P. G. Wodehouse locations
Encyclopedia
The following is an incomplete compendium of the fictional location
s featured in the stories of P. G. Wodehouse
, in alphabetical order by place name.
The Angler's (or Anglers') Rest is the public house
frequented by irrepressible raconteur Mr Mulliner
, where his drink of choice is a Hot Scotch and Lemon. The able barmaid's name is Miss Postlethwaite.
, and several short stories.
, and the setting for the novel A Damsel in Distress
. Belpher was once a prosperous fishing-town made famous by the Oyster
trade, until it was discovered that the local bay had been polluted, thus driving away much of the tourist and fishing trade.
Local points of interest mentioned in the novel include The Belpher Arms, the village tavern, and Belpher Castle, the home of the aristocratic Marshmoreton family since the Wars of the Roses
.
near Blandings Castle
. The people of the village enjoy much revelry at the annual School Treat, held on August Bank Holiday every year in the grounds of the Castle, much to Lord Emsworth
's horror (not only does his garden become an inferno of children, tents and paper bags, but he is required to wear a top hat and make a speech). Blandings Parva is also known for taking in children from London in need of fresh air, such as Gladys and her brother Ern.
stories and a popular destination for Bertie Wooster
, Dahlia's beloved nephew.
Brinkley is also the residence of the Travers' children Angela and Bonzo. Besides Bertie and Jeeves, it regularly hosts a number of guests, including Mr. Anstruther, Sebastian Moon, and Thomas
, son of Dahlia's sister Agatha. Brinkley's butler is named Seppings and its chauffeur Waterbury, but its most famous domestic employee is, without doubt, the supremely gifted French
chef Anatole.
Brinkley is said to be modeled on Lechmere House at Severn End, Hanley Castle, in Worcestershire
.
Bumpleigh Hall is a fictional location
, being the seat of Bertie Wooster
's Uncle Percy Craye, Lord Worplesdon, and Aunt Agatha
, nearby the rural village of Steeple Bumpleigh, Hampshire. Usual residents include Florence Craye
and Edwin Craye.
In Joy in the Morning
(1946), Steeple Bumpleigh and Bumpleigh Hall are the main theatre of the action.
for a holiday in Thank You, Jeeves
. In the 1993
television series Jeeves and Wooster
, Chufnell Regis is shown to have its own railway station.
, a formidable old harridan, friend of Bertie Wooster
's Aunt Agatha
. It is a large, Tudor
manor, located in South Hampshire
, in the village of Kings Deverill and is also home to Dame Daphne's sisters, Emmeline, Charlotte, Myrtle and Harriet, as well as her pretty daughter Gertrude.
Jeeves's uncle Charlie Silversmith is butler
at Deverill. Bertie Wooster has been to stay there on a couple of occasions, but is not a particularly welcome guest and is usually sent back to London prior to the arranged date of departure, due to some silly scrape he has got himself into.
, Dreever is a large old place in Shropshire
, with heavy grey walls to defend against Welsh
marauders, but a comfortable interior. It is owned by Spennie Dreever, but run by his rich uncle Sir Thomas Blunt. One of the oldest and grandest houses in England, Dreever is famed for an old ghost story, handed down from generation to generation. There is a picturesque rose-garden, and a lake with an island, ideal for young lovers.
In The Gem Collector, an earlier version of the story, the house is called Corven Abbey, and owned by former New York policeman McEachern.
, London
.
, and several other school stories.
on the High Street in Market Blandings, the Emsworth serves fine ale
and makes an ideal meeting-place for conspirators not wishing to be overheard, as well as providing accommodation for anyone wishing to be near Blandings Castle
but lacking an invitation.
There is a busy bar downstairs, and a more genteel dining-room on the first floor, with comfortable armchairs ideal for anyone in need of a nap. The garden stretches down to the river, with many shady nooks and summer-house, seemingly ideal for conspirators not wishing to be overheard and weary minds and bodies needing rest. The proprietor, G. Ovens, makes excellent home-brewed ale
.
's Aunt Julia, Heath House is a large mansion near Wimbledon Common, set back from the road in the seclusion of spacious grounds. Ukridge lives there from time to time, in between being thrown out by his aunt for his mesdeeds. The grounds are in much demand for dancing societies and charitable fetes. Among the staff of the house have been, at times, the likes of Oakshott the butler
, and "Battling" Billson, a temporary handyman, and Jimmy Corcoran is rarely welcome there.
The house is occasionally called "The Cedars" in later stories.
seat of Frederick Twistleton, Lord Ickenham
, where he lives much of the time, his wife Lady Jane having forbidden him to visit London lest he wreak his usual havoc. Polly Pott gambolled in the grounds as a child; there are too many statues there.
is a member.
, Gussie Fink-Nottle
, and Kipper Herring studied in their earlier years. During their education, it was presided over by the Rev. Aubrey Upjohn
.
, the Mammoth is based at Tilbury House, Tilbury Street (off Fleet Street
). The company's output is large and varied, from the gossip
y Society Spice to the children's Tiny Tots, and includes newspapers such as the Daily Record, magazine
s like Home Gossip, and book imprints like the British Pluck Library, home to the adventures of Gridley Quayle, Investigator.
Employees at various times include Pyke's timid son Roderick, briefly editor of Society Spice, Percy Pilbeam
, Roderick's capable assistant who later takes over as editor, Ashe Marson, the writer of the Gridley Quayle stories, Joan Valentine, sometime editress of Home Gossip, and Sam Shotter, who worked for his neighbour Mr Wrenn, editor of Pyke's Home Companion. Monty Bodkin
is deputy-editor of Tiny Tots at the start of Heavy Weather
, thanks to his uncle Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe meeting with Tilbury at a public dinner; Archie Gilpin was an occasional contributor. Lavender Briggs and Millicent Rigby have both acted as Tilbury's secretary.
, site of the Emsworth Arms and a host of other hostelries (such as the Beetle and Wedge, the Blue Boar, the Blue Cow, the Blue Dragon, the Cow and Grasshopper, the Goat and Feathers, the Goose and Gander, the Jolly Cricketers, the Stitch in Time, the Wheatsheaf, and the Waggoner's Rest), as well as a useful railway station, from where a fast train can get you to Paddington
in under four hours.
A sleepy old place, Market Blandings is one of England's most picturesque towns, and has an air of having been the same for centuries; the lichened church has a four-square tower, the shops red roofs, and the second floors of the inns bulge comfortably outward. The most modern thing there is the moving-picture house
, which calls itself an "Electric Theatre", is covered in ivy and features stone gable
s; the only other up-to-date location is the shop of Jno. Banks, hairdresser. The only taxi cab in town is the station taxi, driven by Mr Jno. Robinson; the chemist's is run by a Mr Bulstrode.
. It is at the Market Snodsbury Grammar School that, in Right Ho, Jeeves
, Gussie Fink-Nottle
gives his immortal drunken prize-giving speech.
Market Snodsbury is also home to an inn called the Bull and Bush, which is, according to Bertie, "Well spoken of in the Automobile Guide", and to which Aubrey Upjohn
retired in Jeeves in the Offing
, after Aunt Dahlia suggested he leave Brinkley Court.
, Marling is the home of Colonel Fanshawe, his wife and their attractive daughter Valerie. The butler there is a friend of Beach
, and the two of them occasionally share a glass or two in the evenings. The house's coal cellar has, on at least one occasion, served as a makeshift prison.
, with smooth firm sands and a long pier
at the northern end of the beach, which provides excellent fishing
. The Beach View Hotel lies just by the beach, and the Beach Theatre is not far away. Marvis is the peaceful seaside spot par excellence, the ideal place for a quiet week for those not up to the excitements of Roville
The beach is the main setting for the events of "Deep Waters" and "Fixing it for Freddie", while Marvis Bay Golf
and Country Club has a charming links
and a comfortable clubhouse
, from where the club's Oldest Member
dispenses his wisdom in the form of his inexhaustible golf stories.
Marvis Bay is variously reported to lie in Dorset
shire ("Fixing it for Freddie") and Cornwall
(Uneasy Money
).
, the hall neighbours Blandings Castle
and lies near the village of Much Matchingham. In its grounds resides the "Pride of Matchingham", Sir Gregory's pig and rival to Lord Emsworth
's mighty Empress of Blandings
, and later the "Queen of Matchingham", replacement for the Pride. The telephone number there is Matchingham 8-3.
island, the smallest independent state in the world, smaller even than Monaco
. It is a sleepy little place, with an army of one hundred and fifteen, a small harbour, a small town and a few scattered fishing hamlets. The last prince, Charles, was driven out in 1886, when the place became a republic, but when Mervo is purchased by Benjamin Scobell in order to build a casino and resort, in The Prince and Betty
, John Maude is revealed to be heir to the princedom.
, and his dog Bottles is well-known from the Blue Boar on the High Street to the distant Cow and Caterpillar on the Shrewsbury Road.
, employed there for a spell in Psmith in the City
. It has the atmosphere of a public school, with the heads of department as autocratic as masters - the Postage Dept. is run by Mr Rossiter, the Cash Dept. by Mr Waller, and the Fixed Deposits Department by a Mr Gregory. The London branch is seen as something of a training ground for new blood - once a period of probation has been completed, most employees head out East.
At some point, the bank was successfully robbed of around two million dollars' worth of transferable bonds, by a man by the name of Edward Finglass, a friend of Alexander "Chimp" Twist and Thomas "Soapy" Molloy; though Finglass escaped, his haul was eventually recovered, thanks to Sam Shotter, in Sam the Sudden
.
The bank is perhaps inspired by the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank
, where Wodehouse himself worked for a time before his writing career took off, and is mentioned in passing in many other stories and novels. It is described in the chapter 4 of Psmith in the City that the London branch of the New Asiatic Bank is situated somewhere around the Mansion House and Queen Victoria St in the City of London.
, the Pelican was that happy era's equivalent to the Drones
. Galahad Threepwood
and Uncle Fred
were both prominent and popular members; others include "Dogface" Weeks, champion liar, and Galahad's friends "Plug" Basham and "Puffy" Benger. The club was a real gentlemen's club of the era from 1887-1892.
in the South of France
. Setting of the likes of The Adventures of Sally
and French Leave
; the name, however, is reminiscent of Deauville
and Boulogne-sur-Mer
, on the Channel.
It first appeared in two of the short stories collected in the book The Man Upstairs
, published in the U.K. in 1914 : Ruth in Exile and The Tuppenny Millionaire.
A school, setting of several early shorts (many of them collected in Tales of St. Austin's
), as well as Wodehouse's first published novel The Pothunters
. In the Jeeves
short story The Ordeal of Young Tuppy, it is revealed that Tuppy Glossop
is an Old Austinian.
. The abbey dates as far back as the Renaissance
, and is alleged to be haunted, a fact that attracts Mrs. Spottsworth, a self-taught psychic, to buy the abbey from impoverished aristocrat Bill Belfry, 9th Earl of Rowcester.
. An imposing Georgian building in around 9 acres (36,421.7 m²) of land, Sanstead was formerly the private home of a family called Boone, but when the family's fortunes declined and the house became too large and expensive to maintain, one Colonel Boone keenly leased the place out as a school.
The place is perfect for the purpose, with ample grounds for cricket
and football
, and plenty of rooms of various sizes ideal for classrooms and dormitories. Its stables, with their thick walls and iron-barred windows, have been put to use as a gymnasium, carpenter's shop and general storage area, but also make a handy fortress in event of a siege. It is two miles (3 km) from the village, where the principal watering-hole is the Feathers, the barmaid of which, a Miss Benjafield, is a stately type who disapproves of Americans.
Run by the somewhat ineffectual Arnold Abney, Sanstead's staff includes the gloomy teacher Mr Glossop, White the smooth mannered butler, and Mrs Attwell the Matron, as well as a cook, an odd-job-man, two housemaids, a scullery-maid and a parlour-maid, before it is enhanced by the arrival of Peter Burns. The boys, who number some twenty-four in total, include Augustus Beckford, are augmented by the Nugget himself, Ogden Ford, who brings all manner of drama and bad behaviour to the school.
ing success thanks to the arrival of Mike Jackson and Psmith
, in Mike and Psmith
. Set in pretty countryside, the school has some two hundred boys. The houses, a row of three, lie across the cricket field from the main school; Outwood's, of which Mike and Psmith become members, is the middle one.
The school has a thriving archaeological
society, thanks to Outwood, and also a fire brigade, run by his colleague Downing but treated as an excuse to mess around by the boys. The drainpipes are sturdy, and there is a fire bell, in an archway near the school, which proves useful to Mike on one occasion; when it is rung, the boys get to flee the building via canvas chutes.
Its numbers (increasing from three thousand, seven hundred and eighteen at the time of Psmith in the City
to six thousand, one hundred and eleven by the time of Leave it to Psmith
) are all respectable, mostly bald men, who look like they could be politicians or important figures in the City
; they include Lord Emsworth
, who joined as a country member in 1888, and Psmith
, put up for the club by his father.
Steeple Bumpleigh is a fictional location
, being a small village in rural Hampshire where Bertie Wooster
's Uncle Percy Craye, Lord Worplesdon, and Aunt Agatha
reside at Bumpleigh Hall. It is set in fields and woods, nearby the market town of East Wibley. Lord Worplesdon is also the local Justice of the Peace.
In Joy in the Morning
(1946), Steeple Bumpleigh and Bumpleigh Hall are the main theatre of the action.
, a narrow lane that smells somewhat of cabbage. The Mammoth's premises spill out from the main HQ at Tilbury House to various other buildings in the street. For a time, opposite Tilbury House on the fourth floor are the offices of J. Sheringham Adair, Detective, also known as Alexander "Chimp" Twist.
and his daughter Madeline Bassett
.
, it is home to Matthew Wrenn, whose friend Mr Cornelius is the local estate agent and historian; he has many a tale to tell of the suburb, the most exciting being that of Edward "Finky" Finglass, the notorious bank robber, who lived for a time in the house later inhabited by Sam Shotter.
In Uncle Fred in the Springtime
, we learn that part of the suburb was formed from the old estate of Lord Ickenham
's Uncle Willoughby, known as Mitching Hill, setting of the drama related in "Uncle Fred Flits By
". It is also home to Maudie, niece of Blandings Castle
butler Beach
.
The suburb is a setting in many non-series novels, including Ice in the Bedroom
, which has a similar plot to that of Sam the Sudden. In the preface to the 1972 edition of Sam the Sudden, Wodehouse wrote: "It was the first thing of mine where the action took place in the delectable suburb of Valley Fields, a thin disguise for the Dulwich where so many of my happiest hours have been spent." In his youth, Wodehouse attended Dulwich College
in the London suburb of West Dulwich
.
A minor public school with a strong cricket
ing tradition, Wrykyn is most closely associated with Mike Jackson, hero of Mike at Wrykyn
. It also features in the earlier school novels The Gold Bat
and The White Feather
, as well as a number of early school shorts.
The school is an imposing place, especially to new boys; the grounds are in the form of a series of terraces cut from a hill, with the school at the top, training grounds on the next step and on the next the cricket field, from the pavilion of which one can see three counties. The houses are run by the likes of Wain, Donaldson and Seymour, and the school's reputation for cricket is fearsome. The public schools "Geddington" and "Ripton" are sporting rivals.
Many characters in later works are old boys, including Ukridge
, his friends Jimmy Corcoran, George Tupper, and "Looney" Coote, as well as Sam "The Sudden" Shotter and his friend Willoughby Braddock.
Fictional location
Fictional locations are places that exist only in fiction and not in reality. Writers may create and describe such places to serve as backdrop for their fictional works. Fictional locations are also created for use as settings in Role-playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons...
s featured in the stories of P. G. Wodehouse
P. G. Wodehouse
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE was an English humorist, whose body of work includes novels, short stories, plays, poems, song lyrics, and numerous pieces of journalism. He enjoyed enormous popular success during a career that lasted more than seventy years and his many writings continue to be...
, in alphabetical order by place name.
The Angler's Rest
The Angler's (or Anglers') Rest is the public house
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
frequented by irrepressible raconteur Mr Mulliner
Mr Mulliner
Mr. Mulliner is a fictional character from the short stories of P. G. Wodehouse. Mr. Mulliner is a loquacious pub raconteur who, no matter what the topic of conversation, can find an appropriate story about a member of his family to match it....
, where his drink of choice is a Hot Scotch and Lemon. The able barmaid's name is Miss Postlethwaite.
Beckford
A school, setting of the novel A Prefect's UncleA Prefect's Uncle
-Plot introduction:The action of the novel takes place at the fictional "Beckford College", a private school for boys; the title alludes to the arrival at the school of a mischievous young boy called Farnie, who turns out to be the uncle of the older "Bishop" Gethryn, a prefect, cricketer and...
, and several short stories.
Belpher
A small coastal-village in HampshireHampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
, and the setting for the novel A Damsel in Distress
A Damsel in Distress (novel)
A Damsel in Distress is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United States on 4 October 1919 by George H. Doran, New York, and in the United Kingdom by Herbert Jenkins, London, on 17 October 1919...
. Belpher was once a prosperous fishing-town made famous by the Oyster
Oyster
The word oyster is used as a common name for a number of distinct groups of bivalve molluscs which live in marine or brackish habitats. The valves are highly calcified....
trade, until it was discovered that the local bay had been polluted, thus driving away much of the tourist and fishing trade.
Local points of interest mentioned in the novel include The Belpher Arms, the village tavern, and Belpher Castle, the home of the aristocratic Marshmoreton family since the Wars of the Roses
Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses were a series of dynastic civil wars for the throne of England fought between supporters of two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet: the houses of Lancaster and York...
.
Blandings Parva
A small hamletHamlet (place)
A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...
near Blandings Castle
Blandings Castle
Blandings Castle is a recurring fictional location in the stories of British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being the seat of Lord Emsworth , home to many of his family, and setting for numerous tales and adventures, written between 1915 and 1975.The series of stories which take place at the castle,...
. The people of the village enjoy much revelry at the annual School Treat, held on August Bank Holiday every year in the grounds of the Castle, much to Lord Emsworth
Lord Emsworth
Clarence Threepwood, 9th Earl of Emsworth, or Lord Emsworth, is a recurring fictional character in the Blandings stories by British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse. He is the amiable and somewhat absent-minded head of the large Threepwood family...
's horror (not only does his garden become an inferno of children, tents and paper bags, but he is required to wear a top hat and make a speech). Blandings Parva is also known for taking in children from London in need of fresh air, such as Gladys and her brother Ern.
Brinkley Court
The seat of Tom and Dahlia Travers, Brinkley is the setting of a great number of Wodehouse's JeevesJeeves
Reginald Jeeves is a fictional character in the short stories and novels of P. G. Wodehouse, being the valet of Bertie Wooster . Created in 1915, Jeeves would continue to appear in Wodehouse's works until his final, completed, novel Aunts Aren't Gentlemen in 1974, making him Wodehouse's most famous...
stories and a popular destination for Bertie Wooster
Bertie Wooster
Bertram Wilberforce "Bertie" Wooster is a recurring fictional character in the Jeeves novels of British author P. G. Wodehouse. An English gentleman, one of the "idle rich" and a member of the Drones Club, he appears alongside his valet, Jeeves, whose genius manages to extricate Bertie or one of...
, Dahlia's beloved nephew.
Brinkley is also the residence of the Travers' children Angela and Bonzo. Besides Bertie and Jeeves, it regularly hosts a number of guests, including Mr. Anstruther, Sebastian Moon, and Thomas
Thomas Gregson
Thomas George Gregson was the second Premier of Tasmania, serving from 26 February 1857 until 25 April 1857.-Early life:...
, son of Dahlia's sister Agatha. Brinkley's butler is named Seppings and its chauffeur Waterbury, but its most famous domestic employee is, without doubt, the supremely gifted French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
chef Anatole.
Brinkley is said to be modeled on Lechmere House at Severn End, Hanley Castle, in Worcestershire
Worcestershire
Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...
.
Bumpleigh Hall
Bumpleigh Hall is a fictional location
Fictional location
Fictional locations are places that exist only in fiction and not in reality. Writers may create and describe such places to serve as backdrop for their fictional works. Fictional locations are also created for use as settings in Role-playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons...
, being the seat of Bertie Wooster
Bertie Wooster
Bertram Wilberforce "Bertie" Wooster is a recurring fictional character in the Jeeves novels of British author P. G. Wodehouse. An English gentleman, one of the "idle rich" and a member of the Drones Club, he appears alongside his valet, Jeeves, whose genius manages to extricate Bertie or one of...
's Uncle Percy Craye, Lord Worplesdon, and Aunt Agatha
Aunt Agatha
Agatha Gregson, née Wooster, later Lady Worplesdon, is a recurring fictional character in the Jeeves stories of British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being best known as Aunt Agatha, Bertie Wooster's least favourite aunt, and a counterpoint to her sister, Bertie's Aunt Dahlia...
, nearby the rural village of Steeple Bumpleigh, Hampshire. Usual residents include Florence Craye
Florence Craye
Lady Florence Craye is a fictional character who appears in P. G. Wodehouse's Jeeves stories and novels. Lady Florence, the daughter of Percy Craye, Earl of Worplesdon and elder sister to Edwin, a nasty little runtish type of lad, is the sometime fiancee of Bertie Wooster...
and Edwin Craye.
In Joy in the Morning
Joy in the Morning (1946 novel)
Joy in the Morning is a novel by P.G. Wodehouse, first published in the United States on August 22, 1946 by Doubleday & Co., New York, and in the United Kingdom on June 2, 1947 by Herbert Jenkins, London...
(1946), Steeple Bumpleigh and Bumpleigh Hall are the main theatre of the action.
Chufnell Regis
The nearest village to Chuffnell Hall, visited by Bertie WoosterBertie Wooster
Bertram Wilberforce "Bertie" Wooster is a recurring fictional character in the Jeeves novels of British author P. G. Wodehouse. An English gentleman, one of the "idle rich" and a member of the Drones Club, he appears alongside his valet, Jeeves, whose genius manages to extricate Bertie or one of...
for a holiday in Thank You, Jeeves
Thank You, Jeeves
Thank You, Jeeves is a Jeeves novel by P.G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on March 16, 1934 by Herbert Jenkins, London, and in the United States on April 23, 1934 by Little, Brown and Company, New York....
. In the 1993
1993 in television
The year 1993 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1993.For the American TV schedule, see: 1993-94 United States network television schedule.-Events:-Debuts:-1950s:...
television series Jeeves and Wooster
Jeeves and Wooster
-External links:*—An episode guide to the series, including information about which episodes were adapted from which Wodehouse stories.*—Episode guides, screenshots and quotes from the four series....
, Chufnell Regis is shown to have its own railway station.
Deverill Hall
The country seat of Dame Daphne WinkworthDaphne Winkworth
Dame Daphne Winkworth is a recurring fictional character from the Blandings Castle and Jeeves stories of English comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being a menacing and scowling woman who is rarely seen to smile. She is an intimate acquaintance of Bertie Wooster's Aunt Agatha, another old harridan...
, a formidable old harridan, friend of Bertie Wooster
Bertie Wooster
Bertram Wilberforce "Bertie" Wooster is a recurring fictional character in the Jeeves novels of British author P. G. Wodehouse. An English gentleman, one of the "idle rich" and a member of the Drones Club, he appears alongside his valet, Jeeves, whose genius manages to extricate Bertie or one of...
's Aunt Agatha
Aunt Agatha
Agatha Gregson, née Wooster, later Lady Worplesdon, is a recurring fictional character in the Jeeves stories of British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being best known as Aunt Agatha, Bertie Wooster's least favourite aunt, and a counterpoint to her sister, Bertie's Aunt Dahlia...
. It is a large, Tudor
Tudor architecture
The Tudor architectural style is the final development of medieval architecture during the Tudor period and even beyond, for conservative college patrons...
manor, located in South Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
, in the village of Kings Deverill and is also home to Dame Daphne's sisters, Emmeline, Charlotte, Myrtle and Harriet, as well as her pretty daughter Gertrude.
Jeeves's uncle Charlie Silversmith is butler
Butler
A butler is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. Some also have charge of the entire parlour floor, and housekeepers caring for the entire house and its...
at Deverill. Bertie Wooster has been to stay there on a couple of occasions, but is not a particularly welcome guest and is usually sent back to London prior to the arranged date of departure, due to some silly scrape he has got himself into.
Dreever Castle
Setting of much of A Gentleman of LeisureA Gentleman of Leisure
A Gentleman of Leisure is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse. The basic plot first appeared in a novella, The Gem Collector, in the December 1909 issue of Ainslee's Magazine. It was substantially revised and expanded for publication as a book, under the title The Intrusion of Jimmy, by W.J. Watt and Co.,...
, Dreever is a large old place in Shropshire
Shropshire
Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...
, with heavy grey walls to defend against Welsh
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
marauders, but a comfortable interior. It is owned by Spennie Dreever, but run by his rich uncle Sir Thomas Blunt. One of the oldest and grandest houses in England, Dreever is famed for an old ghost story, handed down from generation to generation. There is a picturesque rose-garden, and a lake with an island, ideal for young lovers.
In The Gem Collector, an earlier version of the story, the house is called Corven Abbey, and owned by former New York policeman McEachern.
The Drones Club
A fictional gentlemen's club for feckless youth, located in Dover StreetDover Street
Dover Street is a street in Mayfair, London, England. The street is notable for its Georgian architecture as well as the location of historic London clubs and hotels, which have been frequented by world leaders and historic figures in the arts. It also hosts a number of contemporary art galleries...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Eckleton
A school, setting of the novel The Head of Kay'sThe Head of Kay's
-Plot introduction:Set at the fictional school of Eckleton, the story centres around the house of "Kay's", the riotous boys therein, its tactless, unpopular master Mr. Kay, and Fenn, the head boy...
, and several other school stories.
The Emsworth Arms
An innINN
InterNetNews is a Usenet news server package, originally released by Rich Salz in 1991, and presented at the Summer 1992 USENIX conference in San Antonio, Texas...
on the High Street in Market Blandings, the Emsworth serves fine ale
Ale
Ale is a type of beer brewed from malted barley using a warm fermentation with a strain of brewers' yeast. The yeast will ferment the beer quickly, giving it a sweet, full bodied and fruity taste...
and makes an ideal meeting-place for conspirators not wishing to be overheard, as well as providing accommodation for anyone wishing to be near Blandings Castle
Blandings Castle
Blandings Castle is a recurring fictional location in the stories of British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being the seat of Lord Emsworth , home to many of his family, and setting for numerous tales and adventures, written between 1915 and 1975.The series of stories which take place at the castle,...
but lacking an invitation.
There is a busy bar downstairs, and a more genteel dining-room on the first floor, with comfortable armchairs ideal for anyone in need of a nap. The garden stretches down to the river, with many shady nooks and summer-house, seemingly ideal for conspirators not wishing to be overheard and weary minds and bodies needing rest. The proprietor, G. Ovens, makes excellent home-brewed ale
Ale
Ale is a type of beer brewed from malted barley using a warm fermentation with a strain of brewers' yeast. The yeast will ferment the beer quickly, giving it a sweet, full bodied and fruity taste...
.
Heath House
Home of UkridgeStanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge
Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge is a fictional character from the short stories and novels of P. G. Wodehouse.Ukridge is a schemer who will do anything to increase his funding -- except, of course, work. An alert and creative opportunist, he makes sure that no kindness shown to him, however...
's Aunt Julia, Heath House is a large mansion near Wimbledon Common, set back from the road in the seclusion of spacious grounds. Ukridge lives there from time to time, in between being thrown out by his aunt for his mesdeeds. The grounds are in much demand for dancing societies and charitable fetes. Among the staff of the house have been, at times, the likes of Oakshott the butler
Butler
A butler is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. Some also have charge of the entire parlour floor, and housekeepers caring for the entire house and its...
, and "Battling" Billson, a temporary handyman, and Jimmy Corcoran is rarely welcome there.
The house is occasionally called "The Cedars" in later stories.
Ickenham Hall
The HampshireHampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
seat of Frederick Twistleton, Lord Ickenham
Uncle Fred
Frederick Altamont Cornwallis Twistleton, 5th Earl of Ickenham, commonly known as Uncle Fred, is a fictional character who appears in short stories and novels written by P. G. Wodehouse between 1935 and 1961...
, where he lives much of the time, his wife Lady Jane having forbidden him to visit London lest he wreak his usual havoc. Polly Pott gambolled in the grounds as a child; there are too many statues there.
The Junior Ganymede Club
A club for "gentlemen's gentlemen", of which JeevesJeeves
Reginald Jeeves is a fictional character in the short stories and novels of P. G. Wodehouse, being the valet of Bertie Wooster . Created in 1915, Jeeves would continue to appear in Wodehouse's works until his final, completed, novel Aunts Aren't Gentlemen in 1974, making him Wodehouse's most famous...
is a member.
Malvern House Preparatory School
The preparatory school where Bertie WoosterBertie Wooster
Bertram Wilberforce "Bertie" Wooster is a recurring fictional character in the Jeeves novels of British author P. G. Wodehouse. An English gentleman, one of the "idle rich" and a member of the Drones Club, he appears alongside his valet, Jeeves, whose genius manages to extricate Bertie or one of...
, Gussie Fink-Nottle
Gussie Fink-Nottle
Augustus "Gussie" Fink-Nottle is a fictional character in the Jeeves novels of British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being a lifelong friend of Jeeves's master Bertie Wooster and a possible member of the Drones Club...
, and Kipper Herring studied in their earlier years. During their education, it was presided over by the Rev. Aubrey Upjohn
Aubrey Upjohn
The Reverend Aubrey Upjohn is a recurring fictional character from the Jeeves and Drones Club stories of British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being the Headmaster at Malvern House Preparatory School during Bertie Wooster's tenure there.-Overview:...
.
The Mammoth Publishing Company
Owned and run by Lord TilburyGeorge Alexander Pyke, Lord Tilbury
George Alexander Pyke, Lord Tilbury is a recurring fictional character in the stories of British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse. Pyke is a publishing magnate, the founder and owner of the Mammoth Publishing Company. Outside his business, he has a passion for pigs and is the owner of a prize pig...
, the Mammoth is based at Tilbury House, Tilbury Street (off Fleet Street
Fleet Street
Fleet Street is a street in central London, United Kingdom, named after the River Fleet, a stream that now flows underground. It was the home of the British press until the 1980s...
). The company's output is large and varied, from the gossip
Gossip
Gossip is idle talk or rumour, especially about the personal or private affairs of others, It is one of the oldest and most common means of sharing facts and views, but also has a reputation for the introduction of errors and variations into the information transmitted...
y Society Spice to the children's Tiny Tots, and includes newspapers such as the Daily Record, magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
s like Home Gossip, and book imprints like the British Pluck Library, home to the adventures of Gridley Quayle, Investigator.
Employees at various times include Pyke's timid son Roderick, briefly editor of Society Spice, Percy Pilbeam
Percy Frobisher Pilbeam
Percy Frobisher Pilbeam is a fictional character in the works of P. G. Wodehouse. A journalist turned detective, he is a rather weak and unpleasant man, generally disliked by all...
, Roderick's capable assistant who later takes over as editor, Ashe Marson, the writer of the Gridley Quayle stories, Joan Valentine, sometime editress of Home Gossip, and Sam Shotter, who worked for his neighbour Mr Wrenn, editor of Pyke's Home Companion. Monty Bodkin
Monty Bodkin
Montague "Monty" Bodkin is a recurring fictional character in three novels of English comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being a wealthy young member of the Drones Club, tall, slender and lissom, well-dressed, well-spoken, impeccably polite, and generally in some kind of romantic trouble.-Stories:Monty...
is deputy-editor of Tiny Tots at the start of Heavy Weather
Heavy Weather (novel)
Heavy Weather is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United States on July 28, 1933 by Little, Brown and Company, Boston, and in the United Kingdom on August 10, 1933 by Herbert Jenkins, London...
, thanks to his uncle Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe meeting with Tilbury at a public dinner; Archie Gilpin was an occasional contributor. Lavender Briggs and Millicent Rigby have both acted as Tilbury's secretary.
Market Blandings
The nearest town to Blandings CastleBlandings Castle
Blandings Castle is a recurring fictional location in the stories of British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being the seat of Lord Emsworth , home to many of his family, and setting for numerous tales and adventures, written between 1915 and 1975.The series of stories which take place at the castle,...
, site of the Emsworth Arms and a host of other hostelries (such as the Beetle and Wedge, the Blue Boar, the Blue Cow, the Blue Dragon, the Cow and Grasshopper, the Goat and Feathers, the Goose and Gander, the Jolly Cricketers, the Stitch in Time, the Wheatsheaf, and the Waggoner's Rest), as well as a useful railway station, from where a fast train can get you to Paddington
Paddington
Paddington is a district within the City of Westminster, in central London, England. Formerly a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965...
in under four hours.
A sleepy old place, Market Blandings is one of England's most picturesque towns, and has an air of having been the same for centuries; the lichened church has a four-square tower, the shops red roofs, and the second floors of the inns bulge comfortably outward. The most modern thing there is the moving-picture house
Movie theater
A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....
, which calls itself an "Electric Theatre", is covered in ivy and features stone gable
Gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
s; the only other up-to-date location is the shop of Jno. Banks, hairdresser. The only taxi cab in town is the station taxi, driven by Mr Jno. Robinson; the chemist's is run by a Mr Bulstrode.
Market Snodsbury
A town, close to Brinkley CourtBrinkley Court
Brinkley Court is a recurring fictional location, a country house in the stories of British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being the seat of Tom and Dahlia Travers...
. It is at the Market Snodsbury Grammar School that, in Right Ho, Jeeves
Right Ho, Jeeves
Right Ho, Jeeves is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, the second full-length novel featuring the popular characters Jeeves and Bertie Wooster, after Thank You, Jeeves. It also features a host of other recurring Wodehouse characters, and is mostly set at Brinkley Court, the home of Bertie's Aunt Dahlia...
, Gussie Fink-Nottle
Gussie Fink-Nottle
Augustus "Gussie" Fink-Nottle is a fictional character in the Jeeves novels of British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being a lifelong friend of Jeeves's master Bertie Wooster and a possible member of the Drones Club...
gives his immortal drunken prize-giving speech.
Market Snodsbury is also home to an inn called the Bull and Bush, which is, according to Bertie, "Well spoken of in the Automobile Guide", and to which Aubrey Upjohn
Aubrey Upjohn
The Reverend Aubrey Upjohn is a recurring fictional character from the Jeeves and Drones Club stories of British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being the Headmaster at Malvern House Preparatory School during Bertie Wooster's tenure there.-Overview:...
retired in Jeeves in the Offing
Jeeves in the Offing
Jeeves in the Offing is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United States on 4 April 1960 by Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York, under the title How Right You Are, Jeeves, and in the United Kingdom on 12 August 1960 by Herbert Jenkins, London....
, after Aunt Dahlia suggested he leave Brinkley Court.
Marling Hall
A house in the neighbourhood of Blandings CastleBlandings Castle
Blandings Castle is a recurring fictional location in the stories of British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being the seat of Lord Emsworth , home to many of his family, and setting for numerous tales and adventures, written between 1915 and 1975.The series of stories which take place at the castle,...
, Marling is the home of Colonel Fanshawe, his wife and their attractive daughter Valerie. The butler there is a friend of Beach
Sebastian Beach
Sebastian Beach is a fictional character in the Blandings stories by P. G. Wodehouse. He is the butler at Blandings Castle, seat of Lord Emsworth and his family, where he serves for over eighteen years.- Background and character :...
, and the two of them occasionally share a glass or two in the evenings. The house's coal cellar has, on at least one occasion, served as a makeshift prison.
Marvis Bay
A delightful coastal resortResort
A resort is a place used for relaxation or recreation, attracting visitors for holidays or vacations. Resorts are places, towns or sometimes commercial establishment operated by a single company....
, with smooth firm sands and a long pier
Pier
A pier is a raised structure, including bridge and building supports and walkways, over water, typically supported by widely spread piles or pillars...
at the northern end of the beach, which provides excellent fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
. The Beach View Hotel lies just by the beach, and the Beach Theatre is not far away. Marvis is the peaceful seaside spot par excellence, the ideal place for a quiet week for those not up to the excitements of Roville
The beach is the main setting for the events of "Deep Waters" and "Fixing it for Freddie", while Marvis Bay Golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
and Country Club has a charming links
Links (golf)
A links is the oldest style of golf course, first developed in Scotland. The word "links" comes from the Scots language and refers to an area of coastal sand dunes and sometimes to open parkland. It also retains this more general meaning in the Scottish English dialect...
and a comfortable clubhouse
Nineteenth hole
The Nineteenth hole is a slang term used in golf, generally referring to a pub, bar, or restaurant on or near the golf course, very often the clubhouse itself. A standard round of golf has only eighteen holes, so golfers will say they are at the 'nineteenth hole', meaning they are enjoying a...
, from where the club's Oldest Member
Oldest Member
The Oldest Member is a fictional character from the short stories and novels of P. G. Wodehouse. He narrates the majority of Wodehouse's golf stories from the terrace of a golf club whose location is unclear, and he never has a proper name....
dispenses his wisdom in the form of his inexhaustible golf stories.
Marvis Bay is variously reported to lie in Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
shire ("Fixing it for Freddie") and Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
(Uneasy Money
Uneasy Money
Uneasy Money is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the U.S. on March 17, 1916 by D. Appleton & Company, New York, and in the U.K. on October 4, 1917 by Methuen & Co., London. The story had earlier been serialised in the U.S in the Saturday Evening Post from December 1915, and in the UK...
).
Matchingham Hall
Seat of Sir Gregory Parsloe-ParsloeGregory Parsloe-Parsloe
Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe, 7th Baronet is a fictional character from the Blandings stories of P. G. Wodehouse. The seventh Baronet, who resides at Matchingham Hall, he is the son of the Very Reverend Dean Parsloe-Parsloe and is the rival and enemy of Lord Emsworth, master of Blandings...
, the hall neighbours Blandings Castle
Blandings Castle
Blandings Castle is a recurring fictional location in the stories of British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being the seat of Lord Emsworth , home to many of his family, and setting for numerous tales and adventures, written between 1915 and 1975.The series of stories which take place at the castle,...
and lies near the village of Much Matchingham. In its grounds resides the "Pride of Matchingham", Sir Gregory's pig and rival to Lord Emsworth
Lord Emsworth
Clarence Threepwood, 9th Earl of Emsworth, or Lord Emsworth, is a recurring fictional character in the Blandings stories by British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse. He is the amiable and somewhat absent-minded head of the large Threepwood family...
's mighty Empress of Blandings
Empress of Blandings
Empress of Blandings is a fictional pig, featured in many of the Blandings Castle novels and stories by P. G. Wodehouse. Owned by the doting Lord Emsworth, the Empress is an enormous black Berkshire sow, who wins many prizes in the "Fat Pigs" class at the local Shropshire Agricultural Show, and is...
, and later the "Queen of Matchingham", replacement for the Pride. The telephone number there is Matchingham 8-3.
Mervo
A small MediterraneanMediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
island, the smallest independent state in the world, smaller even than Monaco
Monaco
Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...
. It is a sleepy little place, with an army of one hundred and fifteen, a small harbour, a small town and a few scattered fishing hamlets. The last prince, Charles, was driven out in 1886, when the place became a republic, but when Mervo is purchased by Benjamin Scobell in order to build a casino and resort, in The Prince and Betty
The Prince and Betty
The Prince and Betty is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse. It was originally published in Ainslee's Magazine in the United States in January 1912, and, in a slightly different form, as a serial in Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom between February and April 1912, before being published in book form,...
, John Maude is revealed to be heir to the princedom.
Much Matchingham
The village adjacent to Matchingham Hall. "Beefy" Bingham inhabits the Vicarage there, the living being in the grant of Lord EmsworthLord Emsworth
Clarence Threepwood, 9th Earl of Emsworth, or Lord Emsworth, is a recurring fictional character in the Blandings stories by British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse. He is the amiable and somewhat absent-minded head of the large Threepwood family...
, and his dog Bottles is well-known from the Blue Boar on the High Street to the distant Cow and Caterpillar on the Shrewsbury Road.
The New Asiatic Bank
An austere and serious organisation, the New Asiatic is run by John Bickersdyke. Former employees include Mike Jackson and PsmithPsmith
Rupert Psmith is a recurring fictional character in several novels by British comic writer P. G...
, employed there for a spell in Psmith in the City
Psmith in the City
Psmith in the City is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published on 23 September 1910 by Adam & Charles Black, London. The story was originally released as a serial in The Captain magazine, between October 1908 and March 1909, under the title The New Fold.It continues the adventures of...
. It has the atmosphere of a public school, with the heads of department as autocratic as masters - the Postage Dept. is run by Mr Rossiter, the Cash Dept. by Mr Waller, and the Fixed Deposits Department by a Mr Gregory. The London branch is seen as something of a training ground for new blood - once a period of probation has been completed, most employees head out East.
At some point, the bank was successfully robbed of around two million dollars' worth of transferable bonds, by a man by the name of Edward Finglass, a friend of Alexander "Chimp" Twist and Thomas "Soapy" Molloy; though Finglass escaped, his haul was eventually recovered, thanks to Sam Shotter, in Sam the Sudden
Sam the Sudden
Sam the Sudden is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 15 October 1925 by Methuen, London, and in the United States on 6 November 1925 by George H. Doran, New York, under the title Sam in the Suburbs...
.
The bank is perhaps inspired by the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank
HSBC
HSBC Holdings plc is a global banking and financial services company headquartered in Canary Wharf, London, United Kingdom. it is the world's second-largest banking and financial services group and second-largest public company according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine...
, where Wodehouse himself worked for a time before his writing career took off, and is mentioned in passing in many other stories and novels. It is described in the chapter 4 of Psmith in the City that the London branch of the New Asiatic Bank is situated somewhere around the Mansion House and Queen Victoria St in the City of London.
The Pelican Club
A riotous gentlemen's club back in the nineties1890s
The 1890s were sometimes referred to as the "Mauve Decade" - because William Henry Perkin's aniline dye allowed the widespread use of that colour in fashion - and also as the "Gay Nineties", under the then-current usage of the word "gay" which referred simply to merriment and frivolity, with no...
, the Pelican was that happy era's equivalent to the Drones
Drones Club
The Drones Club is a recurring fictional location in the stories of British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being a gentlemen's club in London. Many of his Jeeves and Blandings Castle stories feature the club or its members....
. Galahad Threepwood
Galahad Threepwood
The Honourable Galahad "Gally" Threepwood is a fictional character in the Blandings stories by P. G. Wodehouse. Lord Emsworth's younger brother, a lifelong bachelor, Gally was, according to Beach, the Blandings butler, "somewhat wild as a young man"...
and Uncle Fred
Uncle Fred
Frederick Altamont Cornwallis Twistleton, 5th Earl of Ickenham, commonly known as Uncle Fred, is a fictional character who appears in short stories and novels written by P. G. Wodehouse between 1935 and 1961...
were both prominent and popular members; others include "Dogface" Weeks, champion liar, and Galahad's friends "Plug" Basham and "Puffy" Benger. The club was a real gentlemen's club of the era from 1887-1892.
Roville-Sur-Mer
A wild and exciting resortResort
A resort is a place used for relaxation or recreation, attracting visitors for holidays or vacations. Resorts are places, towns or sometimes commercial establishment operated by a single company....
in the South of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. Setting of the likes of The Adventures of Sally
The Adventures of Sally
The Adventures of Sally is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse. It appeared as a serial in Collier's Weekly magazine in the United States from 8 October to 31 December 1921, and in the Grand Magazine in the United Kingdom from April to July 1922. It was first published as a book in the UK by Herbert...
and French Leave
French Leave (novel)
French Leave is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on January 20, 1956 by Herbert Jenkins, London and in the United States on September 28, 1959 by Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York....
; the name, however, is reminiscent of Deauville
Deauville
Deauville is a commune in the Calvados département in the Basse-Normandie region in northwestern France.With its racecourse, harbour, international film festival, marinas, conference centre, villas, Grand Casino and sumptuous hotels, Deauville is regarded as the "queen of the Norman beaches" and...
and Boulogne-sur-Mer
Boulogne-sur-Mer
-Road:* Metropolitan bus services are operated by the TCRB* Coach services to Calais and Dunkerque* A16 motorway-Rail:* The main railway station is Gare de Boulogne-Ville and located in the south of the city....
, on the Channel.
It first appeared in two of the short stories collected in the book The Man Upstairs
The Man Upstairs
The Man Upstairs is a collection of short stories by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 23 January 1914 by Methuen & Co., London. Most of the stories had previously appeared in magazines, generally Strand Magazine in the UK and Cosmopolitan or Collier's Weekly in the United...
, published in the U.K. in 1914 : Ruth in Exile and The Tuppenny Millionaire.
St. Austin's
A school, setting of several early shorts (many of them collected in Tales of St. Austin's
Tales of St. Austin's
Tales of St. Austin's is a collection of short stories and essays, all with a school theme, by P. G. Wodehouse. It was first published on 10 November 1903 by Adam & Charles Black, London, all except one item having previously appeared in the schoolboy magazines, The Captain and Public School...
), as well as Wodehouse's first published novel The Pothunters
The Pothunters
The Pothunters is a 1902 novel by P. G. Wodehouse. It was Wodehouse's first published novel, and the first of several school stories, this one set at the fictional public school of St...
. In the Jeeves
Jeeves
Reginald Jeeves is a fictional character in the short stories and novels of P. G. Wodehouse, being the valet of Bertie Wooster . Created in 1915, Jeeves would continue to appear in Wodehouse's works until his final, completed, novel Aunts Aren't Gentlemen in 1974, making him Wodehouse's most famous...
short story The Ordeal of Young Tuppy, it is revealed that Tuppy Glossop
Tuppy Glossop
Hildebrand "Tuppy" Glossop is a fictional character appearing in some of P. G. Wodehouse Jeeves books. He is a member of the Drones Club and a good friend of Bertie Wooster. In Right Ho, Jeeves, we learn that Tuppy is of Scottish origin.-Relationships:...
is an Old Austinian.
Rowcester Abbey
A near-derelict abbey located in Southmoltonshire, and the setting for the novel Ring for JeevesRing for Jeeves
Ring for Jeeves is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 22 April 1953 by Herbert Jenkins, London and in the United States on 15 April 1954 by Simon & Schuster, New York, under the title The Return of Jeeves....
. The abbey dates as far back as the Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
, and is alleged to be haunted, a fact that attracts Mrs. Spottsworth, a self-taught psychic, to buy the abbey from impoverished aristocrat Bill Belfry, 9th Earl of Rowcester.
Sanstead House
Sanstead is a school, setting for much of the action in The Little NuggetThe Little Nugget
The Little Nugget is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse. It was first published in Munsey's Magazine in August 1913, before being published as a book in the U.K. on August 28, 1913 by Methuen & Co, London, and in the U.S. on February 10, 1914 by W.J. Watt and Co., New York...
. An imposing Georgian building in around 9 acres (36,421.7 m²) of land, Sanstead was formerly the private home of a family called Boone, but when the family's fortunes declined and the house became too large and expensive to maintain, one Colonel Boone keenly leased the place out as a school.
The place is perfect for the purpose, with ample grounds for cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
and football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
, and plenty of rooms of various sizes ideal for classrooms and dormitories. Its stables, with their thick walls and iron-barred windows, have been put to use as a gymnasium, carpenter's shop and general storage area, but also make a handy fortress in event of a siege. It is two miles (3 km) from the village, where the principal watering-hole is the Feathers, the barmaid of which, a Miss Benjafield, is a stately type who disapproves of Americans.
Run by the somewhat ineffectual Arnold Abney, Sanstead's staff includes the gloomy teacher Mr Glossop, White the smooth mannered butler, and Mrs Attwell the Matron, as well as a cook, an odd-job-man, two housemaids, a scullery-maid and a parlour-maid, before it is enhanced by the arrival of Peter Burns. The boys, who number some twenty-four in total, include Augustus Beckford, are augmented by the Nugget himself, Ogden Ford, who brings all manner of drama and bad behaviour to the school.
Sedleigh
A very minor school, which achieves some cricketCricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
ing success thanks to the arrival of Mike Jackson and Psmith
Psmith
Rupert Psmith is a recurring fictional character in several novels by British comic writer P. G...
, in Mike and Psmith
Mike (novel)
Mike is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published on 15 September 1909 by Adam & Charles Black, London. The story first appeared in the magazine The Captain, in two separate parts, collected together in the original version of the book; the first part, originally called Jackson Junior, was...
. Set in pretty countryside, the school has some two hundred boys. The houses, a row of three, lie across the cricket field from the main school; Outwood's, of which Mike and Psmith become members, is the middle one.
The school has a thriving archaeological
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
society, thanks to Outwood, and also a fire brigade, run by his colleague Downing but treated as an excuse to mess around by the boys. The drainpipes are sturdy, and there is a fire bell, in an archway near the school, which proves useful to Mike on one occasion; when it is rung, the boys get to flee the building via canvas chutes.
The Senior Conservative Club
A staid and old-fashioned gentlemen's club, The Senior Conservative is a calm and quiet place with discreet staff and excellent dining. Opposite the wide windows of the lower smoking-room is an excellent flower shop, and there is a Turkish bath not twenty-five yards from the doors, in Cumberland Street.Its numbers (increasing from three thousand, seven hundred and eighteen at the time of Psmith in the City
Psmith in the City
Psmith in the City is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published on 23 September 1910 by Adam & Charles Black, London. The story was originally released as a serial in The Captain magazine, between October 1908 and March 1909, under the title The New Fold.It continues the adventures of...
to six thousand, one hundred and eleven by the time of Leave it to Psmith
Leave it to Psmith
Leave it to Psmith is a comic novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on November 30, 1923 by Herbert Jenkins, London, and in the United States on March 14, 1924 by George H. Doran, New York. It had previously been serialised, in the Saturday Evening Post in the U.S...
) are all respectable, mostly bald men, who look like they could be politicians or important figures in the City
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
; they include Lord Emsworth
Lord Emsworth
Clarence Threepwood, 9th Earl of Emsworth, or Lord Emsworth, is a recurring fictional character in the Blandings stories by British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse. He is the amiable and somewhat absent-minded head of the large Threepwood family...
, who joined as a country member in 1888, and Psmith
Psmith
Rupert Psmith is a recurring fictional character in several novels by British comic writer P. G...
, put up for the club by his father.
Steeple Bumpleigh
Steeple Bumpleigh is a fictional location
Fictional location
Fictional locations are places that exist only in fiction and not in reality. Writers may create and describe such places to serve as backdrop for their fictional works. Fictional locations are also created for use as settings in Role-playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons...
, being a small village in rural Hampshire where Bertie Wooster
Bertie Wooster
Bertram Wilberforce "Bertie" Wooster is a recurring fictional character in the Jeeves novels of British author P. G. Wodehouse. An English gentleman, one of the "idle rich" and a member of the Drones Club, he appears alongside his valet, Jeeves, whose genius manages to extricate Bertie or one of...
's Uncle Percy Craye, Lord Worplesdon, and Aunt Agatha
Aunt Agatha
Agatha Gregson, née Wooster, later Lady Worplesdon, is a recurring fictional character in the Jeeves stories of British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being best known as Aunt Agatha, Bertie Wooster's least favourite aunt, and a counterpoint to her sister, Bertie's Aunt Dahlia...
reside at Bumpleigh Hall. It is set in fields and woods, nearby the market town of East Wibley. Lord Worplesdon is also the local Justice of the Peace.
In Joy in the Morning
Joy in the Morning (1946 novel)
Joy in the Morning is a novel by P.G. Wodehouse, first published in the United States on August 22, 1946 by Doubleday & Co., New York, and in the United Kingdom on June 2, 1947 by Herbert Jenkins, London...
(1946), Steeple Bumpleigh and Bumpleigh Hall are the main theatre of the action.
Tilbury House
The home of the Mammoth Publishing Company lies on Tilbury Lane near Fleet StreetFleet Street
Fleet Street is a street in central London, United Kingdom, named after the River Fleet, a stream that now flows underground. It was the home of the British press until the 1980s...
, a narrow lane that smells somewhat of cabbage. The Mammoth's premises spill out from the main HQ at Tilbury House to various other buildings in the street. For a time, opposite Tilbury House on the fourth floor are the offices of J. Sheringham Adair, Detective, also known as Alexander "Chimp" Twist.
Totleigh Towers
Totleigh Towers is the seat of widower Sir Watkyn BassettWatkyn Bassett
Sir Watkyn Bassett CBE is a recurring fictional character in the stories of English comic writer P. G. Wodehouse.Bassett is the father of Madeline Bassett, whose mistaken belief that Bertie Wooster wishes to marry her is the basis of a major sub-plot in several stories...
and his daughter Madeline Bassett
Madeline Bassett
Madeline Bassett is a recurring character in the Jeeves stories by English comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being one of the young women to whom Bertie Wooster periodically finds himself threateningly engaged.-Overview:...
.
Twing Hall
The home of the Wickhammersleys.Valley Fields
Valley Fields is one of London's quiet, leafy suburbs, in the SE21 postal district. The setting of much of Sam the SuddenSam the Sudden
Sam the Sudden is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 15 October 1925 by Methuen, London, and in the United States on 6 November 1925 by George H. Doran, New York, under the title Sam in the Suburbs...
, it is home to Matthew Wrenn, whose friend Mr Cornelius is the local estate agent and historian; he has many a tale to tell of the suburb, the most exciting being that of Edward "Finky" Finglass, the notorious bank robber, who lived for a time in the house later inhabited by Sam Shotter.
In Uncle Fred in the Springtime
Uncle Fred in the Springtime
Uncle Fred in the Springtime is a novel by P.G. Wodehouse, first published in the United States on August 18, 1939 by Doubleday, Doran, New York, and in the United Kingdom on August 25, 1939 by Herbert Jenkins, London....
, we learn that part of the suburb was formed from the old estate of Lord Ickenham
Uncle Fred
Frederick Altamont Cornwallis Twistleton, 5th Earl of Ickenham, commonly known as Uncle Fred, is a fictional character who appears in short stories and novels written by P. G. Wodehouse between 1935 and 1961...
's Uncle Willoughby, known as Mitching Hill, setting of the drama related in "Uncle Fred Flits By
Uncle Fred Flits By
"Uncle Fred Flits By" is a short story by P. G. Wodehouse, which first appeared in the United States in the July 1935 edition of Redbook, and in the United Kingdom in the December 1935 issue of the Strand...
". It is also home to Maudie, niece of Blandings Castle
Blandings Castle
Blandings Castle is a recurring fictional location in the stories of British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being the seat of Lord Emsworth , home to many of his family, and setting for numerous tales and adventures, written between 1915 and 1975.The series of stories which take place at the castle,...
butler Beach
Sebastian Beach
Sebastian Beach is a fictional character in the Blandings stories by P. G. Wodehouse. He is the butler at Blandings Castle, seat of Lord Emsworth and his family, where he serves for over eighteen years.- Background and character :...
.
The suburb is a setting in many non-series novels, including Ice in the Bedroom
Ice in the Bedroom
Ice in the Bedroom is a novel by P.G. Wodehouse, first published as a book in the United States on February 2, 1961 by Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York, and in the United Kingdom on October 15, 1961 by Herbert Jenkins, London.The story was originally published, in a condensed version, in the...
, which has a similar plot to that of Sam the Sudden. In the preface to the 1972 edition of Sam the Sudden, Wodehouse wrote: "It was the first thing of mine where the action took place in the delectable suburb of Valley Fields, a thin disguise for the Dulwich where so many of my happiest hours have been spent." In his youth, Wodehouse attended Dulwich College
Dulwich College
Dulwich College is an independent school for boys in Dulwich, southeast London, England. The college was founded in 1619 by Edward Alleyn, a successful Elizabethan actor, with the original purpose of educating 12 poor scholars as the foundation of "God's Gift". It currently has about 1,600 boys,...
in the London suburb of West Dulwich
Dulwich
Dulwich is an area of South London, England. The settlement is mostly in the London Borough of Southwark with parts in the London Borough of Lambeth...
.
Wrykyn
A minor public school with a strong cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
ing tradition, Wrykyn is most closely associated with Mike Jackson, hero of Mike at Wrykyn
Mike (novel)
Mike is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published on 15 September 1909 by Adam & Charles Black, London. The story first appeared in the magazine The Captain, in two separate parts, collected together in the original version of the book; the first part, originally called Jackson Junior, was...
. It also features in the earlier school novels The Gold Bat
The Gold Bat
The Gold Bat is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published on 13 September 1904 by Adam & Charles Black, London. Set at the fictional public school of Wrykyn, the novel tells of how two boys, O'Hara and Moriarty, tar and feather a statue of the local M.P. as a prank...
and The White Feather
The White Feather
The White Feather is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published on 9 October 1907 by Adam & Charles Black, London. It is set at Wrykyn school, scene of Wodehouse's earlier book The Gold Bat , and the later Mike . Like many early Wodehouse novels, the story first appeared as a serial in the boys'...
, as well as a number of early school shorts.
The school is an imposing place, especially to new boys; the grounds are in the form of a series of terraces cut from a hill, with the school at the top, training grounds on the next step and on the next the cricket field, from the pavilion of which one can see three counties. The houses are run by the likes of Wain, Donaldson and Seymour, and the school's reputation for cricket is fearsome. The public schools "Geddington" and "Ripton" are sporting rivals.
Many characters in later works are old boys, including Ukridge
Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge
Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge is a fictional character from the short stories and novels of P. G. Wodehouse.Ukridge is a schemer who will do anything to increase his funding -- except, of course, work. An alert and creative opportunist, he makes sure that no kindness shown to him, however...
, his friends Jimmy Corcoran, George Tupper, and "Looney" Coote, as well as Sam "The Sudden" Shotter and his friend Willoughby Braddock.