Quotations from P G Wodehouse are copyright of, and reprinted by permission of, the Trustees of the Wodehouse Estate © 2012 The P G Wodehouse Society (UK)

The P G Wodehouse Society (UK) 2010 Biennial Dinner

A View from the Edge

By Peter Thompson

This excellent dinner (and well worth waiting two years to experience) took place on 28th October 2010 in the beautiful Grays Inn Hall, High Holborn, London.  We were delighted that the guest of honour was HRH The Duke of Kent.

HRH The Duke of Kent (photo by Ginni Beard)

Since this was my first taste of the Society's dinner, I was asked to give a report from the floor. The hall was packed to the gunnells and my view was literally from the edge, Table 13, on the rim so to speak, but a good view none the less and better company than our group on Table 13 would have been hard to find. The democracy of the Society is such that Committee members could also be found on outlying tables, so nobody felt excluded.

Sir Edward Cazalet, Hilary Bruce and Tim Brooke-Taylor (photo by Ginni Beard)

We had been greeted with champagne at a general forgathering in the Benchers' reception room, where to my pleasure I spoke with a delightful couple who had travelled from the USA, Chicago to be exact, to be with us along with another 13  from various chapters of the USA PG Wodehouse Society.

The meal itself was excellent and discreetly served with wine flowing freely to warm the cockles of your heart.  As a connoisseur, my immediate neighbour Brian Porter assured me of the  high quality of the Chateau Liversan, Cru Bourgois, which he tested for its consistency throughout the evening.

What sets the evening apart however are the speakers and entertainers from within.

A typical table layout (photo by Ginni Beard)

A past-president of the PG Wodehouse Society USA, Elliott Milstein, gave a witty and clever speech when proposing the toast to our Society. As he rightly pointed out, Wodehouse lived more of his years in the USA than in the country of his birth. He also highlighted from his own personal experience at university the snobbish attitude of intellectuals to humour and its perpetrators, such people failing to appreciate the intelligence, knowledge and skill of the writer required to bring a smile or even laughter to the lips of the reader. This of course was achieved by Wodehouse on a regular and consistent basis, to which all those present can testify.

Elliott Milstein delivers his speech (photo by Ginni Beard)

If you would like to read Elliott’s speech please click here.

The entertainment, a musical version of "Uncle Fred Flits By", was adapted extremely cleverly by Tony Ring and performed brilliantly by Tim Brooke-Taylor as Uncle Fred, Hal Cazalet as Wilbur the wooer much out of favour with the family due to his jellied eel connections, Lara Cazalet as Julia his would-be fiancee and narrated by David Cazalet stepping brilliantly into the breach left unfortunately by our much respected President's absence through ill health. We all rose to wish Richard Briers a speedy return to full health.

The cast take a bow, to much applause (photo by Ginni Beard)

HRH The Duke of Kent was the voice of the author. In the dual role of the unpleasant mother of Julia and the housemaid in the Roddis home was our own Christine Hewitt with Andrew Chapman stepped up to the mark as well.

Never having heard Hal Cazalet or Lara Cazalet sing before, it was a great pleasure to do so. As an encore Lara sang Wodehouse's best known lyric, "Bill", quite beautifully.

Stephen Higgins provided excellent accompaniment which can never be easy when you are doing so after limited rehearsals, and yet his performance was seamless.

Once again we were informed that "Uncle Fred Flits By" was the best ever short story written when in fact I would (once again - see recent Wooster Sauce) argue the case for  "Lord Emsworth and the Girl Friend".  I was given support for this view by no less an authority (as he so described himself) than Brian Porter and he advised me that this was also the opinion of a chap who did a little bit of writing himself a few years back, Rudyard Kipling.  Indeed Lord Emsworth might well have been reciting "If" as he stood up to the wrath of McAllister and the will-power of Lady Constance Keeble in that story.  But I do agree that it is in the top two.