RANDOM JOTTINGS


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Now that I have a new digital TV with inclusive box so that I don’t have one of those little digithingys on the top of my set, the reception is so much better and I am watching assorted channels and surfing through what is available.  Of course, the answer is not much, with the exception of the repeats of all those wonderful series of moons ago.  I am talking about the perennial showing of the Sherlock Holmes series with Jeremy Brett as the man himself (for me he is the quintessential Holmes though others may disagree), David Suchet as Hercule Poirot which I could watch over and over again and do (still some I find to my delight I have not seen), Peter Wimsey series with lovely lovely Edward Petherdige (DVD’s still shockingly expensive on Amazon otherwise I would buy the lot), Miss Marple (NOT the Geraldine McEwan series I hasten to add) and, finally, my discovery the other night of Jeeves and Wooster with Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry.

Jeeveswooster How did I miss watching this before?  WHY did I miss watching it before?  I think, on looking back, that this was a time when this pair were fairly ubiquitous with their series Fry and Laurie, and non stop appearances on quiz shows, talk shows etc etc and I probably thought enough was enough already. Always the same with TV, find something/somebody you like and then do them to death until public is fed up with them (as with recent costume drama, see post Too Much of a Good Thing?)

Mem;  really must stop all these parentheses I am bunging in, trouble is my mind operates at a tanget and I wander along little byways which have been brought to my notice by what I have just said and I am burbling so will stop now.

Back to Jeeves and Wooster. Found an episode on one of the digital channels and sat and watched it with ever increasing delight. I know absolutely nothing about the works of PG Wodehouse except they are many and various, though I had heard of the dreaded Aunt Agatha, but I now feel that I must seek them out.  This episode was peopled by young men about town rejoicing in the names of Steggles, Bingo and Piggy who exclaimed What Ho! at regular intervals and when spotting a glamorous young lady said What a Corker.  I was in heaven and I now intend to catch up with this series.  Better late than never say I.

While googling I came across this article by Stephen Fry written some time ago and attach it for your amusement.  I very much enjoyed reading it.

http://www.hatsharpening.com/j&w/savedlife.php

Now I need help from all those Woosterians or Jeevesonians out there.  What is the title of the first book in this series?  Do I need to read them in order or can I just dip in and out?  Also, I gather there are others, not Jeeves, in PG output and I need to know what they are as well.

So help please..

Toodle pip!

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16 responses to “Jeeves and Wooster”

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  4. Elaine Avatar

    Oh dear what have I started? Last year I was tempted by Wodehouse after Dovegreyreader posted about them and illustrated her blog with pics of the Everyman editions. I went into a bookshop the folloiwng day and picked them up and stroked them and wanted them all, but I was strong and resisted. Now I fear I cannot so will have to get one or two and see how I get on. But NOT this week.
    Oh and I have ordered the complete series – Julie should I say thankyou or get behind me Satan..? in the nicest possible way of course

  5. Simon Avatar

    I LOVE Wodehouse! Haven’t read any for a while, and never read any Jeeves and Wooster, actually. I tend to go for the non-series ones, and all of the ones I’ve read have been wonderful. The plots all seem disparate and then collide together in hilarious fashion. And every sentence he writes is a work of art. Do hope you enjoy him – and, yes, those new Everyman editions are beautiful. But quite pricey.

  6. daphne sayed Avatar
    daphne sayed

    i have lots and when you come again you are very welcome to borrow any all.Wodehouse has wonderful aunts in his book, who all speak in ‘quotable’ sentences.D

  7. Camille Avatar

    I watch and rewatch Holmes, Poirot and any Marple when ever I stumble over them. They always seem fresh and new.
    The Jeeves and Wooster series is just the BEST! Stephen Fry’s delivery of Jeeves’s wonderful and erudite lines is a thing of beauty. Hugh Laurie’s inspired Bertie is brilliant plus I like hearing him play the piano. We have been going through the series in order and have found several episodes that somehow we missed when they originally aired.
    My daughterr knows Laurie as Dr. House,MD so we have had fun showing her “his other side.” She already knew he did Blackadder.

  8. Julie Avatar
    Julie

    Oh and on Play.com you can get the Jeeves & Wooster box set for £16.99

  9. Julie Avatar
    Julie

    Watch out for the Everyman editions, Elaine – VERY addictive!

  10. Elaine Avatar

    Well, what lovely responses from everybody. THANKYOU
    and Mr Cornflower – thankyou too. Fancy him writing from Vic up to John,Paul, George and Ringo…what a thought. I have an awful feeling I am starting something off here…
    and Mrs Cornflower – thank you for being Aunt Agatha and ordering him to my site!

  11. Mr Cornflower Avatar

    Three things worth knowing about Wodehouse:
    his career as a published author began -just – in the reign of Queen Victoria and lasted beyond the break-up of the Beatles;
    he was very prolific;
    not everything he wrote was equally brilliant (like Shakespeare).
    So where to start? Well, here are my personal magnificent seven, three Jeeves and Wooster stories and four about other characters, in order of publcation:
    The Inimitable Jeeves
    Very Good, Jeeves
    The Code of the Woosters
    Ukridge
    Lord Emsworth and Others
    Blandings Castle
    Uncle Fred in the Springtime
    I do hope you enjoy them as much as I have done.

  12. Jill Avatar

    Elaine: Visit this URL:
    http://www.hatsharpening.com/j&w/allstories.php as it provides the publishing history of what was published and when. The short stories were published prior to the novels.

  13. Cornflower Avatar

    Mr. C. is a member of the P.G. Wodehouse Society and has read everything many times over, so – in the manner of one of Bertie’s aunts – I shall command him to come here and tell you what to read!

  14. Lesley Avatar

    Did you ever see Ian Carmichael playing Bertie Wooster on the TV? I’m going back a long, long time here …
    I love that link to Hugh Laurie’s writing — thank you. My daughter has just discovered Wodehouse, so I’ve sent it to her.
    I took out a DVD of the Fry and Laurie PGW last year to show my kids, who were enthralled by ‘House’ and astounded to learn Laurie was SUCH an Englishman!

  15. Maureen Avatar

    The first mention of Bertie was in a series of short stories called ‘The man with two left feet’. There are a number of other short stories and a few novels about Bertie and Jeeves. I managed to get an omnibus edition for my son some years ago, I’ll try to find the details.

  16. Susan Balée Avatar
    Susan Balée

    Alas, I know nothing about Jeeves & Wooster, but you do mention an actor I’ve only seen a few times but loved whenever I did: Edward Petherbridge. He was indeed Peter Wimsey to Harriet Walter’s Harriet Vane.
    What has happened to the fellow? I saw him in the stage production of “Nicholas Nickleby” all those years ago, and as Wimsey in that Mystery series, but what else has he done? And by now the dude must be getting on.

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