Wooster Sauce and By The Way

Two of the major benefits of joining The P G Wodehouse Society (UK) are Wooster Sauce, our quarterly journal, and By The Way, which features bonus articles on special topics. Both are issued in March, June, September and December, and provide a wealth of information for keen Wodehouseans.

Wooster Sauce is 24 pages – sometimes more – of both humorous and scholarly articles on PGW and his works, as well as photos, graphics, poems, quotes, reviews, and Society news. Contributions come from members – and occasionally non-members – from all over the world. Take a regular dose of Wooster Sauce at bedtime, and you will sleep like a contented baby – it is the Mulliner guarantee.

Regular and semi-regular features in Wooster Sauce include:

• ‘My First Wodehouse Experience’;
• Poet’s Corner;
• Recent Press Comment;
• Bibliographic Corner;
• Profiles of personalities in the Wodehouse world;
• Letters to the Editor;
• Original articles and reprints of articles by well-known Wodehouse fans;
• ‘Quick Ones’ from members describing personal experiences, unusual sightings of Wodehouse works or references, or intriguing informational snippets;
• Up-to-date information and reviews on the latest Wodehouse-related books, audio-books, CDs, and theatre productions;
• Reports on Society doings, such as our thrice-yearly meetings, annual cricket matches, and biennial formal dinner;
• Future Events, detailing what lies ahead for Society members;
• Acrostics, crossword puzzles, and the occasional contest for our members;
• The latest in Society news.

Humour is never far away, but we occasionally examine the serious aspects of Wodehouse’s life and work as well. Past issues have included:

• ‘Our Last Visit to Plum’ – a reminiscence by Wodehouse’s grandson, Sir Edward Cazalet, on the last time he and his wife visited the Wodehouses in Remsenburg;
• Norman Murphy’s revelations of the origin of Bertie Wooster;
• ‘Jam Today’ – a special recollection of Plum by his nephew, Patrick Wodehouse;
• An article by Martin Jarvis on producing Something Fresh for the BBC;
• ‘The Quotability of P G Wodehouse’ – a talk by Nigel Rees.

By The Way, a supplement that accompanies each issue of Wooster Sauce, offers a different perspective on aspects of our man’s life and work. Through By The Way we have enjoyed ‘What the Well-Dressed Man Is Wearing’, learned the names and breeds of Wodehouse pets, and seen how Jeeves has been depicted in book illustrations over time, among many other unique articles. For samples of By The Way, click here and here.

Elin Murphy, our prodigious Editor of Wooster Sauce (2007-2019), has completed a project that has been longer in the making than she would have liked, namely the indexing of all the articles in every issue of WS since the first one in 1997. If you scroll (or stroll) through its 58 pages at your leisure (click here) you are almost bound to find a gem of an article that you missed, or the one with that quote that you were desperately trying to remember the other day, or any one of a number of other uses. Wodehouse experts and beginners will find it equally useful.

We welcome all contributions to Wooster Sauce, whether original articles, ‘My First Wodehouse Experience’, or simple snippets of information. And we are always looking for reviewers of plays, books, CDs, and audio-books, as well as reporters of Society events. If you think you can contribute – or if you simply want to know more about the journal – get in touch with our current editor, Andrew Bishop at editor@pgwodehousesociety.org.uk.

To get Wooster Sauce and By The Way, four times a year, it is a simple matter of joining the Society. For information on doing precisely this, go to the Join Us section of this website here.

To read the Wooster Sauce and By The Way index click here.