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)

Society Meeting, 17 February 2009, at the Arts Club

by Peter Thompson

The Society Chairman Hilary Bruce gave us some important dates for the diary:

i) On Tuesday 7th July 2009, our next meeting at the Arts Club in Dover Street is at 6pm, but for those who can arrive at Green Park Underground Station (near to the ticket office) at 5pm there is the chance of undertaking an “Abridged Wodehouse Walk”, described by her as a “legendarily good walk”. The guide will be author and Wodehouse authority Norman Murphy. This is free, but you have to book a place. That night’s speaker to the Society will be the writer Simon Brett, “A Crime in Rhyme”, and it will be … in rhyme that is. For details on how to contact Norman to book a place, please see our Future Events section on this website.

ii) From Sunday 29th March until Sunday 5th April 2009: radio broadcasts of Something Fresh read by Martin Jarvis on BBC Radio 4.

iii) On Tuesday 19th May 2009, Martin Jarvis will be reading “Providence and the Butler” on BBC Radio 4, but please note that this is a provisional date.

iv) A new CD audio book of The Adventures of Sally is just out.

Please check all details as your correspondent’s glass ear and dodgy penmanship may have resulted in some degree of misreporting.

Your reporter was one of many new members attending a first Society meeting and was delighted by it all. The talk of the night was given by Murray Hedgcock (author, raconteur, Aussie Rules expert and renowned Cricketing journalist) with quotations from Wodehouse novels being interpolated by Robert Bruce, rather, I imagine, as Boswell would have done for Samuel Johnson in a similar situation.

The topic was “Plum in the Suburbs” and we were treated to a re-visiting of London suburbs in the Wodehouse world in the early part of the 20th century. These were Valley Fields (Dulwich) and Wimbledon, Kingston, Camberwell, Croydon and even St Johns Wood was considered to be a suburb. Apparently PGW lived for a while at 99-101 Ebury Street in Victoria (not a suburb), but often took himself back to his schooldays home of Dulwich College for a trip down memory lane. The conclusion reached by Murray was that the suburbs have their attractions and are fine for domestic life by lesser characters in a Wodehouse novel, the main characters however only visit and never dwell long in the suburbs of London. Psmith even questioned whether Clapham Common existed, but did lead an expedition successfully to dine with the Wallers in this outpost of the Empire (Psmith in the City) having witnessed earlier in the day the lively costermongers physically disagreeing with the freedom of speech exercised by Mr Waller in a Speakers Corner scenario. Ukridge’s Aunt Julia lived in style on Wimbledon Parkside (and could still do so today), Uncle Fred flitted by Mitching Hill (Croydon) to attend to the needs of the parrot’s claws and the romantic interest of one of the inhabitants of the house (The Cedars) he had entered, as ever under an assumed name.

Murray Hedgcock (on the right) and Robert Bruce, both looking suitably Wodehousean, rather than Churchillian

Murray contrasted what for some would be a depressing meal in the suburbs (Mike and Psmith), with the same fare more than passing muster for others. Maids of varying degrees of ability, cleanliness and quantity “did” for the middle class folk who lived in the suburbs. Bertie only passed through places like Croydon out of necessity. Jeeves had relatives who lived in East Dulwich. The places have a purpose, provide a setting and help paint the picture for the story. And for some at least life away from the suburbs, in particular Valley Fields, is just not worth contemplating, and Mr Cornelius waxed lyrical upon that theme.

It really was a most entertaining and thoroughly well researched talk with extremely apposite quotations along the way, making the novels of Wodehouse come to life.

For a newcomer, it was also interesting to meet the members of a Society I did not know existed three months ago. To my surprise there are a high percentage of female enthusiasts of PGW, whom I had always believed was almost exclusively the preserve of the male population. Apart from Hilary Bruce, who could have corrected this false presumption on her own, we have Elin Murphy (editor of Wooster Sauce), who is a life-long reader of PGW and lived within a stone’s throw of his home in Long Island when a child (all right, you had to be Ian Botham to throw that stone). I met Joe (Joanne) Selfe, who found Joy in the Morning ten years ago and has been enjoying Wodehouse’s novels ever since (sees herself as Honoria Glossop, I would say more Bobbie Wickham). Then there were Gwendolin Goldbloom (loves his language) and Samantha Dep, who loves his style and humour. And many more.

On the male side I met a man from Pontefract. Now, coming down to London for a Society meeting all the way from Pontefract (for our international readers Pontefract is just north of the North Pole in West Yorkshire), that really is beyond the call of duty. David Garten is this hero of the railway line, and he joined the Society upon a whim after seeing an advert in the back of a paperback. He had first met the girl who was to become his wife, when they were both at school in the library where they found an immediate rapport due to a mutual love of Wodehouse’s novels, and what sounder basis could you have for a marriage that has lasted several decades? Your correspondent was cautious about asking how many decades to a man from Pontefract. Paddy Briggs even went to the same school as Wodehouse, so I suppose in his case it was early education or simply breathing in the “Valley Fields” air, but he has no recollection of the Wodehouse memorobilia, which we aficionados know is in a place of conspicuous honour at Dulwich College.

But do not take my word for all of this, join the P G Wodehouse Society (UK) and come along to the meetings. I guarantee that you will be made to feel welcome. I was.

For details of how to join see our Membership Application Form.