I am a great fan of P G Wodehouse and this page is a whimsical tribute to him.

M V Bhaskar

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This is dedicated to the memory of PG Wodehouse

His full name was Pelham Grenville Wodehouse.

He was born in 1881 and passed away in 1976,

He is survived by about sixty books and

Millions of fans.

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Now the obvious question how does one pronounce his name

is it WODE house or WOOD house.

According to Richard Osbourne an acknowledged expert on PGW,

who wrote about PGW it is pronounced WOOD house.

P G Wodehouse himself wrote about this in one of this autobigraphical works

"If you asked three men in where can I find Wodehouse, two would have replied they did'nt know and the third being a little hard on hearing would have replied "straight down the lane and the third house to the left"

I suppose one could say there are three schools of thought on this

The classical or the British school which would say that Wodehouse must be pronounced Woodhouse.

The other the modern or the American which says a word must be pronouced as it is spelled or vice versa.

And the third is here :

Jest a little verse without any vice -
 
 

There lived a man named Wodehouse,

His friends called him Plum,

I wish I was his friend,

I too could have called him Plum,

I have'nt the honour so I shall just call him Woodhouse,

But he would have just said

'whats in a name, what what,"

He had a stiff upper lip,

But a very free hand with the pen and typewritter,

He makes us laugh and laugh.

( jolly good, what what or is it what rot )

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Another classical Wodehouse question -

How many sisters did Lord Emsworth have?

He thought had five,

So did Galahad Threepwood when he counted them,

But good old Wodehouse sneaked in a few more and

one biographer counted 10.

(Richard Osbourn in 'Sunset at Blandings', the book Wodehouse was working on when he died.)

But as Wodehouse wood (sic) have said

(had he thought of it)

'whats in a number,

read on, read on,

humor is the elexir of life.'

What is life without humour

What is humour without Wodehouse.

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Wodehouse wrote in his autobiographical work "Bring on the girls"

'I hope that some day some one will say "I prefer Wodehouse to Shakespear".

Well I really do prefer Wodehouse to Shakespear,

if you too do please join the club.

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M V Bhaskar
[email protected]

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Misquotes, errors and omissions exempted.