1. Mr Chinnery (=A), one of the "lodgers" has been requesting waffles again, adding to the pressures on Sir Buckstone Abbott (=B/D), husband of Alice, Lady Abbott (=C), of American origin [Summer Moonshine, ch. 2].

2. Clarence, Earl of Emsworth (=E), discussing matters with his brother Galahad. A few pages later he marvels at the custom of serving cheese with pie. [Galahad at Blandings (UK) or The Brinkmanship of Galahad Threepwood (US) ch. 3 and 4].

3. Again Lord Emsworth (=E), this time to his sister Constance (=H) about businessman named Neptune (=F) (unusual names are also mentioned as an American oddity) whom he met at a party to which his son Frederick (=G) took him [A Pelican at Blandings (UK) or No Nudes is Good Nudes (US), ch. 1].

4. Joe Pickering has been Mickey-Finned and is telling the story to Jerry Nichols (=J) [Bachelors Anonymous, ch. 11].

Bonus 1: Clarence, ninth Earl of Emsworth [Sunset at Blandings, ch. 14].

Bonus 2: William (Bill) Chalmers, Lord Dawlish dancing with The Good Sport in Uneasy Money.

Round 272 - 13 May 2006

Part I

1. Jerry Vail (=C) has taken Sunnybrae (=B) in Market Blandings (=D) from Lancelot Cooper (=A) in Pigs Have Wings.

2. Bertie Wooster is describing his arrival at Wee Nooke (=E) in Joy in the Morning.

Part II

3. To have included "Bertie's middle name" in this category would have made the question much too easy. The key is that all bear the name "Wilberforce". The Grand National winner inspired Bertie's father to advance the name. Bingo's aunt Myrtle Beenstock's butler's name is Wilberforce (most of the time). Augustus Keggs' brother-in-law is Wilberforce (Battling) Billson. Uncle George's barmaid is Maudie Wilberforce.

4. All at one time were employed as singers on the stage. (Thanks to Ian Michaud for pointing out that not all were technically "chorus girls". Dolly Henderson was a music-hall serio.)

It is true that Beach's niece, Maudie Beach Montrose Digby Stubbs Bunbury, as Galahad called her, does become an aunt of Monty Bodkin's, by marriage to Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe; the question refers to a different aunt, the one from whom he inherited his considerable wealth.

5. All are owners of Scottish, or, as PGW more often called them, Aberdeen, Terriers.

Bonus Point: Note on the number of sheep: 823 ("leaving the eight hundred and twenty-fourth sheep, an animal with a more than usually vacuous expression on its face, suspended in the air ...") are counted in the first session. (57,800/823/7= 10.03) Bill resumes his sheep counting at the end of the chapter and reaches 1,000. 57,800/1,000/7=8.25.

Using either number of sheep and believing whichever of the many versions of cats in B.W.'s bedroom, and crediting either Bertie or Jeeves in re the dinner jackets, the answer remains closest to (b) the number of sisters (i.e. 10).

Round 273 - 21 May 2006

1. Lord Emsworth (A), allergic to singing owing to the efforts of his son Frederick (B), is inspired, on hearing the servants' hall's gramophone, to remember the universal pig call ["Pig-hoo-o-o-o-ey", from Blandings Castle].

2. Lord Rowcester (C) asks Jeeves (E) to put a Charleston record on the old gramophone, in order to dance with Mrs Spottsworth, much to the displeasure of Captain Biggar (D) [Ring for Jeeves, ch. 14].

3. Percy Pilbeam assures Lord Tilbury that, according to Billingsley (F), Tilbury's late brother was definitely non compos [Frozen Assets, ch. 8].

4. Henry Paradene (G) is grateful for a suggestion provided by his nephew Algernon Martyn, and is about to let Kelly Stickney (H) in on the breaking news [Company for Henry, ch. 12].

Extra credit: Mike Jackson, in ch. 5 of Mike at Wrykyn.

Extra extra credit: the record-buyer on credit is, of course, Stanley F Ukridge, in ch. 15 of Love Among the Chickens.

Round 274 - 29 May 2006

1. The narrator, Bertram W Wooster, is quite sure that Corky Pirbright (B), although quite unlike Aunt Agatha (A) in many respects, will manage to make Augustus Fink-Nottle dance to her tunes [The Mating Season, ch. 9].

2. Joe Pickering (D) is trying to divert the attention of a friend of Jack Warner (C), who will later turn out to be Ivor Llewellyn [Bachelors Anonymous, ch. 3].

3. An unidentified physician gives Wilmot Mulliner this advice ["The Juice of an Orange", from Blandings Castle].

4. A determined seller of sengwidges and oranges brutally interrupts the joyful reunion of Bill West (G) and Flick Sheridan (F) at Waterloo Station [Bill the Conqueror, ch. 14].

5. Sally Nicholas (H) is longing to bung an orange at her brother Fillmore [The Adventures of Sally, ch. 1].

Round 275 - 6 June 2006

1. The barmaid is Marlene Wellbeloved (A). Samuel G Bagshott (B) is about to deprive Beach of his pocketwatch [Galahad at Blandings, ch. 5].

2. Lord Biskerton (D) is about to give the barmaid of the Jolly Harvesters (C) the shock of her life [Big Money, ch. 6].

3. Here we are looking at the wedding picture of Flossie and Battling Billson. E = Lord Uffenham [Something Fishy, ch. 23].

4. Barmy Fotheringay-Phipps (F) and Pongo Twistleton ["Tried in the Furnace", from the UK edition of Young Men in Spats, or the US edition of The Crime Wave at Blandings].

5. This barmaid to end all barmaids is Miss Postlethwaite (I), the ministering angel of the Anglers' Rest (G), the favourite bar of Mr Mulliner (H) ["Anselm Gets His Chance", from Eggs, Beans and Crumpets].

Round 276 - 14 June 2006

1. The German-speaker is Empress of Blandings, giving Millicent Threepwood the shock of her life. Fortunately Hugo Carmody (A) is at hand [Summer Lightning, ch. 12].

2. Psmith (B) and Comrade Jackson are making the acquaintance of "His Grace", Billy Windsor [Psmith, Journalist, ch. 3].

3. This is Bingo Little (C), about to de-Peke Mr Purkiss (D) ["Bingo and the Peke Crisis", from Eggs, Beans, and Crumpets].

4. The behaviour of Packy Franklin (E) and Gordon Carlisle (I) prove that Herr Schwertfeger (H) of Berlin knows his stuff. F and G are, respectively, Mr Slattery and Lady Beatrice Bracken [Hot Water, ch. 17].

Extra credit: Heinrich Joerg, waiter at Reigelheimer's, bumped into Lord Dawlish in ch. 6 of Uneasy Money.

Round 277 - 22 June 2006

1. The home-brewed beer purveyed by G Ovens, (B), to his clientele at the Emsworth Arms proved to be just the tonic Ricky Gilpin, (A), needed in Chapter 15 of Uncle Fred in the Springtime after his Uncle Alaric, (C), had issued a firm nolle prosequi to Ricky’s suggestion that he, the Duke of Dunstable, contribute 250 pounds to the purchase price of an onion soup bar. Unfortunately for Ricky, not even Mr Ovens’ liquid Pollyanna would enable him to maintain a sunny disposition after listening to the innuendoes about to be uttered by Mustard Pott, (D).

2. Having been converted and shown the light at a Welsh revival meeting, the new mission in life of Wilberforce “Battling” Billson, (E), was to do good by going into pubs and spilling the beer of every patron on the premises to prevent the poor sinners from sinning. Corky Corcoran, who narrated the story “The Exit of Battling Billson”, first collected in Ukridge (US title He Rather Enjoyed It), thought it prudent not to mention his own fondness for the demon drink.

3. American paperweight thief J Wendell Stickney, (F), was a satisfied customer of the home-brewed ale at the Beetle and Wedge in Ashby Paradene. From Chapter 9 of Company for Henry (US title The Purloined Paperweight).

4. There is nothing sadder than a pig-man who wants his beer, but cannot get it. And that’s the case of George Cyril Wellbeloved, (H), in Chapter 5 of Pigs Have Wings after his overlord, Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe, (G), had ordered him to lay off the lotion until the conclusion of the Shropshire Agricultural Show and had used his magisterial and licensing powers to ensure that George Cyril would remain on the “banned” list of every publican in the neighbourhood for the duration.

5. In Chapter Six of Pigs Have Wings Sir Gregory celebrated the end of his engagement to tennis-playing fitness freak Gloria Salt, (I), by downing a pint of beer with a Wellbelovedian enthusiasm.

Round 278 - 3 July 2006

1. This failure to communicate was between the narrator, Bertie Wooster and Miss Isabel Rockmetteller who, being from a small town in Illinois, wasn’t quite up to date with the latest Mayfair slang. From the short story “The Aunt and the Sluggard”, which was first collected in Carry On, Jeeves.

2. This scene, found in Chapter Two of Money For Nothing, proved to be a painful misunderstanding for both parties in the conversation. The dog Emily, (B), received a painful whack on the nose when Colonel Wyvern, (A), unexpectedly opened the door to the Rudge-in-the-Vale chemist shop and the Colonel’s inability to understand the Welsh terrier dialect led directly to his receiving a painful dog-bite on the left ankle.

3. In Chapter 19 of Psmith, Journalist despite the encouragement of Psmith, (D), the interpretive skills of Pugsy Maloney, (C), were unable to produce results in a tense Pleasant Street conversation with an Italian youth named Giuseppe Orloni. An almost identical passage also appears in Chapter 24 of the American edition of The Prince and Betty in which John Maude assumes the role of (D).

4. In Chapter Three of The Small Bachelor Sigsbee H Waddington, (E), and his new friend George Finch or possibly Winch or even Pinch, (F), chafed at the dinner conversation of Mrs Waddington’s wealthy guests while Mr Waddington pined for the West and the only topic of conversation that held any interest for George was that of Sigsbee’s charming daughter Molly.

5. In the opinion of Police Constable Thomas Parsons, (G), the natural habitat of Monsieur Bredin, (H), the proprietor of Bredin’s Parisian Cafe and Restaurant in Soho, was some not too fastidious pig-sty. (“Rough-Hew Them How We Will” from The Man Upstairs and Other Stories).

Round 279 - 13 July 2006

1. In this extract from “Indian Summer of an Uncle”, which was collected in Very Good, Jeeves, the décor in the parlour of Wisteria Lodge, the home of Mrs Maudie Wilberforce, caused the narrator, Bertie Wooster, to lose his morale, dooming to failure the mission that had been entrusted to him by his Aunt Agatha.

2. In this scene from Chapter Three (“The New Era Begins”) of Psmith in the City, Mike Jackson, (A), arrived in London and prepared to begin his new career as a bank clerk by renting from a pantomime dame landlady a deplorable but inexpensive furnished apartment on Acacia Road, Dulwich.

3. Animal-loving poet Charlotte Mulliner, (B), found the décor at Bludleigh Court a little excessive, consisting as it did almost exclusively of the stuffed and mounted trophies of the victims of the hunting prowess of her host Sir Alexander Bassinger, his sons Reginald and Wilfred, and their uncle, Colonel Sir Francis Pashley-Drake, (C, D, F, and E, respectively) in the short story “Unpleasantness at Bludleigh Court”, which was first collected in Mr Mulliner Speaking.

4. The narrator, James Orlebar Cloyster, attempted to strike the proper Bohemian note as he settled into rented lodgings at number 93A Manresa Street in Chelsea. From Part Two, Chapter Two of Not George Washington. Shortly after his landlady caught a glimpse of his “improvements”, Mr Cloyster would find himself in the market for new accommodations.

5. Psmith, (H), in Chapter 12 of Leave it Psmith, invited Eve Halliday, (G), to inspect the Blandings Castle gamekeeper‘s cottage, with a view to getting her ideas on how to spruce up the appearance of his rustic retreat. In the next chapter we see the results of the improvements instituted by Eve and her accomplice, Freddie Threepwood, (I).

Round 280 - 22 July 2006

l. In the short story “Bingo and the Little Woman”, which was first collected in The Inimitable Jeeves, the marriage proposal of former Babylonian king Bingo Little, (A), had just been accepted by a waitress with an unusually vivid imagination. We would later learn that the waitress’s vivid imagination was due to the fact that she was really an author of rich goo named Rosie M Banks. And Father Rob points out that it is perhaps fortunate that Rosie was not an author of historical romances as the Babylonian Empire had ceased to exist long before Christians appeared on the scene.

2. Using all the diplomatic skills at his disposal, Bashford Braddock, (C), provided the tragic fate of the late King of Mgumbo-Mgumbo to illustrate his friendly warning to (B), Osbert Mulliner, to avoid the society of Mabel Petherick-Soames in the short story “The Ordeal of Osbert Mulliner”, which appeared in book form for the first time in Mr Mulliner Speaking.

3. What are the odds that the Shah of Persia’s niece would be employed as a cook in Valley Fields? In the opinion of Claire Lippett, (E), about on a par with the odds that midnight intruder Sam Shotter, (F), was telling the truth when he claimed to be the nephew of a millionaire and a friend of Willoughby Braddock, (D). From Chapter Seven of Sam the Sudden (US title: Sam in the Suburbs).

4. Despite enjoying the immense advantage of being the godson of the Hon. Galahad Threepwood, (G), no one was more surprised than Johnny Halliday, (H), when he clicked with the beautiful Linda Gilpin, (I), a sort of composite of The Queen of Sheba, Helen of Troy and Cleopatra. From Chapter Eight of A Pelican at Blandings (US title: No Nudes is Good Nudes).

5. For the bonus question we turn to Chapter Four of Frozen Assets (US title: Biffen’s Millions) where the winsome Gwendoline Gibbs remained impervious to the pick-up lines spouted by newly-minted millionaire Edmund Biffen Christopher.

6. Ted Brady took advantage of his upset victory in the balloting for the coveted title of King of the Coney Island Mardi Gras to win the consent of Matthew Bennett (who was convinced he was the King of England) to a royal alliance that would see Ted marry Mr Bennett’s charming grand-daughter Katie. From the short story “Crowned Heads”, which was collected in The Man With Two Left Feet and Other Stories.