Jeeves and Wooster (Literature) - TV Tropes Jeeves and Wooster You need to login to do this. Get Known if you don't have an account Share "You will find Mr. Wooster an exceedingly pleasant and amiable young gentleman, but not intelligent. By no means intelligent. Mentally he is negligible - quite negligible." — Jeeves (from "Scoring off Jeeves") Bertie Wooster and his valet Jeeves are fictional characters, created by British author P. G. Wodehouse . They have appeared in many comedic short stories and novels published between 1915 and 1974. Wodehouse's most famous Upper-Class Twit , Bertram Wilberforce "Bertie" Wooster, is also the character who probably best embodies Wodehouse's gift for language. Bertie may be "mentally negligible", but as narrator of his own adventures he expresses himself with a loopy eloquence virtually unmatched in literature, giving this series its much-beloved Cloudcuckoolander sense of humor.

The plots tend to follow a set formula: life would be just about perfect for our single and very wealthy young man-about-London-town were it not for his inability to say no when his even goofier friends and/or imposing aunts come asking favours. Most often these are tied into typically Wodehousean love affairs, rife with comic misunderstanding and convoluted scheming, meaning that Bertie generally finds himself 'accidentally engaged' at least once or twice a book (in a couple cases, on and off over the course of several books). Of course, always the perfect gentleman (as the stern Code of the Woosters dictates), he would never correct a lady... ...Thankfully, Bertie's Servile Snarker uber-valet (not butler, though if the call comes, he can buttle with the best of them), Reginald Jeeves , is fully as capable as Bertie is ineffectual. With, apparently, the same effort most people put into buttoning their cuffs — and without so much as a flicker in his coolly correct facade — Jeeves steps in when all seems hopeless, rescues Bertie and/or his friends from their entanglements and restores the status quo .

Often several times per book... because the fact that Bertie and co. are involved means there's always a chance the best-laid plans will go awry. Arthur Treacher was well-known as the embodiment of Jeeves in a series of films in the 1930s, with David Niven taking the part of Bertie Wooster. In the Sixties, Ian Carmichael (better known for playing Lord Peter Wimsey ) as Bertie and Dennis Price as Jeeves appeared in the TV series The World of Wooster. (It is on record that Wodehouse did not care much for any of these adaptations.) There is also a BBC radio version starring Richard Briers as Bertie and Michael Hordern as Jeeves, possibly the most faithful adaptation of the books, as it preserves Bertie's first-person narration. This series included dramatizations of The Inimitable Jeeves; The Code of the Woosters; Right Ho, Jeeves; Joy in the Morning; Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves; Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit; and The Mating Season. All but the last have been released on compact disc and MP3 .

The Jeeves stories were also the basis and inspiration for an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, Jeeves, which was released in 1975 and failed so spectacularly both critically and commercially that it's still thought of as Webber's first real flop. However, in 1996 the musical was reworked, rewritten and re-released as By Jeeves, which was far more successful and got generally positive reviews. Perhaps most famously, the Jeeves stories formed the basis of the popular early '90s series Jeeves and Wooster , starring Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie , respectively.

Bibliography The Man with Two Left Feet (1917), short story collection featuring one Jeeves story out of thirteen "Extricating Young Gussie" My Man Jeeves (1919), short story collection with four Jeeves stories out of eight "Leave it to Jeeves", "Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest", "Jeeves and the Hard-boiled Egg", "The Aunt and the Sluggard" The Inimitable Jeeves (1923), short story collection "Jeeves in the Springtime", "Aunt Agatha Takes the Count", "Scoring Off Jeeves", "Sir Roderick Comes to Lunch", "Jeeves and the Chump Cyril", "Comrade Bingo", "The Great Sermon Handicap", "The Purity of the Turf", "The Metropolitan Touch", "The Delayed Exit of Claude and Eustace", "Bingo and the Little Woman" Carry On, Jeeves (1925), short story collection, includes some stories that are rewrites of stories from My Man Jeeves "Jeeves Takes Charge", "The Artistic Career of Corky", "Jee

ves and the Unbidden Guest", "Jeeves and the Hard-boiled Egg", "The Aunt and the Sluggard", "The Rummy Affair of Old Biffy", "Without the Option", "Fixing It for Freddie", "Clustering Round Young Bingo", "Bertie Changes His Mind" Very Good Jeeves (1930), short story collection "Jeeves and the Impending Doom", "The Inferiority Complex of Old Sippy", "Jeeves and the Yule-tide Spirit", "Jeeves and the Song of Songs", "Episode of the Dog McIntosh", "The Spot of Art", "Jeeves and the Kid Clementina", "The Love That Purifies", "Jeeves and the Old School Chum", "Indian Summer of an Uncle", "The Ordeal of Young Tuppy" Thank You, Jeeves (1934) The Code of the Woosters (1938) Joy in the Morning (1946) The Mating Season (1949) Ring for Jeeves (1953) — features Jeeves but not Bertie Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit (

1954) A Few Quick Ones (1959) — short story collection with one Jeeves story out of ten "Jeeves Makes an Omelette" Jeeves in the Offing (1960) Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves (1963) Plum Pie (1966) — short story collection with one Jeeves story out of nine "Jeeves and the Greasy Bird" Much Obliged, Jeeves (1971) Aunts Aren't Gentlemen (1974) The World of Jeeves (1967) — collection of all the Jeeves short stories except "Extricating Young Gussie" P.

G. Wodehouse's Jeeves stories provide examples of: Abhorrent Admirer : For Bertie, just about every unmarried woman he's ever met. The more likable female characters he meets, such as Cynthia Wickhammersly, tend to have no particular interest in him beyond basic friendship. Accidental Art : In "Leave it to Jeeves" (included in My Man Jeeves), a pal of Bertie's is having trouble. He wants to paint portraits, but can't get a commission to paint one because he hasn't painted any. He finally gets a commission to paint a portrait of his uncle and benefactor's first baby. It's so horrible that the uncle calls it a fugitive from the funny papers, and cuts the painter off. Jeeves gets the idea that the character in the portrait could be the root of a series on the funny papers entitled "The Adventures of Baby Blobb". It's a hit and the painter becomes rich.

Accidental Athlete : In "The Purity of the Turf", Jeeves explains how he came to appreciate a local servant boy's amazing speed thusly: Brawn Hilda : Cora Bellinger the opera singer in "Jeeves and the Song of Songs". Often referred to simply as "The Bellinger" as if she were some type of siege engine. Bertie: I don't know what it is, but women who have anything to do with opera ...always appear to run to surplus poundage. Hilda Gudgeon in The Mating Season Honoria Glossop passim. Bertie describes her thusly in "Scoring off Jeeves": "She had gone in for every kind of sport and developed the physique of a middleweight catch-as-catch-can wrestler." Breach of Promise of Marriage : One of Jeeves' regular tasks is getting Bertie Wooster out of engagements while avoiding such lawsuits. The TV adaptation, produced after the breach of promise doctrine was abolished, replaces these references with Jeeves simply trying to avoid offence to the parties involved or being under threat of violence rather than legal action. Break the Haughty : The central plot driver of Right Ho, Jeeves.

Besides Jeeves' "pig-headed" opposition to his fashionable new mess jacket, Bertie is completely fed up with his friends and relatives trampling over him in their rush to get his valet's advice. He forbids Jeeves from interfering again and takes everyone's problems on himself. Bertie repeatedly points out the superiority of his ideas to Jeeves' throughout the novel, but they're predictably disastrous for all who implement them. By the time he's forced to haul Jeeves in to fix things, an entire house party is locked outside on a dark night. Jeeves sends Bertie on an eighteen-mile bicycle ride for the only available key... not before smirkingly recounting an anecdote about a horrible bicycle accident. After finding out his journey has been for nothing, a sore and weary Bertie returns home to find everyone celebrating how Jeeves has solved all their troubles.

It turns out that Bertie was a cat's-paw in Jeeves' scheme to focus everyone's anger away from each other, and when Jeeves reveals that he's also "accidentally" ruined the mess jacket, Bertie has no choice but to let it all go so long as Jeeves makes him an omelet. In these novels, wherever there is haughtiness, a reckoning is close at hand. It even befalls Aunt Agatha in one of the short stories. Bucket Booby-Trap : In "The Inferiority Complex of Old Sippy", Bertie rigs up a bucket trap filled with flour in order to embarrass an antagonist of his old friend Sippy. Naturally, it winds up falling on Bertie's head. Butlerspace : Jeeves is formally a valet, rather than a butler, but Bertie frequently remarks on how he can "shimmer" into a room without ever being seen to enter. Buxom Is Better : Bertie might be a Celibate Hero , but that doesn't mean he can't appreciate the female form.

Like in Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit, when he describes the gorgeous Daphne Dolores Moorehead as having "more curves than a scenic railway". Carpe Diem : Motty (Lord Pershore), the only son of domineering mother Lady Malvern, is put up in Bertie's apartment in "Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest". Liberated from his mother for the first time ever, he goes on a series of drunken sprees, much to Bertie's horror. Challenged by Bertie, Motty says "This is the first time I've been let out alone and I mean to make the most of it. We're only young once. Why interfere with life's morning? Young man, rejoice in thy youth!" Bertie: Put like that, it did seem reasonable.

Catch-22 Dilemma : In "The Artistic Career of Corky" Wooster explains the catch for those wanting to take up portraiture: "you can't start painting portraits until people come along and ask you to, and they won't come and ask you to until you've painted a lot first." Celeb Crush : In "The Love that Purifies", Aunt Dahlia has a bet with a friend that her son Bonzo can behave better than Aunt Agatha's offspring Thomas while a mutual acquaintance is staying with Bertie; Bonzo is toeing the line so he can be worthy of movie star Lillian Gish , who he has a big crush on. Unfortunately, Thomas is behaving even better, because he has a crush on Clara Bow. See Berserk Button for how Jeeves deals with the situation. Celibate Hero : Bertie never has a serious relationship. He says that on occasion he has gotten carried away and asked a girl to marry him, but he always gets out of it. He seems to want nothing more than to live the life of a well-off bachelor.

In earlier stories, Bertie will sometimes fall into mad infatuations and propose Fourth Date Marriages with Florence Craye, Pauline Stoker, and Bobbie Wickham. In later works, Bertie seems terrified of marriage in general. In Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit, Bertie winds up climbing into Florence Craye's room at night by mistake ( It Makes Sense in Context ). Florence, in her bedclothes, demands that Bertie kiss her. He does, but then says "the whole thing seemed to me to be becoming far too French." Character Development : As noted directly above, it's subtle, but it's there; Bertie gradually realizes that he doesn't really want to get married to anybody, and stops intentionally proposing to any of the women he becomes entangled with. The Chessmaster : Jeeves constructs his stratagems upon 'the psychology of the individual.' He has been known to lose a battle occasionally, but never the war. When events are particularly fast-paced and outrageous, see Xanatos Speed Chess . Bertie's one effort at playing the role of The Chessmaster (in Right Ho, Jeeves) didn't just flop, it redefined 'catastrophic'.

Chick Magnet : Bertie. Not quite as inexplicable as it seems at first glance; he has a lot of money, he's a generally nice (not to say easily manipulated) guy, and — cover illustrations notwithstanding — is implied to be at least pleasant-looking, hence the casting of Hugh Laurie. The downside is that he tends to attract the domineering sort of girl that Aunt Agatha would approve of. Children Are Innocent : Subverted at every opportunity — if a child appears in a Wodehouse story, nine times out of ten he (it's usually a he) will be an obnoxious grubby little pest . Exemplified by Edwin Craye, the eager Boy Scout from Joy in the Morning; at one point his attempt to "catch up" on his daily good deeds results in a house burning to the ground (without him in it, unfortunately enough from Bertie's point of view). Later, Bertie's scheme to break up with Edwin's sister by kicking the kid in the backside backfires when it turns out she and her father have also been victims of these 'good deeds', and are profoundly grateful to Bertie.

Christmas Episode : "Jeeves and the Yule-Tide Spirit", in which Bertie is invited to spend the holiday at the Wickham residence. He decides to play a trick on fellow guest Tuppy Glossop, but as usual with his schemes, it goes horribly wrong. Cloudcuckoolander : Several, but most notably Madeleine Bassett. She thinks the stars are God's daisy chain. The Comically Serious : Bertie is sometimes annoyed by the fact that nothing can faze Jeeves, who reacts to the craziest situations with nothing more than a slight raise of an eyebrow. I doubt if he would do much more than raise an eyebrow if, when entering his pantry, he found one of those peculiar fauna from the Book of Revelations in the sink. (Aunts Aren't Gentlemen) Comic-Book Time : Bertie doesn't age over nearly sixty years of stories. It helps that there are little to no references to current events in the Jeeves and Wooster catalog, but the pop culture references that are sprinkled throughout do indicate that quite a bit of time is passing. Yet Bertie remains a young English gentleman throughout.

In early short story "The Love that Purifies", Lillian Gish and Clara Bow are mentioned as screen idols. In the last novel, Aunts Aren't Gentlemen, Bertie sees an anti-war rally, and there are jokes about Billy Graham. Compromising Memoirs : Sir Watkin writes his Memoirs and several parties take offense at the depiction of the now respectable pillars of society as the kind of roaring youths that would not have gone out of place in the Drones Club. Oddly enough, this does not include most of the people so depicted, who seem to like the idea that the youth may realise that they too were young once. Continuity Nod : There are many references sprinkled throughout the canon to other stories. In "Leave it to Jeeves" Bertie has a rueful memory of "the matter of Gussie and the vaudeville girl" (the first Jeeves story, "Extricating Young Gussie"). In "Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest" he remembers that incident again. In Joy in the Morning, Bertie remembers having to sneak out and ring the fire bell at Aunt Dahlia's place—the plot of Right Ho, Jeeves.

The same silver cow creamer is a crucial plot point in both The Code of the Woosters and How Right You Are, Jeeves. Cool Old Lady : Bertie Wooster's Aunt Dahlia Travers, whom he pointedly refers to as "my good aunt," although she has a scary side. Cut His Heart Out with a Spoon : Bertie is often the recipient of threats of this kind. One such example can be seen here Dark Secret : Jeeves reveals wannabe Fascist leader Roderick Spode's terrible secret to Bertie: Spode also owns a popular ladies' lingerie boutique. Even Bertie quickly catches on to the possibilities for blackmail. Bertie: You can't be a successful Dictator and design womens' underclothing. One or the other. Not both. The Ditz : Bertie Wooster, as he himself cheerfully admits in short story "Leave it to Jeeves".

"I'm a bit short on brain myself." Though unlike some of his friends , he doesn't quite achieve full status as The Fool ; Jeeves himself comments in Thank You, Jeeves that Bertie "is capable of acting very shrewdly on occasion." Dreadful Musician : If any character in these books demonstrates enthusiasm for a musical instrument, odds are they're terrible at it. ...I cannot say whether La Pulbrook's violin solo was or was not a credit to the accomplices who taught her the use of the instrument. It was loud in spots and less loud in other spots, and had the strange quality that I've noticed in all violin solos of seeming to go on much longer than it actually did. The one exception is Bertie himself, whom Jeeves himself considers to have a pleasant baritone. This is played up in the Laurie/Fry TV series, where it's combined with The Cast Showoff . But when Bertie takes up the banjolele in Thank You, Jeeves, he fits the trope once again.

Early Installment Weirdness : In "Extricating Young Gussie", the first Jeeves and Wooster short story, Bertie's personality and his relationship with Aunt Agatha are all in place, but their family name appears to be "Mannering-Phipps" instead of "Wooster" (although this is changed in later prints). More noticeably, Jeeves appears for all intents and purposes to be an ordinary valet, and when Bertie gets in trouble and needs help, he has no idea who to ask. The surname "Wooster" and the personality of Jeeves as we know him today don't appear until the second story, aptly titled "Leave It to Jeeves". Election Day Episode : Much Obliged, Jeeves involves Ginger Winship, one of Bertie's old chums, campaigning to become a Member of Parliament. Aunt Dahlia is supporting him and wants Bertie to work for him as well. Enter Stage Window : In Joy in the Morning Bertie climbs though Boko's window, rather than entering through the door, because...well, he just does.

Embarrassing First Name : Many members of the Drones Club go by nicknames, often for excellent reasons; in Thank You, Jeeves, "Chuffy" Chuffnell has gone his whole life concealing that his first name is Marmaduke. Presumably the only reason young Mr. Glossop lets his friends call him "Tuppy" is because it's preferable to Hildebrand. Mr. Trotter avoids knighthood for fear of having his first name exposed to public view (it's Lemuel). Rumour has it that his author, Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, avoided knighthood for the same reason. To an extent, Jeeves' first name. It's not so much that 'Reginald' is a particularly embarrassing name or even ill-suited to Jeeves' personality. It's more that he has a first name at all. (Jeeves' first name is not mentioned until the next-to-last novel, Much Obliged, Jeeves.) Embarrassing Middle Name : Bertie's middle name is Wilberforce, his Uncle Tom's is Portarlington, and Mr. Trotter's is Gengulphus.

Bertie: There's some raw work pulled at the [baptismal] font from time to time, is there not? Embarrassing Nickname : In-universe, Aunt Dahlia is not fond of how Bertie refers to her husband Thomas: Dahlia: I do wish you would call him something other than " Uncle Tom ". Evil Matriarch : Aunt Agatha. Sometimes other evil aunts show up as well, particularly in the earlier stories. Extreme Doormat : Bertie lets himself be talked into just about anything, and usually on the flimsiest of pretexts. In "Bingo and the Little Woman" he admits that he could probably join a monastery and get browbeaten into doing something by a silent monk, purely through mime. Fatal Attractor : Bertie's pal Bingo Little is always falling in love with girls of low social station. Jeeves' scheme to warm up Bingo's uncle to the idea and securing Bingo's allowance through the use of romance novels all focusing on this trope works a little too well , with the uncle marrying his cook and Unable to Support a Wife and keep giving Bingo the same allowance.

Likewise, Bertie's Uncle George, Lord Yaxley, has a similiar habit; in one story, he falls in love with a waitress. When Jeeves is recruited by Aunt Agatha to break this up, the plan is to reunite George with the barmaid he fell in love with in his youth. They are quickly married before Agatha can stop them. Fauxlosophic Narration : Purposely invoked for comedic effect. Fiery Redhead : Bobbie Wickham. From "Jeeves and the Yule-Tide Spirit", in which Bobbie eventually sets up Bertie and Tuppy Glossop to play pranks on each other: Jeeves: Miss Wickham lacks seriousness. She is volatile and frivolous. I would always hesitate to recommend as a life partner a young lady with quite such a vivid shade of red hair. Finishing Each Other's Sentences : Courtesy of Jeeves, the walking encyclopedia. Lots of characters defer to Jeeves before finishing their thoughts, and he always has ready the exact idiom they were searching for. Fire-Forged Friends : In the course of Thank You, Jeeves, one occurs between Bertie and Sir Roderick Glossop.

Their sudden matiness can be quite astounding to those who miss the relevant chapter of the Wooster memoirs! Forgetful Jones : "Biffy" Biffen, who has found the girl of his dreams, but can't remember her last name! He could inquire at the hotel, but he can't remember where she's staying. Or where he's staying. It had a big door, and a sort of roof... French Cuisine Is Haughty : Aunt Dahlia's French chef Anatole tends to be very temperamental and prone to threatening to quit whenever he feels like his work is not being appreciated. I Have This Friend... : The source of several of Bertie's engagements (notably his on/off saga with Madeline Bassett). Bertie often says this when trying to play The Matchmaker , but the women he's trying to impress on behalf of his friends inevitably assume he's talking about himself. Played with in "Jeeves in the Springtime": when Jeeves is asked where he can acquire a series of romance novels with which Bingo Little can soften his uncle, he replies, "I have an aunt, sir, who has an almost complete set of Rosie M.

Banks." There may or may not be such an aunt; certainly Jeeves later shows a great degree of familiarity with their contents. Imagined Innuendo : Bertie Wooster mistakenly creates the impression that he is proposing to/hitting on/in love with various women on a regular basis (when usually he is, in fact, trying to set her up with a friend). Most of the time they aren't particularly interested in Bertie, but end up accepting his "proposal" anyway, for one reason or another - often to provoke the friend's jealousy. Impossibly Delicious Food : People are constantly resorting to bribery, blackmail and outright theft in order to acquire or retain Anatole's services. Intoxication Ensues : In Right Ho, Jeeves, Gussie Fink-Nottle (a teetotaler and all-around spineless goof) gets roped into giving a speech for the award ceremonies at a local grammar school. To "stiffen his fibers", he drinks a great deal of whiskey, and then a jug-full of orange juice which both Bertie and Jeeves have independently spiked with alcohol. Cue one of the funniest scenes ever put to the page .

It's Pronounced Tro-PAY : Bertie's last name is pronounced like "Wuh-ster" rather than "Woo-Ster." For that matter, P.G. Wodehouse's name is promounced "Wood-House" rather than "Wode-House." Also the case with minor character Cyril "Barmy" Fotheringay-Phipps, whose surname is pronounced 'funghy-phipps'. I Want My Beloved to Be Happy : Madeline Bassett and Florence Craye believe that this is the reason Bertie lets them go. With the distinctly awkward result that they're so impressed by his noble nature they keep taking him back whenever their current fiance displeases them. On the other hand, this is the attitude Roderick Spode genuinely has towards Madeline; they eventually do get married, much to Bertie's relief. Lemony Narrator : Bertie pretty much embodies this concept. Wodehouse's talkative, burbling narration style may well have influenced other British writers, particularly those who went on record as impressed by his work.

I never know, when I'm telling a story, whether to cut the thing down to plain facts or whether to drool on and shove in a lot of atmosphere and all that. I mean, many a cove would no doubt edge into the final spasm of this narrative with a long description of [the big horse race], featuring the blue sky, the rolling prospect, the joyous crowds of pickpockets, and the parties of the second part who were having the pockets picked, and - in a word, what not. But better give it a miss, I think. Liquid Courage : Wodehouse is fond of this trope, and a particularly notable example appears in Right Ho, Jeeves (see Intoxication Ensues ). Love Freak : Madeline Bassett, who — among other things — considers stars to be God's daisy chain. At one point, convinced he's been pining for a glance at her, she compares a thoroughly befuddled Bertie to a cavalier who traveled across seas to kiss his beloved's hand and then expired. Love Informant : Bertie Wooster repeatedly fills this role.

In Right Ho, Jeeves, he attempts to tell Madeleine Bassett that Gussie Fink-Nottle is in love with her. Unfortunately, he phrases it so vaguely that Madeleine ends up convinced that Bertie is in love with her instead. Bertie also serves in this capacity for Bingo Little, with varying results. MacGuffin : The most famous is the seventeenth-century English (not Modern Dutch!) silver cow-creamer, the attempted theft of which starts off an entire multi-book uproar in Bertie's love life. The French chef Anatole often serves as a Living MacGuffin . Noodle Incident : In-canon, during The Code of the Woosters. Specifically, "Eulalie." It's revealed at the end of the book. Inverted when Bertie takes every opportunity he can to tell you what happened that night with Tuppy Glossop and the swimming baths. Not Good with People : Gussie Fink-Nottle finds newts easy, people difficult. Especially women. Offscreen Moment of Awesome : At the end of The Mating Season, Esmond Haddock's defiance of his five aunts inspires Bertie to confront his Aunt Agatha.

Sadly, the book ends with his decision to do so. Offscreen Teleportation : Bertie observes in "Leave it to Jeeves" and in other stories that Jeeves is rarely observed to enter or leave a room; he simply appears. In other stories Bertie describes how Jeeves "shimmers" from place to place. Once per Episode : Especially in the early stories, Jeeves zeroes in on a particularly tasteless item Bertie has dared to acquire without his advice — be it a cummerbund, checkered suit, various hats, purple socks, or a hideous mustache — and conspires to destroy it utterly. Meanwhile Bertie is equally resolved to put Jeeves in his place by brazenly wearing same.

Most stories will end with Bertie admitting defeat as a reward for Jeeves' latest bit of brilliance, only to be told that the offending item has already been destroyed or given away.note In "Jeeves and the Hard-Boiled Egg", generally known as The One Where Bertie Has A Moustache, Jeeves devises a plan which saves the fortunes of a friend of Bertie's, and Bertie — whose moustache has been paining Jeeves throughout — explicitly rewards Jeeves with the order to shave the moustache off. Jeeves is profoundly moved. Operation: Jealousy : Bertie attempts this on more than one occasion, usually with disastrous results. Also a common-enough reason for why women - particularly Angela - announce their plans for marrying Bertie, Gussie, or some other third party. Opposites Attract : To Bertie's constant annoyance, high-powered and brainy women seem to find him, or at least the prospect of whipping him into intellectual shape, romantically irresistible. Jeeves: Possibly it may be Nature's provision for maintaining the balance of the species, sir.

Origins Episode : "Jeeves Takes Charge", later collected in Carry On, Jeeves, tells the story of how Jeeves came to work for Bertie. Outlaw Couple : In "Aunt Agatha Takes the Count", Aunt Agatha meets a nice-looking young lady and her pleasant brother and decides that Bertie will marry the lady. The supposed brother and sister turn out to be an Outlaw Couple of thieves and con artists. Jeeves saves the day, and Bertie savors a triumph over Aunt Agatha. Produce Pelting : Happens to Tuppy Glossop in "Jeeves and the Song of Songs" when he is the fourth person in a row to sing "Sonny Boy" at a charity concert. Inverted in "The Metropolitan Touch". Bertie's dimwitted buddy Bingo is putting on a children's play in a small rural town. It involves a musical number in which the kids sing about oranges and throw oranges into the crowd. Unfortunately for Bingo a prankster replaces the foam prop oranges with real oranges, and the kids in the show go to town, pelting the crowd with produce.

Ransacked Room : In The Code of the Woosters, Stiffy Byng has hidden a notebook (long story) in order to blackmail Bertie into going along with her schemes. Bertie insists to Jeeves that they should search her room before capitulating, because Bertie has read a detective novel which claims that the top of the wardrobe is "every woman's favourite hiding-place". Unfortunately in this case it isn't, and indeed they don't get much further in the ransacking before Stiffy's bad-tempered terrier discovers them. Realistic Diction Is Unrealistic : Makes adapting Wodehouse's work to TV or film no easy task. "The Reason You Suck" Speech : In The Code of the Woosters, Bertie delivers one to Spode regarding how laughable his posturing as a fascist dictator wannabee really is. Retcon : A few minor instances, in which plot elements such as "Bertie grows a mustache and Jeeves does not approve" or "Bertie impersonates a friend while the friend impersonates Bertie", that appeared in the short stories, were later reworked into the plots of the novels without anybody noting the strange repetition of events.

This may instead qualify as an Alternate Continuity . Rugby Is Slaughter : Tuppy Glossop finds this in the aptly-named "Ordeal of Young Tuppy" in Very Good, Jeeves. Of course, he's playing a weird local game in which The Points Mean Nothing and it's all about Small Town Rivalry . Bertie: I'm a bit foggy on the rules of this pastime. Are you allowed to bite [the other team]? Tuppy (brightening at the idea): I'll try it, and see what happens. Running Gag : Bertie evidently has two achievements to show for his entire life: a prize for Scripture Knowledge that he won when he was in school, and an article he wrote for Aunt Dahlia's magazine called "What the Well-Dressed Man Is Wearing". He mentions these two things over and over again. Sacred Hospitality : In "The Ordeal of Young Tuppy", Tuppy explains he is motivated by this — really — when he wants to give an Irish water spaniel to the daughter of the house.

Separated by a Common Language : In Right Ho, Jeeves, Bertie observes that Aunt Dahlia's French chef Anatole had been in service with an American family for several years before coming to work for her. Bertie pronounces Anatole's English as "fluent, but a bit mixed." In the next paragraph, Anatole mixes up American slang ("Hot dog!", "hit the hay", "mad as a wet hen") with British ("jolly well", "blighters"). Serial Romeo : Bingo Little. He eventually settles down after getting married, although even then he constantly needs help. Series Continuity Error : Besides the inconsistencies listed in Early Installment Weirdness above, Bertie mentions in the short story "Bertie Changes His Mind" that he has a sister with three daughters. In Thank You, Jeeves he says he has no sisters. Serious Business : Although Jeeves likes working for Bertie, he hates Bertie's tendency to be seduced by the latest trends in style and fashion. Bertie is constantly buying colorful bits of clothing or art, which causes the disgusted Jeeves to treat him coolly until Bertie finally relents and allows him to destroy it as a reward for services rendered.

Stealth Insult : Jeeves again. Supreme Chef : Anatole, legendary cook to Bertie's Aunt Dahlia. All Dahlia has to do to bend Bertie to her will — up to and including stealing the aforementioned cow-creamer for her husband — is threaten him with banishment from her table. Take That : Wodehouse didn't like the film adaptation starring David Niven , which flipped Bertie around into a lady's man. In one story, Bertie grows a mustache and tries to use David Niven as justification. Jeeves tells him in no uncertain terms that Bertie is not David Niven. Rodrick Spode is a parody of the real-life British fascist Oswald Mosely. "You would not enjoy Nietzsche, sir. He is fundamentally unsound." Talks Like a Simile : A staple, although Bertie can be counted on to forget at least half of the example on his way to the point. And presently the eyes closed, the muscles relaxed, the breathing became soft and regular, and sleep which does something which has slipped my mind to the something sleeve of care poured over me in a healing wave.

Title Drop : Thank You, Jeeves, Right Ho, Jeeves, The Code Of The Woosters, Joy In The Morning. Thunder Equals Downpour : "There was a roll of thunder and the rain started to come down in buckets." (from "Jeeves and the Impending Doom") Unable to Support a Wife : In Aunts Aren't Gentlemen, Orlo faces this problem. He is actually heir to a trust fund which would be more than enough for him and his beloved Vanessa Cook, but his father disapproves of his left-wing politics and won't release the money, thus leaving him unable to marry Vanessa. Unnecessary Roughness : In "The Ordeal of Young Tuppy", Tuppy gets involved in the yearly rugby grudge-match between two rival villages; the event quickly proves to be an excuse for the participants to beat on each other. Unusual Euphemism : One rather amusing example is Sir Roderick Glossop's identification as a "nerve specialist," which it's noted is just an elevated term for a "loony doctor." Most of Bertie Wooster's conversation can be viewed as an extended roller-coaster ride through this trope.

Unusually Uninteresting Sight : In an early chapter of Jeeves In The Morning, a house burns down. This is barely mentioned throughout the rest of the novel, not even by the owner. Lord Worplesdon (to Bertie): "I should have known that the first thing you would do, before so much as unpacking, would be to burn the place to the ground!" Upper-Class Twit : Yes — oh, yes. Many of Bertie's friends make him look like Jeeves by comparison. Verbal Tic : Bertie's habit of reducing his words to initials. Hence comments like "took the w. right out of my s." See Sophisticated as Hell above for another example. Wacky Americans Have Wacky Names : When told in Much Obliged, Jeeves that the name of Ginger's new secretary is Magnolia Glendennon, Bertie says "It can't be." Hypocritical Humor , of course, considering all of the ridiculous names of Bertie's friends. "Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright", anyone? Walking Disaster Area : Bertie.

Lampshaded in Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves, after he breaks Sir Watkyn's father's grandfather clock . Bassett: "[My father] never parted from the clock. It accompanied him in perfect safety from Rome to Vienna, from Vienna to Paris, from Paris to Washington, from Washington to Lisbon. One would have said it was indestructible. But it had still to pass the supreme test of encountering Mr. Wooster, and that was too much for it." Jeeves and Wooster (novel) - All The Tropes Jeeves and Wooster (novel) All Subpages Create New Bertie Wooster and his valet Jeeves are fictional characters, created by British author PG Wodehouse . They have appeared in many comedic short stories and novels published between 1915 and 1974. Wodehouse's most famous Upper Class Twit , Bertram Wilberforce "Bertie" Wooster, is also the character who probably best embodies Wodehouse's gift for language.

Bertie may be "mentally negligible", but as narrator of his own adventures he expresses himself with a loopy eloquence virtually unmatched in literature, giving this series its much-beloved Cloudcuckoolander sense of humor. The plots tend to follow a set formula: life would be just about perfect for our single and very wealthy young man-about-London-town were it not for his inability to say no when his even goofier friends and/or imposing aunts come asking favours. Most often these are tied into typically Wodehousean love affairs, rife with comic misunderstanding and convoluted scheming, meaning that Bertie generally finds himself 'accidentally engaged' at least once or twice a book (in a couple cases, on and off over the course of several books). Of course, always the perfect gentleman (as the stern Code of the Woosters dictates), he would never correct a lady... ...Thankfully, Bertie's Servile Snarker uber-valet (not butler [1] ), Reginald Jeeves , is fully as capable as Bertie is ineffectual.

With, apparently, the same effort most people put into buttoning their cuffs -- and without so much as a flicker in his coolly correct facade -- Jeeves steps in when all seems hopeless, rescues Bertie and/or his friends from their entanglements and restores the status quo . Often several times per book... because the fact that Bertie and co. are involved means there's always a chance the best-laid plans will go awry. Arthur Treacher was well-known as the embodiment of Jeeves in a series of films in the 1930s, with David Niven taking the part of Bertie Wooster. In the Sixties, Ian Carmichael (better known for playing Lord Peter Wimsey ) as Bertie and Dennis Price as Jeeves appeared in the TV series The World of Wooster. (It is on record that Wodehouse did not care much for any of these adaptations.) The Jeeves stories were also the basis and inspiration for an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, Jeeves, which was released in 1975 and failed so spectacularly both critically and commercially that it's still thought of as Webber's only real flop.

However, in 1996 the musical was reworked, rewritten and re-released as By Jeeves, which was far more successful and got generally positive reviews. Perhaps most famously, the Jeeves stories formed the basis of the popular early '90s series Jeeves and Wooster , starring Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie , respectively. In 2008, a josei manga adaptation of the Jeeves novels, called Please, Jeeves and drawn by Bun Katsuta, began serialization in Hana to Yume's Melody. Tropes used in Jeeves and Wooster (novel) include: Accidental Art : In one of the stories, a pal of Bertie's is having trouble. He want's to paint portraits, but can't get a commission to paint one because he hasn't painted any. He finally gets a commission to paint a portrait of his uncle and benefactor's first baby. It's so horrible that the uncle calls it a fugitive from the funny papers, and cuts the painter off. Jeeves gets the idea that the character in the portrait could be the root of a series on the funny papers entitled, "The Adventures of Baby Blobb".

It's a hit and the painter becomes rich. Accidental Athlete : In The Inimitable Jeeves, a boy is found to be a remarkable runner after he insults someone and has to run from a beating. Accidental Marriage : The Jeeves books are made of Accidental Engagements. Add to that the fact that it takes Bertie a long time to finally realize he's happier as a bachelor.. Altum Videtur : Bertie sometimes quotes Latin tags, usually of the schoolboy variety, quite unnecessarily. Jeeves's are usually more apposite. Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking : In Right Ho, Jeeves, Bertie mentions a girl who criticized his "manners, morals, intellect, general physique, and method of eating asparagus". Batman Gambit : Many of Jeeves's plans are actually this. He often relies entirely on his victim's reactions -- but he's never wrong. Big Ol' Eyebrows : Roderick Glossop is equipped with a pair of these.

Unusual Euphemism : One rather amusing example is Sir Roderick Glossop's identification as a "nerve specialist," which it's noted is just an elevated term for a "loony doctor." Most of Bertie Wooster's conversation can be viewed as an extended roller-coaster ride through this trope. In the introduction to The Code of the Woosters, Alexander Cockburn mercilessly mocks "naso-labial curvature" as used by one analyst of the books. It describes a smile. Unusually Uninteresting Sight : In an early chapter of Jeeves In The Morning, a house burns down. This is barely mentioned throughout the rest of the novel, not even by the owner. Upper Class Twit : Yes -- oh, yes. Many of Bertie's friends make him look like Jeeves by comparison. P. G. Wodehouse - Biography and Works. Search Texts, Read Online. Discuss. P. G. Wodehouse Biography of P. G. Wodehouse Sir P. G.

Wodehouse (1881-1975), English playwright and author created the fictional characters Bertie Wooster and Reginald Jeeves, starring in such works as The Inimitable Jeeves (1923), Carry On Jeeves (1925), Right Ho Jeeves (1934), Thank You, Jeeves (1934), Ring For Jeeves (1953), How Right You Are Jeeves (1960), and My Man Jeeves (1919); Jeeves--my man, you know--is really a most extraordinary chap. So capable. Honestly, I shouldn't know what to do without him. On broader lines he's like those chappies who sit peering sadly over the marble battlements at the Pennsylvania Station in the place marked "Inquiries." You know the Johnnies I mean. You go up to them and say: "When's the next train for Melonsquashville, Tennessee?" and they reply, without stopping to think, "Two-forty-three, track ten, change at San Francisco." And they're right every time.

Well, Jeeves gives you just the same impression of omniscience.--Ch. 1 Wooster is the amiable and naive man-of-leisure, while Jeeves as quintessential British gentleman, older and wiser, is friend and valet to him. Their tales usually involve Wooster getting into some sort of "scrape" with a woman, an Aunt, or the Law. Jeeves always comes to the rescue in his inimitably modest, no-nonsense style. "He moves from point to point with as little uproar as a jelly fish." (Ch. 3, My Man Jeeves). The duo became popular literary icons, embodying the dry acerbic wit and humour of the English, "Jeeves lugged my purple socks out of the drawer as if he were a vegetarian fishing a caterpillar out of his salad." (The Inimitable Jeeves) and have gone on to inspire numerous adaptations for television, stage, and the screen. Their first appearance was in Wodehouse's short story "Extricating Young Gussie" printed in 1915 in The Saturday Evening Post.

Many of Wodehouse's stories were first published in such magazines as Punch, Cosmopolitan, Collier's, The New Yorker, The Strand, and Vanity Fair before being published as collections. Other popular characters of Wodehouse's are Wooster's Aunt Dahlia "My Aunt Dahlia has a carrying voice... If all other sources of income failed, she could make a good living calling the cattle home across the Sands of Dee". (Very Good, Jeeves (1930), his domineering Aunt Agatha "the curse of the Home Counties and a menace to one and all." (Right Ho, Jeeves), dandy Rupert Psmith, and the absent-minded Lord Emsworth of Wodehouse's "Blandings Castle" series. While Wodehouse is a master of parody and prose, he also worked as theatre critic, and collaborated on a number of musical comedies and their lyrics including Cole Porter's Anything Goes (1934).

Pelham "Plum" Grenville Wodehouse was born on 15 October 1881 in Guildford, Surrey, England, the third of four sons born to Eleanor and Henry Ernest Wodehouse (1845-1929), who at the time of his birth was working as a judge in Hong Kong. After living there with his parents for a time, young Plum was back in England to attend boarding school. In 1894 he entered Dulwich College, graduating in 1900. For the next two years he was employed with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank in London, but soon realised he had little interest in the banking world and started to write. He would now spend much time between England the United States. While in New York, he obtained his first position as journalist. His first novel The Pothunters was published in 1902.

It was followed by A Prefect's Uncle (1903), Love Among the Chickens (1906), The Swoop (1909), Psmith In The City (1910), Psmith, Journalist (1915), and The Prince and Betty (1914). While writing for various magazines, he also started to collaborate on musicals. Also while in New York, in 1914 Wodehouse married Ethel nï¿½e Newton; the couple had no children of their own but Ethel had a daughter, Leonora. In 1930 Wodehouse began his first stint as screenwriter with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in Hollywood, of which he is said to have joked about how much he got paid for doing so little. A few years later the Wodehouses settled in Le Touquet, France. During World War II they were interned by the Germans for just under a year; Wodehouse later spoke of his experience in radio broadcasts from Berlin to his fans in America.

This caused a furore at the British Broadcasting Corporation, his books to be removed from shelves, and many false accusations to be landed against him including treason and collaborating with the Nazis. George Orwell wrote "In Defence of P. G. Wodehouse" (1946); "In the desperate circumstances of the time, it was excusable to be angry at what Wodehouse did, but to go on denouncing him three or four years later--and more, to let an impression remain that he acted with conscious treachery--is not excusable." Back in America and away from the controversy, Wodehouse continued to write and collaborate on plays. He and Ethel settled in Remsenburg, Long Island, New York State. In 1955 he became a US citizen and continued his prodigious output of stories and novels including Meet Mr.

Milliner (1927), Doctor Sally (1932), Quick Service (1940), The Old Reliable (1951), Uneasy Money (1917), A Damsel In Distress (1919), Jill The Reckless (1920), The Adventures of Sally (1923), A Pelican at Blandings (1969), The Girl In Blue (1971), and his last novel Aunts Aren't Gentlemen (1974). Wodehouse's posthumous autobiographical publication Performing Flea: a self-portrait in letters (1953) is titled after Irish playwright Sean O'Casey's reference to Wodehouse as "English literature's performing flea"; the series of letters contained in it were revised in 1962 and re-titled Author! Author! After years of being blocked by the British Foreign Office for his war time radio broadcasts and ensuing controversy, and mere weeks before his death, in 1975 Wodehouse was Knighted Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II. P. G.

Wodehouse died on 14 February 1975. Ethel died in 1984 and now rests with him in the Remsenberg Cemetery in New York State, USA. "Precisely, sir," said Jeeves. "If I might make the suggestion, sir, I should not continue to wear your present tie. The green shade gives you a slightly bilious air. I should strongly advocate the blue with the red domino pattern instead, sir." "All right, Jeeves." I said humbly. "You know!"--"The Aunt and the Sluggard", My Man Jeeves Biography written by C. D. Merriman for Jalic Inc. Copyright Jalic Inc. 2008. All Rights Reserved. The above biography is copyrighted. Do not republish it without permission. Forum Discussions on P. G. Wodehouse Recent Forum Posts on P. G. Wodehouse Yet Another Period Drama Blog: Jeeves and Wooster (The Complete Series) Review Tuesday, June 11, 2013 Jeeves and Wooster (The Complete Series) Review What ho, followers all!

It's time today to tackle my very first review of a television show, and I shall attempt to do my best, but I must say that I simply can't concentrate until Anne-girl takes off that ridiculous hat. Ladies do not wear straw hats in the metropolis, madam. Where on earth did she get it? I can only assume that it got into her wardrobe by mistake... or else had been placed there by her enemies. Ah, yes, thank you for complying, Anne-girl. Spiffing. Very well, we can now proceed. Now I must warn you that I am quite fond of this television series, quite fond indeed (in fact it is my favorite) and though I would like to do justice to it through writing a simply brilliant review, I'm afraid that the sheer brilliancy of the series itself tends to make me feel as though I had all the intelligence of a backwards clam and ought to just give up and join the Drones club. At least there I'd be appreciated--might even be considered a dangerous intellect. But anyway. Here goes nothing. "What? Certainly, Jeeves. What, a bit vivid do you think?" "Not necessarily, sir. I am told that Mr.

Freddy He’s-a-Riot Flowerdew often appears on the music-hall stage in comparable attire, but…" "No, no, no. No, no, no. No buts, Jeeves. I happen to think very highly of them." Jeeves and Wooster is possibly the most hilarious television program ever to grace my portable DVD player. The fact that I watch about four television programs with any kind of regularity does not lessen the distinction because J&W (as it shall hereinafter be abbreviated) is just plain hilarious. Everybody says that Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie are comedic genius. The reason for this widely held opinion is that it is the truth. Hugh Laurie (first known to me as the ever-hilarious, the one and only Mr. Palmer in S&S95) absolutely IS Bertie Wooster. The first Jeeves book I ever read was... mmm... Thank You, Jeeves, and having seen a few photos of Bertie from the show beforehand, I was able to easily picture him in my mind. Exceedingly helpful when one is reading a book before seeing a movie or show, you know.

It's horrid when you get one idea of a character firmly fixated in your head while reading the book and then have to get jolted into something completely different when you see the movie. (The people in my head are generally better.) I knew I liked Bertie from the moment his hilarious narrative commentary began on the first page of Thank You, Jeeves. I mean, what's not to like? The man has an impeccable sense of the ridiculous (even if he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer at all times), a delightful lack of taste when it comes to clothes, the ability to see the bright side in most situations, an unswerving loyalty to his friends, an old-fashioned code of honor (er, code of the Woosters) refreshing to see in the dissipated 1920's (and in the even-worse 2010's, I might add) and a profoundly humorous way of expressing himself. (See above.) And Hugh Laurie captures every bit of Bertie's personality to a T.The only thing I can't understand is why anyone so uniformly charming could acquire so many enemies as Bertie seems to have done. Take Aunt Agatha Gregson, for instance.

She's basically the dragon of the show. First she's played by Mary Wimbush and then she's played by Elizabeth Spriggs, and I hope that doesn't confuse you because she's not the only character in the show to get replaced. Though I love Elizabeth Spriggs' portrayal in the last season, Mary Wimbush is my favorite Aunt Agatha. She has the full-blown ship's-foghorn voice that I always imagined Aunt Agatha had, she has the third-best facial expressions on the show (after Jeeves and Bertie, of course-- oh, no, wait, I forgot Madeline Bassett in her third incarnation so never mind) and she has some pretty amazing quotes. "Don't talk drivel, Bertie." Aunt Agatha is completely convinced that her idle, rich nephew can't do anything right, and the fact that she's ninety-five percent correct somehow doesn't stop everyone from hating her. In a good way, of course. Because she's funny. Elizabeth Spriggs does a fabulous job of portraying Aunt Agatha, too, and I can't help remembering Sense and Sensibility when I see her scenes with Hugh Laurie. "Oh, Mr.

Palmer is so droll!" Only of course on J&W she doesn't think he's droll at all. "Drooling" would be a better adjective. Like I said, several characters get replaced over the duration of the show, and if I had one complaint about J&W it would be about that. It's rather annoying to find that a recurring character (albeit minor) suddenly has a new face, new voice, practically a new personality (Pauline Stoker, I'm looking at you) or that one of your favorite characters has changed just enough to spark debate between you and your sister as to whether it's a new actor or not (it was. Gussie Fink-Nottle, what is up with that???). And as for Madeline Bassett... girl, you were portrayed by no less than THREE different actresses in a four-year period, and the first actress to play you went on to be a character who is your POLAR OPPOSITE (hi, Lady Florence!) in the latter seasons. What. Is. Going. On. Here. Let's take this one step at a time. We'll begin with Gussie Fink-Nottle.

I have a bit of a soft spot for Gussie-- he's a lovable eccentric, but not at all like King Louis XVI. (Um, sorry. Inside joke for Horrible Histories fans.) He likes newts, first and foremost, and... well... I'm not saying I'm agreeing. I'm just saying he has a point. Poor Gussie is constantly getting himself into some sort of fix--whether it be romantical, involving his off-and-on fiancee Madeline Bassett, or relating to inebriation, involving spiked orange juice and some duplicitous behaviour on the part of his dear friend Bertie. (Melody's scowling and harrumphing at me right now, I can just see her.) And it's usually up to Bertie to get him OUT of the fix. Er, that is, for Bertie to attempt to get him out, to fail miserably and make the matter worse, and for Jeeves to step in and smoothly save the day. Yay Jeeves!

Now if only Bertie could have stepped in and befuddled the day (and then summoned Jeeves to save the day) when Richard Garnett got replaced on the show and Richard Braine took his place. I mean, Richard Braine is fine and all. But he tries too hard to be just like Richard Garnett, and he's just... not. The hair isn't right, the glasses aren't right, the face isn't right, and above all the adorable LISP just isn't right. Nope. I want First-and-Second-Season-Gussie or none at all, thankyouverymuch. Florence Craye is another favorite character--although she's supposed to be just as horrid as Aunt Agatha, she's one of those people that you enjoy having around, if you know what I mean. You don't necessarily LIKE her, but you're happy when she makes an appearance, because you know hilarity is bound to ensue. Francesca Folan plays the best Lady Florence, but she did not make a very good Madeline Bassett. I know I said earlier that the two characters are polar opposites, but they're more than that--they're PENGUIN opposites.

Lady Florence is a forward-thinking, get-it-done-and-get-it-done-now, I-tolerate-no-nonsense-from-people-named-Wooster, politically minded spirit of regurgitated womanhood.* Just look at the look on poor Bertie's face in the picture above. That's basically his one and only facial expression whenever Florence is around. Any woman who can reduce Hugh Laurie to a single facial expression has to be pretty awful. "The root of the trouble," as Bertie says in Joy in the Morning, "was that she was one of those intellectual girls, steeped to the gills in serious purpose, who are unable to see a male soul without wanting to get behind it and shove." Oh, and don't make any disparaging remarks about poor Bertie's white jacket in that picture, 'kay? He has enough to handle from Jeeves. "Beautiful women used to catch my eye." "Presumably they thought you were a waiter, sir." Back to Florence and Madeline. Like I said, Francesca Folan does a great job acting the part of Lady Caligula.

Madeline Bassett, on the other hand, is the kind of girl who believes that every time a fairy blows its wee nose a baby is born, or something to that effect. Bertie himself describes Madeline as a "pretty enough girl in a droopy, blonde, saucer-eyed way, but not the sort of breath-taker that takes the breath." (Have I mentioned how much I enjoy Bertie's narrative. Well, I do.) Elizabeth Morton brings this across fabulously. As mentioned before, she is a third-regeneration Madeline, and she's the best of the lot. When she maintains that the stars are God's daisy-chain (whaaaaat?), that Winnie-the-Pooh is the be-all, end-all of great literature (I'll give her that one) or that nothing in life can compare to the glory of being Countess of Sidcup (have fun, honey) she's actually believable. I mean, some of the time you just kinda want to smack her upside the head with a Reality Check, but for the most part you're laughing too hard to be able to do that. And don't get me started on her voice. Just watch this clip and you'll see.

(Excellent Florence moment, too. And an excellent Bertie moment-- as you can see, he's managed to get himself engaged to two ladies at once. Brilliant planning there, old sport.) Did I mention that Madeline spends the entire series laboring under the delusion that Bertie is madly in love with her? Well, she does. And it's hilarious. Because he's not. There are so many other characters that I'd love to talk about in great detail (Barmy Funky-Phipps for one-- he's the chap who thinks all the buildings in New York are tall because the plans got flipped sideways) but I really haven't time or space today, and I doubt you have the patience. (This is not meant to reflect upon your levels of patience.) Just go watch the show, okay? Start at the beginning and go on until you get to the end. Then stop. By now you're probably frowning at me and tapping your fingers passive-aggressively, wondering when I'm going to get wise to the fact that I've left out an extremely important character. Jeeves by name, valet by nature, to be precise. Don't be silly, I didn't forget him.

I just saved the best for last. Reginald Jeeves is Bertie Wooster's trusty valet and my absolute favorite character on the show, bar none. Yes, he's better than Bertie. Yes, I would be happy to hear your long list of reasons why Bertie is actually the best character--my comment box is at the bottom. Yes, I will happily agree with each and every one of your reasons, but I will still maintain that Jeeves is the best. Because Jeeves is more than just a gentleman's gentleman. He is a calming presence. He is balm on troubled water. He is the great brain that thrives on tinned fish and saves hopeless situations. His first name, as previously mentioned in brief, is Reginald, but we try to gloss over that bit. (He is not a butler, in spite of inaccurate popular belief, but he has served in that position in a pinch and Bertie notes that he can "buttle with the best of them" when necessary.) Jeeves has impeccable taste where clothes are concerned and does not hesitate to inform his employer when his employer's attire is less than satisfactory. White dinner jackets are a no-no, for example.

A silken tie studded with little horseshoes once reduced the inimitable Jeeves to a shaking mess. And mustaches are an abomination and degradation. (So are goatees, but thankfully Bertie never goes quite THAT far.) Practically everybody likes Jeeves-- how could one help it? The only notable exception is a certain gentleman's gentleman with teeth like old harpsichord keys who goes by the name of Brinkley... but then, Brinkley's probably the most easily-disliked character on the whole show so I leave you to draw your own conclusions. Small children have been known to be uncooperative when Jeeves requests their assistance, but bribery (which, according to Rosalind Penderwick, is immoral) can work wonders. So can Jeeves, you know. What else can I say? Watch the show with all possible speed, try not to strain a rib while laughing and then let me know what you thought of it. And please do tell me I'm not the only one who actually really liked Honoria Glossop. "What ho, Glossops all!" ...Oops. Sorry. Shouldn't have said that.

"Mother doesn't like me to say 'what ho.'" Penned by

Question: Not often mentioned – what is Jeeves first name?
Answer: Reginald