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  • Jeeves & Wooster’s World: The Comic Genius of P.G. Wodehouse

    30 Resources for Parents & Students

“At the age of eleven or thereabouts women acquire a poise and an ability to handle difficult situations which a man, if he is lucky, manages to achieve somewhere in the later seventies.”

“This was not Aunt Dahlia, my good and kindly aunt, but my Aunt Agatha, the one who chews broken bottles and kills rats with her teeth.”

“I could see that, if not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled.”

[On Roderick Spode, 7th Earl of Sidcup] “It was as if Nature had intended to make a gorilla and had changed its mind at the last moment.”

“Honoria, you see, is one of those robust, dynamic girls with the muscles of a welter-weight and a laugh like a squadron of cavalry charging over a tin bridge.”

“He had the look of one who had drunk the cup of life and found a dead beetle at the bottom.”

“Unseen in the background, Fate was quietly slipping lead into the boxing-glove.”

“There is only one cure for grey hair. It was invented by a Frenchman. It is called the guillotine.”

 

“Sir Roderick Glossop’s daughter, Honoria.”

“No, no!” I cried, paling beneath the tan.

“Don’t be silly, Bertie. She is just the wife for you.”

“Yes, but look here——”

“She will mould you.”

“But I don’t want to be moulded.”

Aunt Agatha then gave me the kind of look she used to give me when I was a kid and had been found in the jam cupboard.”

 

“The fact that he was fifty quid in the red and expecting Civilization to take a toss at any moment had caused Uncle Tom, [to] look a bit like a pterodactyl with a secret sorrow…”

 

-P.G. Wodehouse

In Pioneer’s ongoing series of blogs here, here, here, and here on curricular resources for parents, families, and teachers during COVID-19, this one focuses on:

Celebrating the Comic Genius of P.G. Wodehouse

“I just sit at my typewriter and curse a bit,” is how the prolific 20th-century British comic novelist P.G. Wodehouse (nicknamed “Plum”) described his writing process. Across 70 years in the early-to-late 20th century, he authored 100 hilariously witty and satirical novels and numerous short stories. He even wrote plays, movie scripts, songs, screenplays, and co-wrote the book for the Broadway musical, Anything Goes. Wodehouse was the greatest comic literary figure in the English language over the last hundred years.

Fellow British writers and peers, including George Orwell and Evelyn Waugh, considered him among England’s greatest contemporary craftsman of our words. His biographer, Robert McCrum, reveals Wodehouse first read Homer’s Iliad as a six-year-old and he reread Shakespeare’s entire works annually as an adult. His knowledge of ancient history, English poetry, and Anglo-American sports and jazz slang, was encyclopedic. He interwove timelessly beautiful ideas and wisdom throughout his stories. Unlike many writers, he loved to carefully revise and edit his own works, which is why they are so smoothly written and lively.

Wodehouse also taught the English-speaking peoples to laugh throughout the 20th century. This was particularly important since he was writing in the years following the carnage of the First World War, the millions of deaths from the 1918 Flu Epidemic, the horrors of World War II, and the palpable decline of the British Empire. Wodehouse coined clever words found in the Oxford English Dictionary, including: “Gruntled,” an adjective meaning ‘satisfied’ or ‘contented’; “Pottiness,” the noun form of the adjective ‘potty’; “Snooter,” a verb meaning to ‘harass’ or to ‘snub; and “Whiffled,” an adjective that means ‘drunk’ or ‘intoxicated’.

Plum’s 1920s-’30s fictitious masterpieces were his silly, whimsical satires about Reginald Jeeves and Bertie Wooster. Jeeves is a brilliant Edwardian valet (described by Wodehouse as “a gentleman’s personal gentleman”), while Bertie is a goofy, idle-rich young chap. Jeeves is the unlikely hero whose personality and intellect are modeled after Sherlock Holmes. He knows and reads everything and runs Bertie’s life. Jeeves uses his clever analytic mind to solve the sit-com style mishaps of Bertie, his goofball friends, and the wacky, eccentric extended Wooster family. These characters and tales of lunacy and folly inhabit a pleasant, light-and-sunshine world that’s like a comedy version of Downtown Abbey. In Wodehouse’s fantasy version of England, in which the jokes are most always on the daffy aristocrats, nothing bad ever happens. These books are good for young people because the writing style is superb, they’re non-political, there’s no foul language, nothing is inappropriate, and there are no villains, except for Plum’s favorite comedic foils – Bertie’s scheming aunts.

“As a rule, you see, I’m not lugged into Family Rows. [Those] occasions when Aunt is calling Aunt like mastodons bellowing across primeval swamps…,” P.G. Wodehouse wrote mischievously. Across our society, in schools, and the policy world, we all need to better appreciate that good education should be more than the bad daily news, dry texts, and tedium of the information age.

Life and writing can and should be playful, witty, light, fun, and make us smile. This is particularly important during the hard realities and sometimes loneliness of COVID, lockdowns, masks, and the increasingly stilted use of language today. To provide some much-needed comic relief and to help people of all age groups glory in the English language, take ourselves less seriously, and laugh more – please enjoy the world of P.G. Wodehouse!

Browse Resources Below

Video: Stephen Fry on P.G. Wodehouse

"Beloved British actor, author, and comedian Stephen Fry shares his expert knowledge of the life and work of P.G. Wodehouse."

Sir P.G. Wodehouse

"Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE (WOOD-howss); 15 October 1881 – 14 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. Born in Guildford, the third son of a British magistrate based in Hong Kong, Wodehouse spent happy teenage years at Dulwich College, to which he remained devoted all his life. After leaving school he was employed by a bank but disliked the work and turned to writing in his spare time. His early novels were mostly school stories, but he later switched to comic fiction, creating several regular characters who became familiar to the public over the years. They include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jeeves; the immaculate and loquacious Psmith; Lord Emsworth and the Blandings Castle set; the Oldest Member, with stories about golf; and Mr Mulliner, with tall tales on subjects ranging from bibulous bishops to megalomaniac movie moguls. Most of Wodehouse's fiction is set in his native United Kingdom, although he spent much of his life in the US and used New York and Hollywood as settings for some of his novels and short stories. He wrote a series of Broadway musical comedies during and after the First World War, together with Guy Bolton and Jerome Kern, that played an important part in the development of the American musical. He began the 1930s writing for MGM in Hollywood. In a 1931 interview, his naive revelations of incompetence and extravagance in the studios caused a furor. In the same decade, his literary career reached a new peak. In 1934 Wodehouse moved to France for tax reasons; in 1940 he was taken prisoner at Le Touquet by the invading Germans and interned for nearly a year. After his release he made six broadcasts from German radio in Berlin to the US, which had not yet entered the war. The talks were comic and apolitical, but his broadcasting over enemy radio prompted anger and strident controversy in Britain, and a threat of prosecution. Wodehouse never returned to England. From 1947 until his death he lived in the US, taking dual British-American citizenship in 1955. He died in 1975, at the age of 93, in Southampton, New York. Wodehouse was a prolific writer throughout his life, publishing more than ninety books, forty plays, two hundred short stories and other writings between 1902 and 1974. He worked extensively on his books, sometimes having two or more in preparation simultaneously. He would take up to two years to build a plot and write a scenario of about thirty thousand words. After the scenario was complete he would write the story. Early in his career Wodehouse would produce a novel in about three months, but he slowed in old age to around six months. He used a mixture of Edwardian slang, quotations from and allusions to numerous poets, and several literary techniques to produce a prose style that has been compared to comic poetry and musical comedy. Some critics of Wodehouse have considered his work flippant, but among his fans are former British prime ministers and many of his fellow writers."

Jeeves

"Jeeves (full name Reginald Jeeves, nickname Reggie) is a fictional character in a series of comedic short stories and novels by English author P. G. Wodehouse. Jeeves is the highly competent valet of a wealthy and idle young Londoner named Bertie Wooster. First appearing in print in 1915, Jeeves continued to feature in Wodehouse's work until his last completed novel Aunts Aren't Gentlemen in 1974, a span of 60 years. Both the name "Jeeves" and the character of Jeeves have come to be thought of as the quintessential name and nature of a manservant, inspiring many similar characters as well as the name of an Internet search engine, Ask Jeeves. A "Jeeves" is now a generic term as validated by its entry in the Oxford English Dictionary. Jeeves is a valet, not a butler; that is, he is responsible for serving an individual, whereas a butler is responsible for a household and manages other servants. On rare occasions he does fill in for someone else's butler. According to Bertie Wooster, he "can buttle with the best of them… In his 1953 semi-autobiographical book written with Guy Bolton, Bring on the Girls!, Wodehouse suggested that the Jeeves character was inspired by an actual butler named Eugene Robinson whom Wodehouse employed for research purposes. Wodehouse described Robinson as a "walking Encyclopaedia Britannica". However, Robinson worked at Wodehouse's house in Norfolk Street where Wodehouse did not live until 1927, long after Jeeves had been created. Wodehouse named his Jeeves after Percy Jeeves (1888–1916), a popular English cricketer for Warwickshire. Wodehouse witnessed Percy Jeeves bowling at Cheltenham Cricket Festival in 1913. Percy Jeeves was killed at the Battle of the Somme in July 1916, less than a year after the first appearance of the Wodehouse character who would make his name a household word."

P. G. Wodehouse: A Life in Letters, by P. G. Wodehouse (Author) and Sophie Ratcliffe (Editor)

"The definitive edition of the letters?many previously unpublished?of England’s greatest comic writer. P. G. Wodehouse wrote some of the greatest comic masterpieces of all time. So, naturally, we find the same humor and wit in his letters. He offers hilarious accounts of living in England and France, the effects of prohibition, and how to deal with publishers. He even recounts cricket matches played while in a Nazi internment camp (Wodehouse wanted to show the stiff upper lip of the British in the toughest situations). Over the years, Wodehouse corresponded with relatives, friends, and some of the greatest figures of the twentieth century: Agatha Christie, Ira Gershwin, Evelyn Waugh, George Orwell, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The letters are arranged chronologically with intersecting sections of biography written by Sophie Ratcliffe. This is the only book you will need to understand the man behind the characters."

Bertie Wooster

"Bertram Wilberforce Wooster is a fictional character in the comedic Jeeves stories created by British author P. G. Wodehouse. An amiable English gentleman and one of the "idle rich", Bertie appears alongside his valet, Jeeves, whose intelligence manages to save Bertie or one of his friends from numerous awkward situations. Bertie Wooster and Jeeves have been described as "one of the great comic double-acts of all time.” Bertie is the narrator and central figure of most of the Jeeves short stories and novels. The two exceptions are the short story "Bertie Changes His Mind" (1922), which is narrated by Jeeves, and the novel Ring for Jeeves (1953), a third-person narration in which Bertie is mentioned but does not appear. First appearing in "Extricating Young Gussie" in 1915, Bertie is the narrator of ten novels and over 30 short stories, the last being the novel Aunts Aren't Gentlemen, published in 1974… Bertie is approximately 24 years old when he first meets Jeeves in "Jeeves Takes Charge". His age is not stated in any other story. In the reference work Wodehouse in Woostershire by Wodehouse scholars Geoffrey Jaggard and Tony Ring, it is speculated that Bertie's age ranges from approximately 24 to 29 over the course of the stories. Nigel Cawthorne, author of A Brief Guide to Jeeves and Wooster, also suggested that Bertie is approximately 29 at the end of the saga. Tall and slim, Bertie is elegantly dressed, largely because of Jeeves. He has blue eyes. Normally clean-shaven, he grows a moustache in two different stories, and ultimately loses the moustache, as Jeeves does not think a moustache suits Bertie. It seems that he has an innocent-looking appearance; when Bertie wants to wear an alpine hat in Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves, he states, "I was prepared to concede that it would have been more suitable for rural wear, but against this had to be set the fact that it unquestionably lent a diablerie to my appearance, and mine is an appearance that needs all the diablerie it can get." Bertie has an expressive face that Jeeves can read easily… Bertie is pleasant and amiable, according to Jeeves. A well-intentioned and honorable young gentleman, he has a strong moral code and prides himself on helping his friends.[29] Unlike his Aunt Agatha, he is not snobbish to servants and is not bothered when one of his pals wants to marry someone from a different social class. He gladly spends time with a variety of people, including rich aristocrats and poor artists… By no means an ambitious man, Bertie seeks neither a prestigious job nor a socially advantageous marriage. In his own words, Bertie is the sort of person who is "content just to exist beautifully".He likes living a leisurely, quiet life and appreciates small things in his day, such as the oolong tea (which he sometimes calls Bohea) that Jeeves brings to him every morning."

Wodehouse: A Life, by Robert McCrum

"An invaluable portrait, thanks to a broad, incisive and complex understanding of Wodehouse's psyche." --Janet Maslin, New York Times. To Evelyn Waugh he was simply "the Master." He wrote ninety novels and story collections, and among his immortal characters are Jeeves, Psmith, and the Empress of Blandings (who is, of course, a pig). Equally impressive is the range of his devotees: Dorothy Parker, John Updike, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Salman Rushdie, John le Carre, and Seamus Heaney. Wodehouse had an extraordinary Broadway career, working with Guy Bolton and Jerome Kern, and even dared to rewrite Cole Porter's Anything Goes for the London stage. Robert McCrum's magisterial biography chronicles the achievements and shadows of a gilded life…. His long love affair with America was compromised by endless acrimony with the IRS. This is the book all Wodehouse fans have been waiting for; it eclipses all previous accounts of his life. An Economist Best Book of 2004."

My Man Jeeves, by P.G. Wodehouse, 1919

"My Man Jeeves is a collection of short stories by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom in May 1919 by George Newnes. Of the eight stories in the collection, half feature the popular characters Jeeves and Bertie Wooster, while the others concern Reggie Pepper, an early prototype for Bertie Wooster. Revised versions of all the Jeeves stories in this collection were later published in the 1925 short story collection Carry On, Jeeves. One of the Reggie Pepper stories in this collection was later rewritten as a Jeeves story, which was also included in Carry On, Jeeves."

The Inimitable Jeeves, by P.G. Wodehouse, 1923

"The Inimitable Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse was the first of the Jeeves novels, although not originally conceived as a single narrative, being assembled from a number of short stories featuring the same characters. The book was first published in the United Kingdom by Herbert Jenkins, London, on 17 May 1923 and in the United States by George H. Doran, New York, on 28 September 1923, under the title Jeeves."

“Forty-Seven Ginger-Headed Sailors,” by Jack Hylton and His Orchestra, 1927

"Jack Hylton and His Orchestra perform "Forty-Seven Ginger-Headed Sailors" on a British "His Master's Voice" record B 5542, played on a 1926 Victor VE 8-30X (Credenza) Orthophonic Victrola with medium-tone steel needle. Recorded September 21, 1928. This song makes several appearances in the Jeeves & Wooster TV series."

Valet

"A valet or varlet is a male servant who serves as personal attendant to his employer. In the Middle Ages and Ancien Régime, valet de chambre was a role for junior courtiers and specialists such as artists in a royal court, but the term "valet" by itself most often refers to a normal servant responsible for the clothes and personal belongings of an employer, and making minor arrangements. In the United States, the term most often refers to a parking valet, and the role is often confused with a butler. A valet or "gentleman's gentleman" is a gentleman's male servant; the closest female equivalent is a lady's maid. The valet performs personal services such as maintaining his employer's clothes, running his bath and perhaps (especially in the past) shaving his employer. In a great house, the master of the house had his own valet, and in the very grandest great houses, other adult members of the employing family (e.g. master's sons) would also have their own valets. At a court, even minor princes and high officials may be assigned one, but in a smaller household the butler – the majordomo in charge of the household staff – might have to double as his employer's valet. In a bachelor's household the valet might perform light housekeeping duties as well. Valets learned the skills for their role in various ways. Some began as footmen, learning some relevant skills as part of that job, and picking up others when deputising for their master's valet, or by performing valeting tasks for his sons before they had a valet of their own, or for male guests who did not travel with a valet. Others started out as soldier-servants to army officers (batmen) or stewards to naval officers. Traditionally, a valet did much more than merely lay out clothes and take care of personal items. He was also responsible for making travel arrangements, dealing with any bills and handling all money matters concerning his master or his master's household. Alexandre Bontemps, the most senior of the thirty-six valets to Louis XIV of France, was a powerful figure, who ran the Château de Versailles. In courts, valet de chambre was a position of some status, often given to artists, musicians, poets and others, who generally spent most of their time on their specialized work. The role was also, at least during the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, a common first step or training period in a nobleman's career at court. Valets, like butlers and most specialized domestic staff, have become relatively rare. A more common, though still infrequent, arrangement is the general servant performing combined roles."

Right Ho, Jeeves (Collector’s Wodehouse), by P.G. Wodehouse, 1934

"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 was first published in the United Kingdom on 5 October 1934 by Herbert Jenkins, London, and in the United States on 15 October 1934 by Little, Brown and Company, Boston, under the title Brinkley Manor. It had also been sold to the Saturday Evening Post, in which it appeared in serial form from 23 December 1933 to 27 January 1934, and in England in the Grand Magazine from April to September 1934. Wodehouse had already started planning this sequel while working on Thank You, Jeeves. The story is mostly set at Brinkley Court, the home of Bertie's Aunt Dahlia, and introduces the recurring characters Gussie Fink-Nottle and Madeline Bassett. Bertie's friend Tuppy Glossop and cousin Angela Travers also feature in the novel, as does Brinkley Court's prized chef, Anatole."

Jeeves & Wooster: The Complete Series (DVD Box Set), Hugh Laurie (Actor) and Stephen Fry (Actor)

"Fans of Hugh Laurie's prickly, sardonic House character may not realize that Laurie started as a slapstick comedian of the most British type: Veddy, veddy silly. And nowhere has Laurie been sillier, or more divine, than as Bertie Wooster in Jeeves & Wooster, the British TV series based on the famed P.G. Wodehouse characters. Playing off Laurie is the equally splendid Stephen Fry (a longtime Laurie pal and co-star) as the arch and supremely competent valet Jeeves. The two create a winning, hilarious pair of tour guides into the rarified world of early-20th-century upper-crust England. Bertie is kind-hearted and a soft touch, and, well, not exactly street smart. When Bertie's Aunt Agatha ("the nephew-crusher") decides he must be groomed to be a proper prospective husband for a proper well-off young lady, Bertie snaps, "I don't want to be molded, I'm not a jelly!" Auntie: "That's a matter of opinion. Dear." Happily, Jeeves is there to anticipate the worst of Bertie's mishaps (usually involving alcohol) and to find creative ways to bail him out. Fry is deadpan and delightful playing Jeeves, and Laurie is a revelation to any comedy fan who's only experienced him as House. The Wodehouse dialogue is preserved in all its exquisite tossed-away glory. Bertie's short chat with a barkeep doing renovations contains this small gem, from the musing pubman: "Well, they can't abide mooses, the committee can't." It's all about softening that stiff upper lip--and in this, Jeeves & Wooster succeeds brilliantly."

The Code of the Woosters, by P.G. Wodehouse, 1938

"The Code of the Woosters is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published on 7 October 1938, in the United Kingdom by Herbert Jenkins, London, and in the United States by Doubleday, Doran, New York.[1] It was serialised in The Saturday Evening Post (US) from 16 July to 3 September 1938 and in the London Daily Mail from 14 September to 6 October 1938. The Code of the Woosters is the third full-length novel to feature two of Wodehouse's best-known creations, Bertie Wooster and his valet Jeeves. It introduces Sir Watkyn Bassett, the owner of a country house called Totleigh Towers where the story takes place, and his intimidating friend Roderick Spode. It is also a sequel to Right Ho, Jeeves, continuing the story of Bertie's newt-fancying friend Gussie Fink-Nottle and Gussie's droopy and overly sentimental fiancée, Madeline Bassett. Bertie and Jeeves return to Totleigh Towers in a later novel, Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves."

P.G. Wodehouse – Plum – Bookmark, BBC Documentary

"P.G. Wodehouse, perhaps best known and best loved of English comic novelists, is still something of a mystery. Affable and accessible to journalists, he was cripplingly shy and remained inscrutable about his private life. Bookmark traces his career, from an Edwardian middle class family to his experiences in a German internment camp…"

Dixieland Jazz

"Dixieland, sometimes referred to as traditional jazz, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band (which shortly thereafter changed the spelling of its name to "Original Dixieland Jazz Band"), fostered popular awareness of this new style of music. A revival movement for traditional jazz began in the late 1940s, formed in reaction to the orchestrated sounds of the swing era and the perceived chaos of the new bebop sounds (referred to as "Chinese music" by Louis Armstrong), Led by the Assunto brothers' original Dukes of Dixieland, the movement included elements of the Chicago style that developed during the 1920s, such as the use of a string bass instead of a tuba, and chordal instruments, in addition to the original format of the New Orleans style. That reflected the fact that virtually all of the recorded repertoire of New Orleans musicians was from the period when the format was already evolving beyond the traditional New Orleans format. "Dixieland" may in that sense be regarded as denoting the jazz revival movement of the late 1930s to the 1950s as much as any particular subgenre of jazz. The essential elements that were accepted as within the style were the traditional front lines consisting of trumpets, trombones, and clarinets, and ensemble improvisation over a two-beat rhythm."

Wodehouse: A Life, Robert McCrum, C-SPAN Book TV, Boston Athenaeum

"Robert McCrum talked about his biography Wodehouse: A Life, published by W.W. Norton and Company. The book covers the life of 20th century British comic novelist P.G. Wodehouse. The son of a civil servant in Hong Kong, Wodehouse’s family moved back to England and then he later moved to the United States where he had a prolific writing career and established himself as a talent on Broadway as well as Hollywood. He regularly traveled between England, the United States, and France and used all three locales for his writing."

Punch (magazine)

"Punch, or The London Charivari was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and wood-engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 1850s, when it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration. After the 1940s, when its circulation peaked, it went into a long decline, closing in 1992. It was revived in 1996, but closed again in 2002."

Anything Goes, by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse and music/lyrics by Cole Porter

"Anything Goes is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The original book was a collaborative effort by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse, heavily revised by the team of Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. The story concerns madcap antics aboard an ocean liner bound from New York to London. Billy Crocker is a stowaway in love with heiress Hope Harcourt, who is engaged to Lord Evelyn Oakleigh. Nightclub singer Reno Sweeney and Public Enemy Number 13, “Moonface” Martin, aid Billy in his quest to win Hope. The musical introduced such songs as "Anything Goes," "You're the Top," and "I Get a Kick Out of You." Since its 1934 debut at the Alvin Theatre (now known as the Neil Simon Theatre) on Broadway, the musical has been revived several times in the United States and Britain and has been filmed twice. The musical has long been a popular choice for school and community productions."

The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy, by David Cannadine

"A brilliant, multifaceted chronicle of economic and social change." --The New York Times At the outset of the 1870s, the British aristocracy could rightly consider themselves the most fortunate people on earth: they held the lion's share of land, wealth, and power in the world's greatest empire. By the end of the 1930s they had lost not only a generation of sons in the First World War, but also much of their prosperity, prestige, and political significance. Deftly orchestrating an enormous array of documents and letters, facts, and statistics, David Cannadine shows how this shift came about--and how it was reinforced in the aftermath of the Second World War. Astonishingly learned, lucidly written, and sparkling with wit, The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy is a landmark study that dramatically changes our understanding of British social history."

Put it on the Ritz, by Irving Berlin and performed by Harry Richman & Fred Astaire

"Puttin' On the Ritz" is a song written by Irving Berlin. He wrote it in May 1927 and first published it on December 2, 1929. It was registered as an unpublished song August 24, 1927 and again on July 27, 1928. It was introduced by Harry Richman and chorus in the musical film Puttin' On the Ritz (1930). According to The Complete Lyrics of Irving Berlin, this was the first song in film to be sung by an interracial ensemble. The title derives from the slang expression "to put on the Ritz", meaning to dress very fashionably. This expression was in turn inspired by the opulent Ritz Hotel in London. Hit phonograph records of the tune in its original period of popularity of 1929–1930 were recorded by Harry Richman and by Fred Astaire, with whom the song is particularly associated. Every other record label had their own version of this popular song (Columbia, Brunswick, Victor, and all of the dime store labels). Richman's Brunswick version of the song became the number-one selling record in America."

Tea

"Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of Camellia sinensis, an evergreen shrub native to China and East Asia. After water, it is the most widely consumed drink in the world. There are many different types of tea; some, like Chinese greens and Darjeeling, have a cooling, slightly bitter, and astringent flavour, while others have vastly different profiles that include sweet, nutty, floral, or grassy notes. Tea has a stimulating effect in humans primarily due to its caffeine content. The tea plant originated in the region encompassing today's Southwest China, Tibet, north Myanmar and Northeast India, where it was used as a medicinal drink by various ethnic groups. An early credible record of tea drinking dates to the 3rd century AD, in a medical text written by Hua Tuo. It was popularised as a recreational drink during the Chinese Tang dynasty, and tea drinking spread to other East Asian countries. Portuguese priests and merchants introduced it to Europe during the 16th century. During the 17th century, drinking tea became fashionable among the English, who started to plant tea on a large scale in India."

Thank You, Jeeves!, by P.G. Wodehouse, 1934

"Thank You, Jeeves! is a Jeeves comic novel by P.G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 16 March 1934 by Herbert Jenkins, London, and in the United States on 23 April 1934 by Little, Brown and Company, New York. The story had previously been serialised, in the Strand Magazine in the UK from August 1933 to February 1934, and in the US in Cosmopolitan Magazine from January to June 1934. Thank You, Jeeves is the first full-length novel in the series of stories following narrator Bertie Wooster and his valet Jeeves, though Jeeves leaves Bertie's employment for most of this story. The novel largely takes place around Chuffnell Hall, the home of Bertie's friend Lord "Chuffy" Chuffnell, who hopes to sell the house to the wealthy J. Washburn Stoker and is in love with Stoker's daughter Pauline"

“Jeeves & Wooster Theme,” by Anne Dudley

"The theme tune from "Jeeves and Wooster," written by Anne Dudley. It was written for the British television series based on the characters created by P.G.Wodehouse, and starred Stephen Fry as Jeeves and Hugh Laurie as Bertie Wooster. This version is a string quartet arrangement by Julian Kershaw, with added percussion. Recorded in June 2020 during lockdown isolation. Violins: Shirley Turner & Lucy Curnow; Viola: Peter Mallinson; Cello: Michael Atkinson; and Percussion: Alex Neal."

The Husband Hunters: American Heiresses Who Married into the British Aristocracy, by Anne de Courcy

"A deliciously told group biography of the young, rich, American heiresses who married into the impoverished British aristocracy at the turn of the twentieth century – the real women who inspired Downton Abbey. Towards the end of the nineteenth century and for the first few years of the twentieth, a strange invasion took place in Britain. The citadel of power, privilege and breeding in which the titled, land-owning governing class had barricaded itself for so long was breached. The incomers were a group of young women who, fifty years earlier, would have been looked on as the alien denizens of another world - the New World, to be precise. From 1874 - the year that Jennie Jerome, the first known 'Dollar Princess', married Randolph Churchill - to 1905, dozens of young American heiresses married into the British peerage, bringing with them all the fabulous wealth, glamour and sophistication of the Gilded Age. Anne de Courcy sets the stories of these young women and their families in the context of their times. Based on extensive first-hand research, drawing on diaries, memoirs and letters, this richly entertaining group biography reveals what they thought of their new lives in England - and what England thought of them."

“Oh By Jingo!” (also “Oh By Jingo! Oh By Gee You’re The Only Girl For Me”), by Albert Von Tilzer with lyrics by Lew Brown, 1919 (performed by the St. Louis Ragtimers)

"Oh By Jingo!" (also "Oh By Jingo! Oh By Gee You're The Only Girl For Me"), is a 1919 novelty song by Albert Von Tilzer with lyrics by Lew Brown. The song was featured in the Broadway show "Linger Longer Letty", and became one of the biggest Tin Pan Alley hits of the post-World War I era. While the song lyrics say it is set in "the land of San Domingo", no geographic nor anthropological accuracy is found nor intended in the silly lyrics, set in a generic "exotic” location. The song was much imitated over the next decade. The song appeared several times in film and television: it was performed by Betty Hutton in the film Incendiary Blonde (1945); by Debbie Reynolds and Bobby Van as a specialty number in the Esther Williams MGM vehicle, Skirts Ahoy!; sung in the I Love Lucy TV show (Season 4, ep. 2, "Mertz and Kurtz", October 11, 1954); and sung by Hugh Laurie in P. G. Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster (Season 4, ep. 5)."

On Hunting, by Roger Scruton

"Modern people are as given to loving, fearing, fleeing and pursuing other species as were their hunter-gatherer forebears. And in fox-hunting they join together with their most ancient friends among the animals, to pursue an ancient enemy. The feelings stirred by hunting are explored by writer and philosopher Roger Scruton, in a book which is both illuminating and deeply personal. Drawing on his own experiences of hunting and offering a delightful portrait of the people and animals who take part in it, Roger Scruton introduces the reader to some of the mysteries of country life. His book is a plea for tolerance toward a sport in which the love of animals prevails over the pursuit of them, and in which Nature herself is the center of the drama."

Very Good, Jeeves, by P.G. Wodehouse, 1930

"Very Good, Jeeves is a collection of eleven short stories by P. G. Wodehouse, all featuring Jeeves and Bertie Wooster. It was first published in the United States on 20 June 1930 by Doubleday, Doran, New York, and in the United Kingdom on 4 July 1930 by Herbert Jenkins, London. The stories had all previously appeared in Strand Magazine in the UK and in Liberty or Cosmopolitan magazines in the US between 1926 and 1930. As well as Jeeves and his master Bertie Wooster, the stories also feature many regular characters, including Tuppy Glossop, Bingo Little, Bobbie Wickham, Aunt Dahlia, Aunt Agatha and Sir Roderick Glossop. Bertie says the titular phrase four times in the collection."

Downton Abbey: Complete Limited Edition Collector’s Set (DVD)

"Downton Abbey is a British historical drama television series set in the early 20th century, created and co-written by Julian Fellowes. The series first aired on ITV in the United Kingdom on 26 September 2010, and in the United States on PBS, which supported production of the series as part of its Masterpiece Classic anthology, on 9 January 2011. The series, set in the fictional Yorkshire country estate of Downton Abbey between 1912 and 1926, depicts the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their domestic servants in the post-Edwardian era—with the great events of the time having an effect on their lives and on the British social hierarchy. Events depicted throughout the series include news of the sinking of the Titanic in the first series; the outbreak of the First World War, the Spanish influenza pandemic, and the Marconi scandal in the second series; the Irish War of Independence leading to the formation of the Irish Free State in the third series; the Teapot Dome scandal in the fourth series; the British general election of 1923 and the Beer Hall Putsch in the fifth series. The sixth and final series introduces the rise of the working class during the interwar period and hints at the eventual decline of the British aristocracy."

The Martini Cocktail: A Meditation on the World’s Greatest Drink, with Recipes, by Robert Simonson

"The first book in decades to celebrate and explore the history of the most iconic of classic cocktails, the martini, with 50 recipes. A classic martini includes gin, vermouth, sometimes bitters, a lemon twist or olive, and lots of opinions—it’s these opinions that New York Times cocktail writer Robert Simonson uncovers in his exploration of the long and tangled history of the classic martini and its subtle variations. The book features examples of age-old recipes, such as the first martini recipe published in 1888, modern versions created by some of the world’s best bartenders, and martinis sought out by enthusiasts around the world, from Dukes Bar at the Dukes Hotel London to Musso and Frank Grill in Los Angeles. In The Martini Cocktail, you’ll discover everything you need to know about what components make a great martini, as well as a collection of 50 recipes to create your own drinks (and form your own opinions) at home."

Ask.com (originally known as Ask Jeeves)

"Ask.com was originally known as Ask Jeeves, "Jeeves" being the name of a "gentleman's personal gentleman", or valet, fetching answers to any question asked. The character was named after Jeeves, Bertie Wooster's Valet in the fictional works of P. G. Wodehouse. The original idea behind Ask Jeeves was to allow users to get answers to questions posed in everyday, natural language, as well as by traditional keyword searching. The current Ask.com still supports this, with support for math, dictionary, and conversion questions."

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