QA81-90

Round 81 - 18 April 2001

1. Bobby Wickham was the chooser of this disgusting feast. She chose it to entice Blumenfield Jr to listen to her mother's novel. Very Good, Jeeves, "Episode of the Dog McIntosh".

2. Frederick, Fifth Earl of Ickenham, is masquerading as the Explorer, Major Plank, and has to explain a few differences in physique. Uncle Dynamite, Chapter six.

3. Mr Mulliner philosophises on the curse of the Diet as he tells the story of Wilmot Mulliner, whose normally sunny temperament is soured by a diet Blandings Castle, "The Juice of an Orange".

Round 82 - 28 April 2001

1. Bertie's Uncle George, Lord Yaxley, was troubled by the wraith of Eustace, who with his twin Claude, was supposed to be on his way to South Africa. "The Delayed Exit of Claude and Eustace" from The Inimitable Jeeves.

2. Mr Mulliner is about to tell the story of "Honeysuckle Cottage" in Meet Mr Mulliner.

3. The Earl of Wilverscombe gave his consent to the marriage of his daughter to Adolphus Stiffham, rather than be haunted by his ghost. "The Luck of the Stiffhams" from Young Men in Spats.

Round 83 - 7 May 2001

1. This fancy dresser was Sir Watkyn Bassett, accosting Bertie in Chapter three of The Code of the Woosters.

2. Horace Davenport attended a Fancy Dress party as an African Warrior, disconcerting those betting on the Clothes Stakes. Uncle Fred in the Springtime, chapter four.

3. Mr Oscar Svenson was taking the opportunity of gathering up dollar bills floating in the harbour when he was interrupted by Sam Marlowe's attempted rescue. The Girl on the Boat.

Round 84 - 18 May 2001

1. Lord Worplesdon contemplating the attitude of Aunt Agatha, his wife, to his attendance at a fancy dress ball. Joy in the Morning chap 24.

2. Veronica Wedge, gazing at a millionaire. Full Moon chap 4.

3. Mrs Cork, bereft in front of her safe. The Old Reliable chap 18.

Round 85 - 4 June 2001

1. Sebastian Moon in "The Love That Purifies" from Very Good, Jeeves.

2. Edwin the Boy Scout was hampering Bertie's attempts to purloin his uncle's memoirs in "Jeeves Takes Charge" from Carry On Jeeves.

3. Bobbie Wickham adroitly makes her suitor, Ambrose Mulliner, take care of the perfectly foul Wilfred and Esmond. "The Passing Of Ambrose", Mr Mulliner Speaking.

Round 86 - 14 June 2001

1. Bertie was considering inviting his sister and nieces to live with him. Jeeves objects, and arranges for Bertie to address a girls' school, thus developing a small girl phobia. As far as I am aware, these relatives are never mentioned again. "Bertie Changes His Mind" Carry On, Jeeves.

2. Gladys was the small girl. Many respondants objected that this fearless fighter could hardly be called obnoxious, but obnoxious ness, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder, and I think we have to consider McAllister's feelings. "Lord Emsworth and the Girl Friend" Blandings Castle.

3. Prudence was the sister of April, who was being wooed by Freddie Widgeon. Encouraged by Freddie to emulate Tennyson's heroines, Prudence decides to play Lady Godiva. "Trouble Down at Tudsleigh" Young Men In Spats.

Round 87 - 2 July 2001

1. Bertie has his restraint taxed by Sir Roderick's tale of a hat theft. "Sir Roderick Comes to Lunch" The Inimitable Jeeves.

2. Bertie tells Madelaine Bassett that he knew Gussie was the right man for her. Chapter 3, The Code of The Woosters.

3. Jimmy Pitt missed out on meeting Molly by going second class.

Round 88 - 23 July 2001

1. The pink-pyjama'ed poltroon in question was Sir Roddy Bassett, who had pusillanimously made Tuppy switch rooms with him. Nemesis, in the shape of Bertie's darning needle, marked him for her own. "Jeeves and the Yule-Tide Spirit" Very Good, Jeeves.

2. Baxter wore these rather daring pyjamas to chase Eve, who was stealing necklaces. Chap 11, Leave it to Psmith.

3. The beauty in question was none other than Lord Shortlands, in Chapter 15 of Spring Fever. This was a very nasty question, given the high number of real beauties in night attire!

Round 89 - 2 August 2001

1. This was Augustus (‘Gussie’) Fink-Nottle, of course. ‘R. S.’ stood for Roderick Spode, and ‘Sir W. B.’, for Sir Watkyn Bassett, Gussie's reluctant father-in-law-to-be.

Narrator (here and in quotation no 2): Bertie Wooster.

[The Code of the Woosters, chapter 3]

2. The Rev. Harold (‘Stinker’) Pinker had a heart of gold, he took very good care of his parishioners' souls and was a force to be reckoned with on the football field, but he destroyed occasional tables, slides of the Holy Land, valuable vases and so forth with the awesome inevitability of a Juggernaut.

[The Code of the Woosters, chapter 8]

3. This boastful adventurer – he had ‘killed a lion with a sardine opener’ – was Captain Jack Fosdyke, to whose remarkably imaginative deeds Agnes Flack listened with Desdemona-like fascination (as Rosalie Beamish did in ‘Monkey Business’, too). The lady he was supposed to have rescued was the succulent-sounding "Princess della Raviogli".

Now, the Captain bears a strong resemblance to other colourful characters in the Master's works – notably Desmond Franklyn (in ‘The Story of William’) and Bashford Braddock (in ‘The Ordeal of Osbert Mulliner’), and I realise this was somewhat misleading.

[‘Feet of Clay’, from Nothing Serious]

4. At the time when this conversation took place, Mr Peters was yet to become an eager scarab collector, but the love he bore his home town was to set him onto the path of addiction. The other speaker was a New York nerve doctor whose hobby happened to be the collecting of Arabs -- sorry, scarabs, of course.

[Something Fresh, chapter 3, section 2]

Round 90 - 10 August 2001

1. Gussie Fink-Nottle (the ‘poetic sort of chap’) had ruthlessly described some of Roderick Spode's many shortcomings – in writing, of course (in the famous leather-covered notebook), for the Fink-Nottles, though brave, are not rash. Here Bertie was rebuking the Dictator face to face with post-Eulalian vim and zip.

[The Code of the Woosters, chapter 11]

2. This ‘tough, hard-bitten retired Colonial Governor of the type which comes back to England to spend the evening of its days barking at club waiters’ was Sir Rackstraw Cammarleigh, Amelia's father. ‘A’ was his prospective son-in-law, Archibald (the inimitable hen-imitator), and the narrator, obviously, was Mr. Mulliner.

[‘The Code of the Mulliners’, from Young Men in Spats or other collections]

3. Unemployed Jimmy Crocker was exploring the job market and discussing possible careers with Ann Chester and typical flippancy. (Your Quizmistress cannot hope to emulate the Master in the art of zeugma, of course, but she is a trier – don't you find her trying, as Lord Emsworth would say?)

[Piccadilly Jim, chapter 8]

My humble apologies for the horrendous spelling mistake (in the name list) that must have shaken you to the core. Of course Algy's surname (and Jane's) in Company for Henry is Martyn, with Y, not I. The heat must have addled what, for want of a better word, must be called my mind ...

4. This absent-minded gun-wielder was George, one of the kind-hearted ‘kidnappers’ who treated Reggie Havershot (in his Joey Cooley incarnation) to a truly lavish Sunday morning breakfast before taking off their beards and hurrying off to church.

This question seems to have been a hard nut to crack for some of you. There were, however, clear pointers which did narrow the field to the Hollywood stories, I think.

[Laughing Gas, chapter 24]