That rotter Steggles is at it again, betting this time against the amorous life of young Bingo Little. But with Bertie and Jeeves in his corner,  and all the charm he can muster, Bingo can hardly lose ... can he? Drat!

Although he wrote from 1916 until his death in 1975, all of P.G. Wodehouse’s fiction is set in the early post-Edwardian period between the two great wars. Best known for his Jeeves and Wooster books and his stories of Psmith which mostly concern themselves with the monied gentry, his Blandings castle books, which deal with the well-to-do and those bearing titles, and his stories of the mostly working-class Mulliners, Wodehouse eschewed including real politics in his stories, and tended to favor spoofing the social mores of the time and highlighting the buffoonery of those who had been given undue standing. What little politics there is in the stories is broadly satirical in nature. For example; a recurring character, Roderick Spode, is a would-be tyrant who leads a pseudo-fascist clique which he calls the black shorts, because the uniform company he used had run out of other colors of pant. 
​​
The Charleston by James P. Johnson Public Domain
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"Riptide" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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Still at Twing, Bertie learns of a new opportunity to bamboozle some of the ready from the old bamboozler himself, Steggles; this time over the events of the annual summer treat. Jolly good.

​A prolific author, P.G. Wodehouse is best known for having created the comedic pair of Wooster and Jeeves, a young well-to-do society gentleman traipsing about London nearly a century hence, and his insightful and capable valet. However, these were not the only Wodehouse creations eagerly anticipated by avid readers of his day. One such character was Mr. Psmith, an impeccably attired logophile in a monocle who, like Wodehouse himself, briefly worked for a bank; but who, unlike the author, then attended Cambridge to study law. He later purchases a magazine and spends some time working in the fish selling business before finally winding up as secretary to a British Lord. However, his vocation is less significant than his avocations, as the stories involve his leisure activities with his sidekick and cricketing buddy, Mike Jackson. Psmith spelled his name with a silent P to distinguish himself from the sundry other Smiths that dot the landscape, and is the go-to for his friends when they find themselves in a pickle. Another favorite character of Wodehouse's was Lord Emsworth, the man who eventually hired young Psmith as secretary, and the head of Blandings Castle, a location which makes frequent appearances in a number of Wodehouse stories. Lord Emsworth is not especially bright, eschews his duties, and prefers to spend his time sleeping, gardening, or caring for his pet pig. The various characters and fictional locations form a sort of internal shared-universe, and characters from one series will frequently make an appearance in another.

The Charleston by James P. Johnson Public Domain
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"Riptide" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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While visiting a country manner, Bertie learns of the ultimate opportunity to win a few quid by betting on the local clergy's long-windedness. Simply bracing!

​In the course of his substantial life, P.G. Wodehouse was considered the toast of Broadway, a traitor to his homeland, a genius, a fool, and a person deserving of knighthood. He had been living in the north of France at the start of the Second World War, and found himself a prisoner of the German government throughout the occupation. During this period he was compelled to make four radio broadcasts entitled, "How to be an Internee Without Previous Training," which were broadcast to an American audience in an effort by the Germans to dissuade US involvement in the war. After the conflict had ended, British reaction to these broadcasts were mixed, but most considered them ill-advised at best, to treasonous at worst. With no hope of returning to his homeland without being put on trial, he fled to the US along with his wife, where they remained for the remainder of his life. However, shortly before his death in 1975, Wodehouse was formally forgiven, and the British government bestowed upon him the honorific of Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, Knight of the British Empire.

The Charleston by James P. Johnson Public Domain
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All other music by Kevin MacLeod used under creative commons 3.0 license courtesy of Incompetech.com

"Riptide" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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Bingo and his false beard make a big show at Goodwood, but his victory is short lived to be sure. Dashed annoying.

​Besides his numerous humorous novels, P.G. Wodehouse was a lyricist, a playwright, a columnist, and a writer of screenplays. His first published book, The Pothunters, began in serialized installments in Public School Magazine while Wodehouse was also working as a regular contributor to London's The Globe Newspaper. His next successful novel was entitled Mike, and included the introduction of his Psmith character. In the time between those two successful novels, Wodehouse worked for a number of theater troupes collaborating on musical comedy stage productions. It was during this period that he met Jerome Kern, and the two collaborated on several projects, including a song called Mr. Chamberlain about British politician Joseph Chamberlain which (according to Wodehouse biographer David A. Jasen) was briefly the most popular song in London. He spent much of his early writing career bouncing between London and New York writing for such publications as The Strand and The Saturday Evening Post. He remained in New York for the duration of the First World War where his poor eyesight kept him from military conscription. Wodehouse and Kern teamed up with another playwright, Guy Bolton, and the trio had a string of successful musical plays to their credit. Soon Hollywood came calling; but even as he worked as a contract writer for MGM, he continued publishing novels. For all his success as a writer in various fields, it will forever be those novels, most notably the Jeeves novels, for which P.G. Wodehouse will be remembered.  

​The Charleston by James P. Johnson Public Domain
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Recently returned from his visit abroad, Bertie is surprised to run into his chappie, Bingo Little, inciting the masses while wearing chin spinach in the middle of the bloody park, by Jove!

Born during the height of the British colonial period, P.G. Wodehouse spent the first two years of his life the son of a magistrate in Hong Kong where he was raised along with his two older brothers by a Chinese nurse. At the age of two, he returned to England where the boys were raised by nannies as their parents returned to Hong Kong. At the age of six he began his matriculation in a series of boarding schools which would later inform his writing as he spoofed this aspect of the British education system in several of his stories. Wodehouse never really got to know his parents, as they remained in Asia as he summered and spent holidays with one or another of his sizable collection of aunts and uncles. This too, would inform his writing, most notably in the case of his character, Bertie Wooster's aunts Dahlia, Agatha, and others. He was the author of nearly 100 novels, numerous short stories, songs, plays, and articles.  

The Charleston by James P. Johnson Public Domain

​All music by Kevin MacLeod used under creative commons 3.0 license courtesy of Incompetech.com

"Riptide" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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Still in America, and still expected to keep his new charge safe from bad influences, Bertie finds the young gentleman has taken a part in a new musical comedy stage production. That should keep him out of the mix for a while, what. But then Bertie gets another note from Aunt Agatha that puts a wrench to it. Absolutely!

Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse was born in Guildford, Surrey in England on October 15, 1881. He spent the first two years of his life in Hong Kong where his father was a magistrate. At two-years of age, he and his brothers were returned to England and were placed in the care of Nannies on the maternal grandparent's estate while their parents returned to China. Until the age of 18, Wodehouse was sent away to various boarding schools and spent holidays with any of his numerous aunts or uncles, several of whom were clergy. After school, Wodehouse began to write, and within two years had published some 80 articles (some serious, some humerous) in a variety of magazines. He wrote for the theater as both a collaborator and a lyricist, but he is best known for his prolific output of comedic novels, and for creating memorable characters, such as Psmith, Mulliner, Blandings and of course, Bertram Wooster and his valet, Jeeves. He married a widow, Ethel May Wayman, in 1914, and adopted her daughter. He passed away on Valentine's Day of 1975 at the age of 93.

​​The Charleston by James P. Johnson Public Domain
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All other music by Kevin MacLeod used under creative commons 3.0 license courtesy of Incompetech.com

"Riptide" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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While visiting America for an extended stay, Bertie gets word from his Aunt Agatha that she expects him to host a visiting young gentleman that Bertie has never before so much as met. Rather bally, what!

The Inimitable Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse was first published in the United States in 1923, the same year that James P. Johnson released his recording of The Charleston, a song specifically composed to accompany the dance craze by the same name which had swept the Speakeasies of the prohibition era. This song, as well as Wodehouse’s stories, the Great Gatsby, flappers, gangsters, and talking pictures have since come to epitomize the roaring twenties. At the time of their publication, copyright law in the United States lasted for 75 years, meaning those works would have entered the public domain 22-years-ago. However, the law was changed two years before the end of the 20th century so that copyright on new works would last the length of an author’s life plus fifty years. This created a need to address all works published prior to 1998 as many of the content creators were still young and could conceivably live for thirty or forty years or more, meaning copyright on works they had generated a few years prior could potentially enter the public domain during their lifetimes. So an agreement was reached and an addendum was crafted such that works written prior to 1998 that were not already in the public domain would have an additional 21 years added to their copyright. Consequently, nothing from 1923 or after has entered the public domain for twenty years, until January 1, of this year. This means that in the US, both The Charleston and The Inimitable Jeeves are available to share, royalty-free.​
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The Charleston by James P. Johnson Public Domain
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All other music by Kevin MacLeod used under creative commons 3.0 license courtesy of Incompetech.com

"Riptide" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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Bertie has his Aunt Agatha mandated lunch with Sir Roderick. But thanks to Claude and Eustace the whole thing goes a bit rummy, what.

P.G. Wodehouse’s The Inimitable Jeeves was published in England in May of 1923, and in the United States four months later in September where it was first published with the one word title, Jeeves. In the US, Prohibition had been the law for four years at the time of Jeeves’ publication, and would remain so for another nine years. The market crash and the Great Depression were six years in the future, and the Jazz Age had just begun to flourish. Gershwin, Bessie Smith, and Creole music were all the rage. Meanwhile in England, the end of the first World War was still being celebrated. George V was sitting in Buckingham Palace. Women’s suffrage had given British women the vote in 1918, and the war had put them in the workplace, so a new sense of female empowerment had breached society as well. The motorcar was now affordable and plentiful. It was into this reality that Wodehouse released Bertie Wooster and his gentleman’s gentleman, Jeeves, and it was in this world they would remain well into the 1970s.

The Charleston by James P. Johnson Public Domain
​
All other music by Kevin MacLeod used under creative commons 3.0 license courtesy of Incompetech.com

"Riptide" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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Bertie's engagement to Honoria may have hit a snag, if Bertie could only be so lucky, what!

P.G. Wodehouse’s The Inimitable Jeeves was first published in semi-novel form in 1923 in both Britain and the US. However, the individual chapters had already been previously published as eleven separate short stories in The Strand, Cosmopolitan, and The Saturday Evening Post. Several of the stories were broken into pieces to make relatively even chapter lengths, and Wodehouse re-crafted the introductions to give the novel continuity and flow. Wodehouse had previously collected several Jeeves stories in this way in 1919 for My Man Jeeves, and would do so again in 1925 for the collection, Carry On, Jeeves. In forthcoming years, Wodehouse would craft a few more Jeeves and Wooster novels, including Right Ho, Jeeves, The Code of the Woosters, and Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves. The stories would later be adapted for the stage, for radio, and for television. 

The Charleston by James P. Johnson Public Domain
​
All other music by Kevin MacLeod used under creative commons 3.0 license courtesy of Incompetech.com

"Riptide" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
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Bertie puts forward his plan to unite Bingo and Honoria with the usual Wooster success. That is to say, not so much.

​Although he wrote from 1916 until his death in 1975, all of P.G. Wodehouse’s fiction is set in the early post-Edwardian period between the two great wars. Best known for his Jeeves and Wooster books and his stories of Psmith which mostly concern themselves with the monied gentry, his Blandings castle books, which deal with the well-to-do and those bearing titles, and his stories of the mostly working-class Mulliners, Wodehouse eschewed including real politics in his stories, and tended to favor spoofing the social mores of the time and highlighting the buffoonery of those who had been given undue standing. What little politics there is in the stories is broadly satirical in nature. For example; a recurring character, Roderick Spode, is a would-be tyrant who leads a pseudo-fascist clique which he calls the black shorts, because the uniform company he used had run out of other colors of pant. 
​​
The Charleston by James P. Johnson Public Domain
​
All other music by Kevin MacLeod used under creative commons 3.0 license courtesy of Incompetech.com

"Riptide" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/​
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