World of Wodehouse
December 8, 2025
If you live outside the U.K. but have some magical way of listening to BBC Radio 4, then be sure to tune into “Opening Lines” on December 23 at 12:45–1:00 p.m. U.K. time. The novelist Ian Sansome will be taking a look at the joys to be found in Joy in the Morning. Sir Stephen Fry will be reading extracts as well. Additionally, on December 24 and 26 at 12 noon, Radio 4 will be broadcasting Joy in the Morning as enacted by Martin Jarvis as Jeeves and Freddie Fox as Bertie. Oh, to be in England at Christmas!
A college class on P. G. Wodehouse? Yes, it does sometimes happen, and we’ve heard of a week-long course taking place at Brasenose College, Oxford University, in July 2026. The title is “P G Wodehouse and the Idea of England: Comedy, Class and Controversy,” and the fee for attending is £1,855. Over five days, the topics include an introduction to Wodehouse and his works; an examination of what it means to be English and how Wodehouse depicted that trait; a look at the rise of British fascism in the 1930s and how it was reflected in The Code of the Woosters; Wodehouse’s internment at Tost and how it affected his life; and, finally, how students’ attitudes about Wodehouse might have been changed by the course. If you plan on spending the dosh to attend, a report on how the course goes would be welcome.
On October 17, 2025, an unidentified editor of the website Casa Carlini posted an article entitled “P. G. Wodehouse: The Serious Business of Being Frivolous.” This fine appreciation of PGW’s works touches on his genius with plotting and word construction, with a particular focus on the Jeeves and Wooster books. “Each sentence performs a kind of syntactic vaudeville: a dance of clause and cadence,” writes Plum’s unknown admirer. Do check out the full article.
The Catholic Herald may seem like an odd publication to find references to Wodehouse, and yet they keep coming. On November 1, an article by Mark McGinness divulged the ties between St John Henry Newman (Cardinal Newman) and his first cousin twice removed, P. G. Wodehouse. The article is worth reading despite several errors that Neil Midkiff subsequently detailed in a post on Facebook. A month later, on December 1, the Herald posted a piece by Ken Craycraft in which he writes about “the joy of Advent,” which includes this paragraph:
“In the novel Heavy Weather, P.G. Wodehouse has the character Monty Bodkin explain to Bertie Wooster that there are ‘wheels with wheels’ to the latest scheme into which Bertie is drawn. In typical Wodehousian fashion, the novel contains complex subplots and convoluted schemes within the basic narrative. But these detours contribute to the cohesion of the story and, ultimately, its satisfactory resolution. This is an inexact metaphor for the way I experience Advent.”
Some time ago, a reader sent in a terrific snippet from a book (not by Wodehouse) that had a passing reference to Plum—one of those unexpected surprises you occasionally come across in modern novels and nonfiction. Alas, your addlepated website editor can no longer find said snippet among her emails. If the contributor is reading this, please send it again! In the meantime, here’s something that Elliott Milstein spotted in The Club, a book by Leo Damrosch about Samuel Johnson and James Boswell as well as their contemporaries:
“[Oliver] Goldsmith’s only other play, produced in 1773, was She Stoops to Conquer. It has an engaging plot, with twists and setbacks worthy of P. G. Wodehouse.”
As Elliott pointed out, this is quite a compliment to Goldsmith!
Finally, if you’re curious about the picture, yes, there was at one time a Wodehouse ale, and it was produced, appropriately, at the Emsworth Brewhouse. But, alas, both the brewery and the ale have dissipated. Such a shame – ‘twould have made an excellent Christmas gift. Happy holidays to all Plummies everywhere!
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