This page covers comments received from February 1998 through the present. Another page has earlier comments.

Last updated August 13, 1999.

Return to P. G. Wodehouse Appreciation Page.

From: Claire Stillman
Date: 5/19/99

I was introduced to Wodehouse at a very tender age, indeed his works are some of the first things I remember reading. I found they complimented the Famous Five, The Secret Seven and the Narnia Chronicles perfectly.

From: Kerry Schofield
Date: 5/15/99

There is one very difficult thing about the reading of the books of Wodehouse.  That is, of course, putting them down.  The answer to such a conundrum, if conundrum is the word I'm looking for, is simply: don't put them down.

From: V.N .Seshagiri Rao
Date: 5/13/99

I started with his book Luck of the Bodkins and I have not yet really stopped reading and reading again all his works.Great writer, great books, quality humour and not the least a comprehensive web page.

     V N S RAO Madras  India

From: Cheryl Maxted
Date: 5/5/99

I was sixteen and was traveling with my sister through Europe for the summer.  She bought a paperback book for me to read to the both of us while she was driving and it was titled "Laughing Gas" by P.G. Wodehouse.  It was so funny that I began to look for other books written by the same author and discovered the wonderful world of Wodehouse!!!  The rest is, as they say, history!

From: Seth Ball
Date: 5/2/99

My Grade 7 teacher saw me reading 'After The Funeral' by Agatha Christie.  We had a discussion and she got around to telling me about this 'other writer' named Wodehouse, who corresponded with Christie and whom I might enjoy.  Cut to five years later when I finally got around to taking her advice.  My Grade 12 teacher told the class to pick some famous writer we hadn't got around to and take a chance.  He meant stuff along the lines of Kafka; I picked Wodehouse.  I chose to start with a book called 'Quick Service', not knowing what to expect.  I remember reading it on the subway trip home from the bookstore, and some athletic types gave me funny looks as I began to chuckle out loud.  I didn't care. As it happens, I picked the book that Wodehouse biographer claims was Wodehouse's favourite among his titles.  It is a gem, and it's hard to believe that any writer will usurp the Master's position as my all time favourite author.

From: Marthe Anne
Date: 4/30/99

I became acquainted with PGW on a long car drive to Scotland. We had taken a box of tapes and Auntie Marion asked me to choose a tape. After rejecting millions I came across a small battered tape at the bottom. 'Jeeves and Wooster' said the cover 'By P. G. Wodehouse'. An hour later we were in Scotland and I was silently blessing the mysterious PGW.

From: Robert Dickey
Date: 4/27/99

I discovered Wodehouse as a student in Italy, rummaging through a cupboard, where I found a copy of "Laughing Gas." I had never laughed so hard. Well, after that I nver read another book by P.G.W. until about 30 years later. Browsing in a bookstore, I found a P.G.W. shelf and was reminded of the good times I had had. Since then my ambition has been to read everything there is by the Master. A few weeks ago, I acquired  my last published book by him. It was The Coming of Bill. I am not a collector of first editions or anything like that; although I have had to acquire some expensive early editions that had not been republished.  I have already read all of these books several times. I enjoy them more every time.

From: Bindhu Menon
Date: 4/27/99

I have been fascinated by this author ever since I was a child. I would have loved to have met him. The code of the woosters is my favourite book.

From: Heledd Wyn
Date: 4/26/99

I was about 10 or 11 when the Fry and Laurie Jeeves and Wooster programmes were shown. I was subsequently bought my first novel "Right Ho Jeeves" and nearly laughed myself silly! I have been absolutely hooked since then, although I am having trouble finding bookshops which sell the great man's works as I live in North Wales and my local bookshops are sadly lacking. Someone contradict me here please and tell me that I can find his stuff more easily! I have since started collecting both recent copies and first editions and my enthusiasm grows the more that I read.

His sheer joy for life and way with words have brightened up many of my hours and if there is ever a tonic for the blues then this is most defintely it.

THANK YOU PLUM.

From: Howard Knickerbocker
Date: 4/23/99

I first became aware of P.G. Wodehouse when a friend loaned my wife and me the Jeeves omnibus. That's a real friend!!!! We read it to each other and laughed and laughed. We have since read many more of his books together and separately. He is to English wit what C.S. Lewis (my other favorite author) is to English fantasy. I find myself browsing used book stores in the W section. I can't believe anyone would ever give up a Wodehouse book but I've found several great additions to my library.

From: Robert Thompson
Date: 4/19/99

He was the most gifted writer I've ever read, at least in his prime.  No one has understood humorous dialogue and thought process nearly as well as PG.  I am reminded of a comment he is reported to have made on humorous writing (paraphrase): "I try to adhere to writing something a bit humorous, at least every three sentences.  Less that that and you risk not being funny."  He does it.

From: s lachance
Date: 4/17/99

most sadly, i forget. but the first exposure to bertie and his man jeeves was the inimitable jeeves read by jonathan cecil.  his writing is just phreaking unbelievable but when it is read by a good comedian it is even greater.

i mean to say WHAT!

From: Sanmati Savadatti
Date: 4/12/99

I first read an extract of Wodehouse in my high school text book in India. Ever since I think I am his BIGGEST fan. I devoured most of his books  available at St. Xaviers Institute, Bombay where my mom teaches. Next, I haunted the local library and now after I came to the US for my Master's, it has been the wonderful Zimmerman Library at the University Of New Mexico!!!!

 I love the jolly and carefree way in which Wodehouse treats life, and his sense of humor is fabulous. Wodehouse creates an ideal world and I wish I were a part of it!!!:))!!!

From: Vrinda Pisharody
Date: 4/6/99

Wodehouse is probably the best thing that happened to mankind.

From: Barbara
Date: 3/26/99

I was introduced to P.G.Wodehouse by way of the Sat. Evening Post when I was just a girl in grade school. My Grandmother subscribed and I couldn't wait for each issue to see if he would be in it. I love all that he has written. Finding this site has made me resolve to get the books out and start reading all over again. One of my all time favorites is Goodbye to All Cats. That story keeps me in stitches from beginning to end.

From: ila kapoor
Date: 3/21/99

as for me !
i think wodehouse was god!!
what clapton is to guitar wodehouse was to humour!!
i have nearly read all his books and am deeply in love with the jeeves series!!
followed by blandings castle!! and lord emsworth!!
the only wish i have is  i want to meet the greatest humourist of all in person !!
but i guess that would never be possible!!
if u r a wodehouse fan pleeeeeeez mail!!
and i will surely reply!!
wodehouse changed my life the way nobody else could!!
i was 14 when i saw "nothing serious" lying on my cousin sister's bed!!
and life was never the same!!
though i always tried to mould my lan. on P.G's style !!
i was never successful!! probably the good things in life do not come so easily to u!!
neway all credit goes to that cousin of mine!!
there is also one Indian journalist whose name i want to mention, mr.V.N naraynan !!
if ne of u have read his weakly column MUSINGS in the hindustan times!!
u may very well taste wodehouse's flavour in his readings

From: Lucian Endicott, http://pages.prodigy.com/KRRC31A/
Date: 3/17/99

I was turned on to Wodehouse at about the age of 9 (probably the right age) by my father.  That was almost 60 years ago.  I have read almost all of his books, the best 20 times or more.

From: Cindy Evans
Date: 3/15/99

When I was in college, my husband used to read aloud to me from his Wodehouse collection.  I had never heard (or read) humor so bright and unexpected.  The way he would make his sentences take a sudden left turn often left me laughing so hard that I was practically breathless.  Since then he has become a personal household god, ranking above Garrison Keillor and James Herriot.  I have since come to appreciate the televised versions of Wodehouse's work, my favorite compendium being "Wodehouse Playhouse" which, I believe, originally aired in the '70's.  The most recent Masterpiece Theater also had its bright spots, particularly Hugh Laurie's portrayal of Bertie.  I would love it if someone would re-make the Mulliner series.  Any ideas on who to cast in the various roles?

In Junior High School I was wandering around our public library which was located in a large, old house.  I happened into the "humor" section and spotted "Leave it to Psmith".  The "P" intrigued me and I have since been a life long devotee, consistently mispronouncing the man's name until very late in life when I was shown the error of my ways.

I am a member of the NEWTS and believe I am the original source for J. Wendell Stickney in "The Purloined Paperweight."  Around the time he was starting the book, I wrote, telling him that I was rapidly becoming a collection (of his books) since that was the only way to get them. He wrote back but I lost the letter!  Anyway, I never got to thank him for the compliment of using my name.

From: Aby V. Koshy
Date: 3/12/99

I was introduced to the most amazing world of Wodehouse and his idyllic world when I was studying in the eleventh standard in my school. And so profoundly captivating was the writing style, that I had decided then and there to write in his style. How time flies! I have not written an inch of anything that would remotely be considered Wodehousian, even considerd writing for that matter, but my admiration and love for Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse has only, in the last fifteen years, risen like the dough kept overnight for baking. Maybe that is the reason when Amazon.com decided to recruit associates through Geocities, I joined and created links to a large number of books by P.G. Wodehouse.

May his writings live on and on and on....

From: elisa sohm
Date: 3/10/99

I first met wodehouse when watching a masterpiece theater. The Jeeves and Wooster special they ran was incredible. I simply had to by the books, and from there I was introduced to Uncle Fred and all of the Blandings Stories.

From: Shireen
Date: 3/7/99

I read my first Wodehouse, Company for Henry, which by the way is an excellent and rather an obscure book of his, when I was nearly 15.  My best friend was rummaging through her brother's books and the pink cover of the book caught my fancy and I decided to have a go at reading "Plum".  My sister had been excessively fond of him but I could never get hold of a book from her as she hardly stayed at home!  Anyway after "Company for Henry" there was no looking back for me - I read all his Jeeves and Bertie series and most of his Blandings series in a span of 6 months.

There can be no other writer like him - he was fantastic!!  I really pity people who have never even heard of him and I feel excessively sad for people who find his books "trash" - they will probably never know of the joys of being in an idyllic world!!

From: Marc Berger
Date: 2/27/99

My best friend in med school introduced me.  I mean, I'd been aware for years that such a thing as P.G. Wodehouse existed (how could you not if you've ever passed that U-X,Y,Z section in any decent bookstore; I mean those orange bindings on the Penguin editions do jump out at one, what?)--but it was Mike who got me started reading him.  Thank providence, I say!  Got me through some of the darkest! Just like one of Jeeves' dark brown pick-me-ups.

Interestingly, my friend was also an ardent D&D player, and he managed to add a Wodehousian flare to his dungeoning.  So you had Fink-Nottles slaying fire breathing what nots, and ichor dripping Glossops in residence under bridges and so forth.

The first of plums work I lay my hands on was "Jeeves Takes Charge." When I read the line " .... his face resembled like something that grows on dead trees! ..." I could not resist myself becoming an ardent admirer of PGW. I like to dream a lot and Plum provides umpteen openings!

Nice to know that a lot of like minded folks around!

From: Richard Evans Lee, http://www.abebooks.com/home/bdfar/
Date: 2/19/99

Tried Wodehouse because Evelyn Waugh liked him so much. Didn't take to it at first. Leave it to Psmith made me a convert.

From: Rama
Date: 2/11/99

I have a couple of much older siblings who are voracious readers, and I was initiated into the Wodehouse religion at a very young age by them. Wodehouse novels have made us very close knit - our favourite passtime is to share funny bits and laugh our heads off. Tood-loo, pip-pip, tinkerty-tonk.

From: Katrina
Date: 1/31/99

A friend's mother handed me a copy of Code of the Woosters 10 years ago, to occupy my time during a visit. I discovered not only Wodehouse that day. I also discovered how impossible it is to explain to someone why the movement of a cow creamer from one place to another is the most hilarious thing you've ever read in your life. I gave up on the explanations, but not on Wodehouse.

I have around 30 of his books, many first editions. I am also addicting all of my friends who will sit down long enough to watch one of the Fry and Laurie PBS shows or who will take a book off with them.

I am beginning the Blandings books, having read every Jeeves and Drone's related story I can get my hands on.

Nice to see there are so many of us out there!

From: Bob R
Date: 1/27/99

When Sir Plum was still alive, I remember driving down Basket Neck Lane in Remsenburg on Long Island.  I tried to figure out which house was is and which was Mr. Bolton's.  I could have called him.  A short time later he died.  I wish I had called him.

I discoved his books in the basement of the "The Corner Bookstore" in Stony Brook, NY.  I bought a first edition of "Picadilly Jim" for 4 or 5 dollars and I surprised myself by spluging so much on an author I hardly knew.  As I understand it, "Picadilly Jim" is worth a little more than 4 or 5 dollars now.

From: Donata
Date: 1/20/99

I have been adoring PG for almost thirty years (now I am 42). I particularly like the Blandings cycle. One of my existential models is Monty Bodkin.

From: Joan
Date: 1/14/99

I first became a fan whilst playing the role of Dame Daphne Winkworth in John Chapman's superb 3 act play"Oh, Clarence!". On the last night I was so upset to be leaving Blandings, but since then I have never stopped reading and listening to the Chivers Audio Books, which are wonderfully unabridged.

From: Harshavardhan
Date: 1/13/99

My friend Andrew (credit really goes to him) introduced me to Plum. He kind of offhandedly said that one needs to have a minimum level of IQ to understand Plum. So I took it as a challenge and trust me that's the only good thing I did in my entire wasted life.

Plum is too good. If I happened to have met him when he was alive I would have hardly thought twice (if not once!) to wash his feet and drink the very water. That's how I adore him. Great guy!! If not the greatest!!

From: Namrata chattaraj
Date: 1/9/99

What ho, and all that sort of rot!

Yes, I sort of live a decent life, nourished to an optimum nutrition level, living on a balanced diet of P.G.Wodehouse.

And boy do I love this man! He's the greatest author that ever endured life on the surface of this Earth!

His every book, keeps me on a humorous high (whatever that means!), and sort of makes life absolutely, Oojah-cum-spiff for me!

More power to the man who he inspired me in more ways than I can think of, not only through his writings, but also through his life, and by the type of person he was.

My only regret in life will always lie in the fact that I could never meet him!

I have the deepest love and respect for this man, and would be very happy to be able to do work related to him in future (apart from reading more and more of his wonderful bks. that is!)

oomphs and wishes,

Namrata

From: Mike Stevens, http://www.playgreatgolf.com
Date: 1/8/99

I discovered Mr. Wodehouse in a collection of golf stories that I picked up at the local library. The first story of his I read was called "The coming of Goff". I enjoyed it so much that I have since read every golf story he has written. I am especially fond of his female characters such as the one whose name slips me just now but thought she had killed her husband with a niblick upon which the Eldest Member commented that such a stroke would require a mashie.

From: The Hatter Bodmin
Date: 1/6/99

As a lad, a young lady whose profile I admired recommended the Master to me. Alas, I found them not to my taste at the time, and it was only as a older, hardened airport traveler that I found myself looking for something easy to read (owing to a previous unfortunate experience with Wilkie Collins and airports). One of the Jeeves Omnibuses met the case, and as fate would have it I was snow-bound at an airport for over eight hours during that trip. Thus it was that I violated Plum's own admonition to not take too much of this stuff at a time, and I've been an addict ever since.

From: Sandy
Date: 12/23/98

I first heard about Wodehouse while listening to a radio show by Jean Shepherd (who had a show on PBS called Jean Shepherd's America).  He claimed he got into trouble in school by reading Wodehouse and it made him laugh out loud, which of course meant he got caught hiding Jeeves in his math book.

From: jim licaretz, http://home.earthlink.net/~idolls/medals.htm
Date: 12/22/98

I had a stepfather of Scottish-Irish decent,born,bred and raised in America who was a fan of Plummie's. I started reading Wodehouse when I was about 10 or 12 and remember certain scenes from some of the books as if I had read them yesterday. And I'm almost 50. I found a few biographied of Wodehouse and found his life almost as enchanting as his literature.Truly one of the reasons I suspect there may be a god.

From: avinash
Date: 12/20/98

i was introduced to the facinating escapist world of plum when i was browsing thro books in british library.

From: Bhargava
Date: 11/25/98

I started on Wodehouse rather late. It was during my grad school. A friend used to read Wodehouse and I got curious. I picked a copy of Meet Mr. Mulliner in the library and got hooked.

I don't remember how many nights I stayed up all night reading Wodehouse, rolling with laughter in my bed. Don't worry, I made it through the grad school :-).

I think George Orwell and Evelyn Waugh's comments on Wodehouse are right on spot.

It takes a genius like Wodehouse to make so many people so much happy.

From: Scott B. Smith
Date: 11/2/98

I "met" Plum on PBS's Masterpiece Therater - Jeeves and Wooster; the was about five years ago. Since then i've bought over forty of his books and have read over fifty.  His writing amazes me, the stories seem simple but the story lines twist and while his tales always end positively how he leads the reader to that climax is enjoyable.

From: sarah kirchner
Date: 10/30/98

I discovered Wodehouse seven years ago, on one fateful night when my parents took me to see a dramatization of a select group of Jeeves stories.  There I was introduced to Bertie, Gussie Fink-Nottle, Aunt Agatha, and of course Jeeves, and there was no looking back.  I have since also become a fan of the Blandings series, and have resolved to start Psmith sometime soon.

From: Jamie Alder
Date: 10/29/98

I first came by Plum by watching the PBS series and then ran to the bookstore to start buying his books. Love them. My favorite story is Uncle Fred Flits By.

From: BALAJI
Date: 10/14/98

Undoubtedly one the greatest men of this century, Sir Wodehouse has ,as somebody once remarked ,made a world for us to live and delight in. I own about 35 of his books and am hungry for more. What else can I say about this man ...he is an angel...indeed

From: Linda Cantoni
Date: 10/13/98

I first learned about P.G. Wodehouse when he died in 1975.  I was a junior in high school at the time. The NY Times Book Review published a tribute to him, and I found it intriguing.  I went to my school library and found only one Wodehouse work:  "Do Butlers Burgle Banks?"  I was hooked for good and now own virtually all of his published works, including some first editions I picked up in London, and a few Italian translations that I found in Italy. (Unfortunately for the Italians, Wodehouse is just about untranslatable.)  I've always been sorry that I didn't "know" him when he was alive, but his power to delight is immortal.

From: John Leo
Date: 10/8/98

My mother had always said that my late father and she greatly enjoyed reading PG Wodehouse aloud, but I hadn't inquired as to the proper spelling and for years struck a blank looking for "Woodhouse". Finally, fate smiled upon me, lost and forlorn, and I read a reference to him in a list of amusing novels. Since then I have regularly broken my vow of "one author-one book" (taken in a period of realization of "so many books, so little time") and returned often to the Jeeves and Bertie Wooster stories, and lately the tales of Psmith. My finding kinsman on the web has been such a treat, as I am alone in my family as an appreciator of PGW.

Thanks, Plum, wherever your spirit resides!

From: Sudha Iyer
Date: 9/25/98

I met P.G. Wodehouse as a mere stripling, in the summer of 1978, in "Summer Moonshine".  I celebrated that day twenty years later, by reading the same book, for the 100th time.  The books have stood by me through thick and thin and I read at least 1 para a day, every day.  I can honestly say that these years have been made more fulfilling for me by the Master.  I own about 30 titles and would like to have them all.

When I came to the US 12 years ago I asked many many people whether they loved Wodehouse as I did (to read PGW is to love PGW).  But frustratingly, no one seemed to have even heard of him and I was worried about the future of the USA!!  But now, having seen that many fans abound, I have renewed hope!

My favorite book is The Mating Season, and Gussie's prize-giving episode is my absolute salvation, reason enough for my human existence.

From: Brett M. Davidson
Date: 9/22/98

I met "Plum" two and half weeks ago at the University of Houston in Houston, Texas.  Someone had abandoned a copy of Code of the Woosters.  I picked it up and read 3 pages.  I was instantly hooked.  Since then, I have bathed with Plum nightly and I plan to continue to do so for some time to come.

Tis September 22: Autumn, "season of mists and mellow fruitfulness," indeed.  Here's to Plum, Keats, and all the other semi-holy Englishfolk (past and present) who continue to fill my life with joy and light.

From: Janet Xavier
Date: 9/22/98

The first book of PGW that I read was 'Right Ho! Jeeves' and I haven't stopped since. Mon papa gave it to me when I was in the 8th standard. Once I entered the world of PGW, I couldn't leave. Since then, I have become a collector of his books. Presently, I own 32 of his books. My only ambition in life is to have his entire collection. Pip-pip!

From: Ollie
Date: 9/20/98

like a babe stumbling out of those proverbial woods, my first glimpse of paradise was methinks one of the cricket novels, starring the enterprising partnership of Psmith and Jackson. i lapped up most of the school stories and some of the blandings castle-uncle fred. however, that was more than a decade ago and since then, the travails of surviving the corporate wilderness became paramount and i forgot those stories. Till last weekend, when i attended the cricket final between australia and south africa. the sudden stirrings of cobwebbed memory and i felt once more the urge to read wodehouse.

am wondrously misty-eyed to find this fraternity of fellow wodehouse aficionados. very heartened. to MTan, perhaps we should start an asian chapter of the wodehouse society. do email me.

cheerio.

From: Daniel J.S. Oh
Date: 9/9/98

I first started on his books when i was twelve and that was nine years ago.  I have finished reading all his work and am still re-reading them time and again.

As Bertie is wont to say, they are all rather spiffy!

From: M. Lovelace
Date: 9/4/98

As a kid growing up in the Midwest I didn't know nuthin' about no Wodehouse but Jean Kerr used to make me roll around on the ground laughing and she once referred to P.G. Wodehouse as her inspiration.  Tracked this guy down through a list of literary classics I was trying to finish and, after "Code of the Woosters", abandoned the list.

Reading Wodehouse has improved my life dramatically.  Since I could no longer be miserable alongside my husband he left (he just didn't get Wodehouse; Had I But Known!).  I used to have insomnia but now that I read Wodehouse every night I fall asleep with a smile on my face like a little baby newt.  I never have bad hair days anymore.

Isn't it wonderful there's so MUCH Wodehouse out there?  We are truly the fortunate sons of a benevolent Providence.  I've never met a Wodehouse book I didn't like but guess the character I most identify with is Bertie Wooster.  Amiably befuddled but effortlessly carries the whole complicated story narrative, suggesting Hidden Depths, what?

From: Mila
Date: 9/4/98

First read Wodehouse in high school. Didn't quite take to him then, but in college, found Blandings Castle and fell in love.

Hard to say what I like most now.  Several of the Wooster/Jeeves, and most if not all of Blandings.

Would like to find Asian based fans and any online book clubs.

 
Thanks for the space,
M.Tan

From: Pat Bryan
Date: 8/27/98

I first encountered P.G.Wodehouse at school during the War. One of the elderly sadists who were teaching us had failed to turn up - hardening of the arteries, no doubt - and we had a "free period". The brainiest boy in the class was deputed to read to us - he chose one of the Bertie Wooster stories, since it was reputed to be funny. Where he got it from, I don't know; Wodehouse was hardly approved reading material during the war, due to his unfortunate lapse on German radio. But I became hooked.

I suppose my favourite of all Wodehouse stories has always been "Mike at Wrykin" - one of P.G.'s earliest, and my first introduction to the wonderful Psmith (it was mentioned to me that "the P is silent, as in bathwater"). I have always liked Uncle Fred (I have been known to adopt the pseudonym 'J.G. Bulstrode' on occasion). And perhaps my favourite quote is from 'Summer Lightning', where the belted earl who has opened his home to "paying guests" bemoans his downfall, and identifies himself as "the greasy proprietor of a blasted rural doss-house."

From: Pankaj "Doc" Desai
Date: 8/25/98

I have grown up with Plum since I was a teenager in those tender years, when my parents introduced me to him.

Since then I have read and re-read every book and story published by him and each time, I get a good chuckle. I am introducing my daughter to his works now, but she finds it "slow."

I have told her to keep at it, and she now gets the hang of the books. She loved the PBS shows.

My library increases slowly with Plum's collections, and I treasure them. God bless you, Plum, for making our lives richer with your works.

From: Michael Lounsbery
Date: 8/14/98

The first glimmering I had was about 10 years back. The summary in the Seattle Times for that week's radio fare mentioned a show on the local NPR station, with the puzzling blurb, "Gussie Fink-Nottle envies the life of a newt." This was intriguing enough to get me to tune in to the radio series, "What Ho, Jeeves," with Michael Hordern as Jeeves. Moving on to the books from there was easy.

I enjoy reading the books aloud (to my wife, usually, although sometimes unsuspecting dinner guests are ambushed after the meal), and it is impossible for me to not hear those original radio programs in my head when I do. I think radio works better for the Jeeves series, since TV and video unfortunately deprive you of the benefit of Bertie's narrative qualities.

I love the Jeeves and Mulliner stories best, and Psmith is amazing as well.

From: Heidi Logothetti
Date: 8/12/98

My dad had the wonderful good sense to lay in a good stock of P.G. Wodehouse. I was therefore able to get exposure to this amazing johnny while still a stripling of tender years. We have only just got on the Internet, so of course one of the first things I did was look up Wodehouse sites. It is most gratifying to see that there are so many ardent followers of this sunshine in a dark world, but there are not enough. My parents handed out anthologies as presents; need I say that the recipients loved them?

These web pages are properly appreciative of Plum, but I think that the Mulliner stories are rather neglected. Granted, the Jeeves/Wooster stories are the most famous ones, but the Mulliner stories give them a close run for the money in originality and all around neatness. Thanks for this display of Plum enthusiasm.

From: chuck walsh
Date: 8/11/98

while reading golf mag. i came across an article entitled the the( funniest golf writer who ever lived) his name was p.g. wodehouse. if you are a golfer you will not only understand this quote but also be able to relate to it. (archibald mealing was one of those golfers in whom desire outruns performance) i can relate.

From: Sushmita Sen Gupta
Date: 8/10/98

I have a family full of Wodehouse fans and must have read him first at the age of 11 or 12. I've been hooked ever since. Why don't authors like PGW ever get the Nobel, or even the Booker ? Surely, PGW has done more to spread happiness and light (a la Uncle Fred) than all the morose Nobel Laureates put together. His phrases have entered our family conversations. A cousin tells us of his friend, who was being raked over the coals by a hugely irate boss. The friend suddenly spotted a Wodehouse book lying on the boss's table. He held up an admonitory finger and said sternly, "Now, hold it right there. How can you get angry with me if you're a Wodehouse fan ?" Makes sense, doesn't it ? Thanks, Plum.

From: justin price
Date: 7/28/98

I must have been in 6th or 7th grade when I saw Wodehouse Playhouse on tv a few times.  I seem to remember most vividly something about Archibald Mulliner and the crazy socks that he wore.  Anyway, fortunately for me, at the house at the beach that my family stayed at that summer, there happened to be a few stray Wodehouse books laying around, which I quickly polished off.  I don't think that I have ever quit trying to find something new of his to read.  Lately, I've taken to going up to Montreal, because the bookstore up there (Cole's, I think) seems to have a much better selection than any I have found in the States.  It bucks me up considerably to see so many other devotees, and from every corner of the globe, at that.

From: maria forte
Date: 7/26/98

Wodehouse mi fa ridere fino a scompisciarmi. Preferisco la saga di Jeeves naturalmente. Ma apprezzo anche quella ambientata nel castello di BLANDINGS. Mi piacciono anche i romanzi che non fanno parte di un ciclo vero e proprio, anche se fanno solo sorridere. Adoro, per in particolare, il modo in cui Wodehouse parla del golf e dei suoi appassionati. Il cuore di un paranoico in assoluto il mio libro preferito. Wodehouse poi insuperabile quando racconta di Anatole.

From: Mary Lee Chapman
Date: 7/24/98

My first instinct is to say that I came upon P.G. Wodehouse by accident.  On hindsight, however, I would now have to say the Hand of God pointed me to "The Collected Works of P.G. Wodehouse" (or perhaps it was the god-awful ugly cover that caught my attention) in my college library.  Though I love the Drones, the Eggs, the Crumpets, and the Beans, and have even read a few of the Psmith books ("The cry goes round the square...")   I must say my heart lies with Bertie and Jeeves.  The metaphors Plum employed are simply priceless:  "He looked like a sheep with a secret sorrow."  His inimitable style:  "I lifted the cover from the steaming, fragrant eggs and b and pronged a moody forkful." And just Plum:   "To do such-and-so was with me the work of a moment." "I paled beneath the tan."  Whenever I want to escape and a good, howling belly-laugh, I retreat into Plum's world.

From: Vrinda Pisharody
Date: 7/22/98

I discovered PG in Class Nine by sheer accident and was amazed at my discovery. Undisputedly the greatest writer of them all. Our family is a PG fan and I'm actually envious of people who have yet to discover the world of Wodehouse - coz they can look forward to so much..! Guess some things never go out of fashion and PG is one of them - thank god for that!! I am an Indian and would love to know of PG fan clubs if any here in India.

From: Carl Morten Amundsen
Date: 7/16/98

I don't know when I first met Plum - or his writings.  But I know that it must have been early in my life. Both my grandfather and my mother have read plums books with pleasure, and I know that they showed me the way into this universe.

First I read all the norwegian translations in our house, then later I have read him in original.  Every summer in particular I spend together with the characters that Plum created.

I read the same books over and over again - and I have experienced another thing. There are lots of us out there.  My very best friends are also enthusiast - I see the sense for Plum's work as a certain proof of intelligence - reading Wodehouse is more or less synonymous with eating of fish...

I know that Jeeves agree!!!

From: Sarah
Date: 7/15/98

I was 10 when my dad introduced me to the wonderful world of Wodehouse. The first book he read to me (I could have read it myself perfectly well, but it is a tradition that dad reads me bed time stories. He even reads to mom.) The Code of the Woosters. Love at first read. 2 years have passed since then and Dad is now reading Mulliner Nights, but my favorite will always be Jeeves and Wooster. Long live Twitiness!!

From: Wendy
Date: 7/15/98

I first met Plum in January 1993.  I had just broken my leg the night before PBS aired one of the Jeeves & Wooster episodes.  My husband & I laughed which probably was good for me before the surgery to repair my broken tibia.  Then my hubby checked out some PGW from the library (Code of the Woosters, I believe, was the first) and read them out loud to me to distract me from the pain before falling to sleep at night.  I have been hooked ever since.

We now have the first set of 3 videos from the collection plus a couple I taped.  Bertie's escapades & the Mulliner stories are about the only ones we have read so far.  I guess it is time to expand by trying Psmith or Blandings.  Does anyone have any suggestions?

It is so much fun to read how others feel which only confirms my own good taste.

My only regret is that I discovered PGW after he died so I can't write & tell him how much I love his stories.

From: Gordon Frampton
Date: 7/9/98

I first heard about PG Wodehouse when I was a schoolboy at Dulwich College in ~1970, (PGW is well known there because he was an alumnus). Of course I never read any of his books at the time because I assumed they would be deadly boring like most of the other stuff they wanted us to read.

Thirty years later I encountered an almost-new copy of the 'Jeeves omnibus' in an antique store in a small town in Northern California. Since it was only $1 I bought it and I have been hooked ever since (almost two months). I now find myself drinking tea rather than coffee in the morning, I guess at some level I will always remain an Englishman.

From: Julia Litton
Date: 7/8/98

When I was eight, my father and I settled down to an airing of "Wodehouse Playhouse" (which I would give unto half my kingdom to see again.) I was intrigued.  My father, encouraged no doubt by my first glimmers of intelligence, borrowed a collection of Mulliner stories from the library. He read them aloud, and we howled with laughter. "The Truth About George" sticks in my mind as an early favorite, as does "Honeysuckle Cottage."  I started getting his books myself from the library...then buying them so as to have them handy as need arose. Mulliner led to Jeeves, Jeeves to Blandings.  I watched "Damsel in Distress" on videotape and, one afternoon, suffered with incredulity through an Arthur Treacher double-feature.  The typical path of a confirmed addict, I believe.

As a senior in high school, I wrote a final paper entitled "P.G. Wodehouse: Deity, or Just the Greatest Writer of the English Language Who Ever Lived?"  My teacher's succinct comment was: "Who?"

Philistine.

From: bronwyn
Date: 7/8/98

my first encounter was when my father gave my mother numerous amounts of videos, which included three episodes of Jeeves and Wooster. My whole family instantly fell in love with these Wodehouse characters, and went in search of more. We were told that no more had been made, but dad did not believe it as he had recently been in england and on a visit to clovally he saw a sign thanking the towns people for their cooperation during the filming, and none of our video's had this particular town in them. So on our next trip to england we found more of the videos and bought them, which proved to be just as entertaining as the first. These videos led me to read his numerous books of Bertram Wilberforce Wooster and Jeeves, and also the Blandings collection. One of the books i found was not by wodehouse, but it was the sorely lost Reminiscences of Galahad Threepwood, edited by N.T.P Murphy, and written in the true Wodehouse style, I recommend it to all the Wodehouse lovers out there! !
En!
joy!

From: Gerry Manning
Date: 7/6/98

At my boarding school in Ireland around 1970 I got hold of a copy of 'Jeeves in the Offing' from the school library. I've never looked back and can now claim to have read the greater part of Plum's output - in some cases, particularly the Jeeves and Bertie stories and novels, I've read them several times over the years. My all time favourites are 'The Code of the Woosters' and 'Right Ho, Jeeves.'

From: S. Rea
Date: 6/27/98

I was at a friend's house, in 1972, and she was cleaning out a storage shed, throwing away a number of things.  One was a book -- I couldn't let a book be thrown out, and retrieved it from the barrel.  She said, "I think you might like that."  It was The Weekend Wodehouse.  I sure did, and the 54 additional Wodehouse books I've collected in the US, Canada, and England since then.

An inelegant introduction to a most elegant read!

From: Elizabeth Hayes
Date: 6/25/98

I met Sir Pelham (he was only Mr. Wodehouse to me at the time) when I happened upon him residing on a shelf in my parents library when I was only thirteen years old.  He had orange covers and bore the blazon "Brinkley Manor" (which, I believe, is also known as "Right-ho, Jeeves")  I enticed him to come to the back garden with me, and whilst reading him, I hooted with laughter so raucously that my father heard me from the second floor, and looked out to see what was amiss.  My favorite Wodehouse lines, though I have read many of them, are still from "Brinkley Manor."  It concerns the telegram exchange between Aunt Dahlia and Bertie, about his coming to Brinkley to distribute the prizes at Market Snodsbury Grammar School. Bertie, of course, wires his regrets, and Aunt Dahlia replies something like:

"Regret am not in London so as unable to hit you with a brick.  Love, Travers"
 

And to others who love this series, and Tuppy Glossop, as I do:

"Lay off the sausages.  Avoid the ham."

From: Mehrangez Musa Rahman
Date: 6/23/98

I was, I think, about 13 years old then. I was rummaging in an old trunk full of books belonging to my mother when suddenly I came across a book called SUMMER MOONSHINE. Because I had often heard my mother and others) mention Plum's name with enthusiasm, and because there wasn't much else interesting in the trunk, I settled down with it. I was hooked from the very first page. 2 years, and approximately 30 Wodehouse books later I still believe SUMMER MOONSHINE is the best book ever written. That doesn't mean that I didn't like any of his other books, I did and do; I have never and probably will never come across another writer so witty, so ingenious, so skillful with words and so openly genial as Wodehouse. Joi Plum!

From: C. Kesi
Date: 6/6/98

Before I say ``how'' I met Plum, let me say when I met him. That was when I was a lad of some 24 years spending his leisure mostly in reading. After reading  A. J. Cronin, Pearl S. Buck, Paul Gallico,  W. Somerset Maugham, et al, someone dropped Plum's name. Here I was curled in the sofa with a book and letting out guffaws once every while. And in those days my laughter was so boisterous that heads in the place where I was  would turn  and the eyes in them stare. One of the books that I liked best was ``The Girl in the Boat''.  And then ``The Mating Season'' in which I liked a certain chapter (14, I think) so much that I re-read it before moving on to the next. What I like most in PGW is the way he uses quotations from literature for comic effect.

From: preethi kutty
Date: 5/25/98

i love plum because his has redefined the way english is used and given me many moments of undiluted mirth, for which i am eternally indebted. i read my first plum book at 13 and now i am hooked for life. i often scour the raddiwallas at churchgate mumbai hunting for his books.

From: Gourab Basu
Date: 5/22/98

The drums in India are bally loud. So, when i settled down with the Master's work one perfectly loud drumming day, i had rare occasion to tame their fame.

Gentlemen ought to have the best in their lives ,and my noble self is delighted to be in reading  circs. of the delightful.

At the end of that specific day in the evolution of the mind, a sudden sense of pity, if that is the word i am looking for, came upon me. Pity for the Blokes who have not had the pleasure to bask in the Master's mind . Sad, that they should have passed this way without knowing how it is to leave bed with one of the 'pick-me-ups' .

The ways of the world are different, thank god PLUM lives on.

From: John Crowe
Date: 5/20/98

Back in the 30's my father, grandfather, and several older brothers were great fans of PG. They would regale the family at meals with the crazy things that were happening in his latest novel/short story. It was a real treat!! In the 70's I bumped into a few of his books and started buying them. At this point I have about 130 books by Plum or about him. Of course, through not remembering all the titles I had, or because of some British titles being different from ours, I have a number of duplications. I was in London last week (first trip there in years) and found two titles I didn't have. As far as I know I have essentially everything he wrote except for seven titles. I'm trying to get Amazon to help find those. Am just discovering the interest in Plum in the net. It is a delight to find out I'm not the only nut still reading him. Although as I tour used book stores I do find that his stuff gets grabbed up quickly. Great! I'd like to get into whatever activities there are. Where do I start??

From: Charles Newman
Date: 5/13/98

As a young, innocent youth of 15 I followed my interest in....ahhh... photography by purchasing a copy of Playboy Magazine.  After exhaustingly studying the styles and techniques of the photographers I came across a short story by Wodehouse.  Okay, I'll admit it, it was the only part of the magazine still in one piece but being bored and having nothing else to do I read the Wodehouse piece.

From then on I can honestly say I bought Playboy only for the Wodehouse stories.  I was an outcast in my juvenile set until a few of the more adventurous starting reading them too.

Within a year I had reading copies of every Wodehouse novel.  My account at Blackwells swallowing my
all too small allowance.

Since then I've added first editions, signed editions, Plum bios, sheet music etc.

Still, the most precious thing remains Wodehouse's incredible language on any scrap of paper, even the remains of an adolescents skin mag.

From: another blot on the landscape
Date: 5/10/98

much to my consternation in early 1997, i found myself burdened with a computer job in the city every thursday ... evidently strong measures had to be taken to combat the ensuing ennui and as I didn't have jeeves at hand to whip up one of his "specials", audio books from the local library were the things to do it, starting with the classics ...

however all audio books paled beneath their tan covers in comparison with the works of p.g. wodehouse (found after indiscriminate roaming) and as that fellow john keats (junkets to his friends) put it so well, it was like being "some watcher of the skies when a new planet swims into his [her] ken" to find a gentlewoman's companion in His Work ...

incidentally, though disconcerted to find no mention of his work here, my favourite narrator of wodehouse is jonathon cecil

have since become an avid reader etc. of all other wodehouse i can beg/borrow/steal, and as any person with a predilection for p.g. well knows,  if begging, borrowing or stealing is on the cards, one need look no further than wodehouse for inspiration of the first water ... i refer, of course, to intricate stratagems and coils  involving silver cow creamers laid down for our guidance by jeeves...

psmith is without question my favourite man about town in wodehouse, though all his characters provide endless inspiration and edification

From: Sridhar Manyem
Date: 5/6/98

Well. There I was with a solid Milan Kundera in hand and reading serious (read depressing stuff) literature like Milan Kundera, Somerset Maugham and getting drunk everyday.

Accidentally, I decided to read all the books in the fiction section of the library and as is my wont, started backwards. After unsuccessfully prodding thru vague African Literature (Gives you a hangover and god knows why African writers names start with a Z), I came to Wodehouse. I had heard of him before. But, after all those what is the word that starts with a l and ends with an s meaning gloomy. Ridiculous or something like that. Jeeves would know. oh....lugubrious.

After all that lugubrious stuff, this was like fresh air. Refreshing. Comic. Language at its pristine best. Other writers use language as a medium for communication. Wodehouse uses ideas as a tool for expressing his language. (This is confusing. But I'll let it be). Anyway, to make a long story short They were the cure of my hangover.

There have been thousands of times when others have questioned my sanity (not surprising !!!!) for laughing like  a pig in a crowded bus as I used to distort my body and hands such that I could maintain my balance and still read the book.

Cheers to Wodehouse

From: Gordon Neill
Date: 4/30/98

I met P.G.Wodehouse in a very cramped mobile library van at the age of thirteen.  Having found nothing more stimulating than a rather shabby biography of Ian Botham (written, if I remember correctly, by the inordinately churlish Don Mosey) I picked up a copy of "Psmith in the City" and was instantly hooked.  I have read over sixty of Wodehouse's novels since then but, although Baxter, Wooster, Lord Emsworth and the Oldest Member are all quite wonderful creations, no one can quite surpass, for me, the solemnity and splendour of Psmith.

From: Susan Johnston
Date: 4/27/98

I first met Wodehouse when I was in high school.  In my enthusiasm I went to my English teacher, who told me he was "trash" and "not serious literature."

"Nerts!" I said, thankfully having the good sense to ignore her, and here I am  20 years later needing a dose of Wodehouse to insure a good night's sleep.  Plum is (with apologies to my husband!) "the tree on which the fruit of my life hangs."

From: Samanth Subramanian
Date: 4/26/98

In the 6th grade, I wouldn't have known a printed book if you had brought it on a plate with watercress around it. It was still "The Age of the Comics"... then I came across a "Jeeves" book and for years to come, my friends look at me strangely when I laugh out aloud and wonder why the foremost mental institutions don't compete for me vigourously.
My favourite? Ring for Jeeves, which has the absolutely smashing line:
 
In the summer, the river is at the bottom of the garden while in the rainy season, the garden is at the bottom of the river.
Pip pip chaps...Plum lives on!

From: Brittany Bianchi
Date: 4/22/98

I was 13 years old when I discovered P. G. Wodehouse's books. I was going through a period where I was rereading all of my favorite books because none of the new books I tried captured my interest. I was starting to think the Unthinkable;  I HAD READ ALL THE GOOD BOOKS! The one day, when all seemed lost, I came upon a Jeeves and Wooster story! I couldn't believe I had not heard of P. G. Wodehouse before! The world seemed a Better and Brighter place. God Bless P.G. Wodehouse!

From: Gilda
Date: 4/15/98

I first became introduced to the wonderful world of P. G. Wodehouse through Masterpiece Theater's fabulous series, Jeeves and Wooster.  I immediately fell in love with the characters and subsequently read some of Wodehouse's books.  I have only read the ones about Bertie Wooster and Jeeves so far, but am anxious to launch into works concerning other characters.  P.G. Wodehouse truly was a genius.  He created such an entertaining world filled with endearing characters.  What a Plum!

From: Reem Jan
Date: 4/9/98

Strangely enough, I don't know any Wodehouse fans and I only came across his works while casually browsing through a bookshop. The first thing I read was a collection of short stories about Blandings Castle and I was hooked from the start. His books are such delightful nonsense, the perfect world for an escapist. I'm still familiarising myself with his works, but I think my favourite stories so far would be the Ukridge ones, narrated by his long-suffering best friend Corky. I love his crazy pursuit of "capital", aided by his unwavering optimism, and of course his "vision" and the "big, broad, flexible outlook".

From: Paul Lucey
Date: 4/2/98

I discovered P.G.Wodehouse one X-Mas vacation through the BBC series. While I had been away at U.W.O., my brother, who was an enormous "Blackadder" fan, had been taping this new series featuring Fry & Laurie.  I watched three episodes and was hooked.  I took them back to school with me and introduced my roommate to them.  Over the next month, we sought out and devoured any Wodehouse work in every bookstore in town.  When I eventually moved out, dividing up the books created much ill will.

From: Preeta Guptan
Date: 3/25/98

I think I have been reading a Wodehouse ever since I was born. That is of course not true and I remember the day my father was reading "The Small Bachelor" and roaring away and gave me the book to read and I didn't understand what was funny except for some subtle witticism and my father was pleased. ... and then sometime I was hooked.

I love so many of his characters and go back to them every now and then and feel I am revisiting old friends. I love Gally and Uncle Fred and Lord Em and Chimp Twist and the Molloys. But the man I absolutely adore is Psmith.

From: Barbara Williams
Date: 3/15/98

I met the works of Wodehouse when I was about 12 at the hand of my grandmother who was a devoted fan.  Her great claim to fame is that Wodehouse himself had once answered a fan letter she had written him. I carry on undaunted as a fan who regularly rereads, and have introduced my sons and their friends as well to the joys of a gentler world.

From: bahma sivasubramaniam
Date: 3/15/98

I was at school, doing O-levels My English teacher gave us a list of authors to read, amongst which was P.G.Wodehouse. That was the turning point. I cannot remember what was the first book of his I read but it made such an impact on me that i have been a Wodehouser since. I think I must have bought all his books available in Malaysia.  My sore point is that I cannot get the videos of Jeeves and Bertie, with Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. The only tapes available are at the British Council, but I want my own!!! Wodehouse lives, man!

From: Sharmila Gokhale
Date: 2/6/98

What a blessed day it was...the discovery of `Right Ho, Jeeves!' in a bookshop...I read the first two chapters in the shop itself, and when my giggling became embarrassingly loud, I finally bought the book and headed home...after that there was no looking back. Wodehouse's popularity can be gauged from the fact that it's so hard to lay your hand on a copy at the British Council libraries (in India)...you find one, your day is made! Hail to Plum!

From: Hitesh Purswani
Date: 2/5/98

I was introduced to Wodehouse at a fairly early age. I borrowed "Indiscretions of Archie" when i was about 12 Yrs old. That was a time I was into Archie comics and Mad magazines. I didn't understand what people found so funny in it. However about 4 yrs  later, a friend of mine leant me "Eggs, Beans And Crumpets". That was the book that got me hooked onto P.G Wodehouse.

 I can say now that I am a Wodehouse addict. I'm particularly fond of the Blandings series.

From: lucy gabb
Date: 2/1/98

i go to the public library frequently and usually pick up some audio books i just happened to pick up Inimitable Jeeves and from then on bertie and jeeves were firm companions to long trips in the car. i now scan the shelves for anything written by wodehouse and discovered the tv version of jeeves and wooster. Could you tell me how to get hold of more tv series as the library only has 2 episodes.