"Plum" Perfect - for Wodehouse fans

[Northern Piper]

Right - we've had the Cheers (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=54133) trivia thread, and the M*A*S*H (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=54344) trivia thread - now we're going to have a trivia thread dedicated to that master of English prose, P.G. ("Plum") Wodehouse.

Here's a set of questions - let's see how many get answered and how quickly. Any Plum fans, feel free to add your own questions. (Although I have a sneaking suspicion that if CK Dexter Haven plays, we should find some way to handicap him...)

1. Bertie Wooster is typically self-effacing and modest about his own accomplishments, but it is clear nonetheless that he is an accomplished athlete (although the mysteries of Rugby football remain a closed book to him). In what sport did he win his "blue" while at Oxford?

2. In most of the Blandings series, Lord Emsworth is in the grip of a prolonged pig mania. However, before attaching himself to the goal of the "fat pig," the Earl had a short attachment to another agricultural pursuit. What agricultural pursuit occupied the Earl's mind (using the term loosely) prior to the "fat pig" mania?

3. When Psmith came to Blandings he impersonated Ralston McTodd, a North American poet. What was McTodd's home town?

4. What was the Christian name of the furniture-wrecking, hard-boiled-egg-throwing Duke of Dunstable?

5. Most of Lord Emsworth's many sisters were elegant and aristocratic in appearence. One sister, however, looked like a cook. What was her name, and what difficulty did her appearence cause for Bill Lister?

6. What club did Galahad Threepwood belong to in the 1890's, and which trained its sons well for the viscitudes of modern life?

7. How did Reggie Tennyson smuggle a diamond necklace into New York?

8. What did Freddie Widgeon throw at his host, Sir Mortimer Prenderby, leading to a truncated visit to the latter's country house at Matcham Scratchings? Why did Freddie throw it?

9. What unexpected garb was Horace Davenport wearing at the Drones Club one day, leading Pongo Twistleton to lose a bet of 50 pounds, borrowed from Oofy Prosser?

10. What was Gussie Fink-Nottle's act of defiance to show the ultimate breakdown of his engagement to Madelyn Bassett, and why was it so effective?

11. What petty theft did Bertie Wooster do as a young undergraduate, laying the foundations for his subsequent reputation as a kleptomaniac? What was his justification for the theft?

12. What did Jeff Miller throw into the offices of J. Sheringham Adair, private investigator, and why?

13. Who did Jeff hit with his missiles, and who were that person's two "associates," in a distrustful kind of way?

14. What was Jeeves' Christian name?

[longjohn]

nice one, Northern Piper. Wodehouse is indubitably the finest author ever to don a pair of lavender spats.

Off the top of my head:

1) Rowing

11) He pinched a policeman's helmet. His excuse was that it was Boat-Race Night (see above) when the delicately nurtured are apt to get a mite polluted.

14) Reginald, or Reggie to the untrustworthy Brinkley, temporary valet to Bertie when he and Jeeves briefly parted brass rags over Bertie's passing obsession with (IIRC) the banjolele.

My question is less trivia than Cri de Coeur, as Jeeves might perhaps put it. There is a Wodehouse short story told to me as an infant (possibly whilst being dandled on my mother’s knee). As ever, it concerns a young man in love. This particular young man stammers and is informed that this can be got round by communicating in song, rather than speech. I can't find it anywhere. What is it called. Can anyone help?

[C K Dexter Haven]

No need for a handicap, it's not a church social. Off the top of my head, I only remember 11, to which I'd give the same answer as longjohn. I'm embarrassed. I probably should have kept quiet, so as not to tarnish my reputation.

[Ukulele Ike]

Originally posted by C K Dexter Haven
Off the top of my head, I only remember 11, to which I'd give the same answer as longjohn.

Same here. Is 11 too easy, or are all the other ones too hard?

I'd be willing to wager, however, that 10 has something to do with newts.

[gallows fodder]

I believe the answer to #10 might have something to do with eating meat. I believe Madeleine Bassett had turned vegetarian at one point and was forcing Gussie to do the same. At any rate, the answer will lie in Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves, if I am not mistaken.

[rackensack]

11 might be a trifle too easy, since Bertie refers to the incident whenever it might, without utterly violating the norms of polite conversation, be brought up, but then it's good to have one or two questions that are chip shots.

I'm pretty certain that the answer to the first part of number 8 is "a cat", though I'm at a loss to remember exactly the circs that led Freddie to commit feline defenestration. Sir Mortimer's response, "Hell!", always makes me collapse in giggles.

6, 7 and 10 are hovering just out of reach, and show every sign of remaining there.

[Steve Wright]

Originally posted by longjohn
My question is less trivia than Cri de Coeur, as Jeeves might perhaps put it. There is a Wodehouse short story told to me as an infant (possibly whilst being dandled on my mother’s knee). As ever, it concerns a young man in love. This particular young man stammers and is informed that this can be got round by communicating in song, rather than speech. I can't find it anywhere. What is it called. Can anyone help?

It's definitely one of the Mulliner stories - but I can't remember which one, or which collection it's in. Is that any help (however feeble)?

Galahad Threepwood's a long-standing member of the Pelican Club, isn't he?

[C K Dexter Haven]

Yes, gallows! If I recall, it was sneaking into the kitchen late at night for a steak-and-kidney pie.

I fail these trivia tests because I have no memory.

[aseymayo]

10) Well it started with Madelaine attempting to make Gussie a vegetarian - but his ultimate defiance was eloping with the cook!

The Mulliner story about the stammerer who sings is The Truth About George.

What, no questions about Rosie M. Banks?

[Miss Mapp]

Originally posted by C K Dexter Haven:
If I recall, it was sneaking into the kitchen late at night for a steak-and-kidney pie.

I believe, sir, that it was Tuppy Glossop who pilfered the s-and-k pie.

Most of my Wodehouse reading is in the Jeeves-and-Wooster series and all the ones I could answer right off have been done already. Question 9 sounds vaguely familiar, however, and I'm going to try and look that up.

May I put forth a few more questions?

15. Since Rosie M. Banks has been mentioned: list 3 of her novels.

16. What was Jeeves' uncle's name and where was he butler?

17. What was the name of the boy who won a prize for scripture knowledge at Market Snodsbury grammar school?

[Jeeves]

Oh, I feel terrible. As per my user name, I consider myself a fan of Wodehouse, (though I do admit to having read mostly the ones that deal with my hero) and I could only get 1,10,11 and 14. Though I know 2, it is hovering just on the edge of my brain. I can't wait to get home and look up some of these.

What Ho!

Jeeves

[Jeeves]

Oh, and as for question 15, lets see. Marvin Keene, Clubsman; the factory girl one (ok, I know that isn't the title :) ) and All for Love.

I hope those are right. Now I am just waiting for someone to come along and tell me I'm off my rocker.

Jeeves

[sc913]

May I put forth a few more questions?

15. Since Rosie M. Banks has been mentioned: list 3 of her novels.

16. What was Jeeves' uncle's name and where was he butler?

17. What was the name of the boy who won a prize for scripture knowledge at Market Snodsbury grammar school? [/B]

Almost all of my Wodehouse reading has been from the J&W series too, so I can't really answer most of the questions in the OP.
As for these,
15. (The ones Jeeves didn't get) The Woman who braved all, Madcap Myrtle and Only a factory girl.

16. Silversmith. Deverill Hall (Right? The place with the 5 aunts & Esmond Haddock?)

17. Wasn't that Bertie Wooster himself?


Salil.

[sc913]

Originally posted by Northern Piper

1. Bertie Wooster is typically self-effacing and modest about his own accomplishments, but it is clear nonetheless that he is an accomplished athlete (although the mysteries of Rugby football remain a closed book to him). In what sport did he win his "blue" while at Oxford?



I'm quite sure the answer to this one is Tennis. He was a Rackets Blue.

Salil.

[Ukulele Ike]

Miss MAPP????


I LOVE you!


-- Georgie

[rackensack]

Originally posted by rackensack
I'm pretty certain that the answer to the first part of number 8 is "a cat", though I'm at a loss to remember exactly the circs that led Freddie to commit feline defenestration. Sir Mortimer's response, "Hell!", always makes me collapse in giggles.

Ah yes. Now I have it. Said member of the tribe of Tiger was taking liberties with Freddie's shirt-front, interfering with his attempt to don the soup and fish in the slippiest manner possible, Freddie having arrived at Matcham Scratchings somewhat later than he'd intended.

17 is G.G. Simmons; Bertie's fellow-feeling for him, as former Scripture-Knowledge-prize-winner himself, scarcely has time to well up before Gussie Fink-Nottle's preparations for the prize presentations overcome him, Bertie beats a hasty retreat, and the proceedings come to an early termination.

[longjohn]

Aseymayo - a thousand thanks.

I shall go and have words with Monsieur le Marchand des
Livres forthwith or directly, if you prefer.

J.

[Chez Guevara]

In answer to question 3, Mr McTodd hails from Saskatoon.

[Northern Piper]

Hey, not bad - but there's still some questions left!

1. sc913 - right - a rackets blue (see The Mating Season.) Minor quibble - rackets (http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=63959&tocid=0&query=rackets) is not the same as tennis.
Rackets, also spelled Racquets, game played with a ball and a strung racket in an enclosed court, all four walls of which are used in play. Rackets is played with a hard ball in a relatively large court, usually about 18 m (60 ft) long by 9 m wide—unlike the related game of squash rackets (q.v.), which is played with a soft ball on a smaller court.

3. Nostradamus got this one (although for full comic effect the Master generally referred to "Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.") See Leave it to Psmith.

6. Steve Wright got this one - although the Pelican Club is sadly no more. (I've always envisaged it as a forerunner of the Drones, but with more Victorian oomph in its revelries, compared to the effete Edwardians of the Drones). Mentioned in several of the Blandings series, notably A Pelican at Blandings.

8. rackensack, you're not quite right. That was what Freddie did right at the startof the visit, leading unquestionably to a rocky beginning with the father of the girl he loved. I was looking for the action which sealed his fate at Matcham Scratching, forcing his departure.

10. No-one's quite got Gussie's act of defiance (which to my mind occurred prior to eloping with the cook, Aseymayo - that was after relations with Madelyn were defintely severed) although several have come close.

11. longjohn, CK Dex and Ukelele Ike got this right - a police man's helmet on boat night (first mentioned in The Code of the Woostersif I remember correctly, thereafter a running theme.)

14. longjohn also got Jeeves' first name, which I think deserves great credit - so far as I know, it's only mentioned once in the entire series, in Much Obliged, Jeeves.

15. I've not checked, but the three titles that Jeeves and sc913 mentioned sound right (although I think it's "Mervyn Keene," not "Marvin" - romantic lady novelists always try to work a "y" into the given names :) )

16. sc913 got this - Charlie Silversmith (featured in The Mating Season.)

17. rackensack is right on this one - Jeeves, you're right that Bertie won a scripture knowledge prize, but that wasn't at the Market Snodsbury grammar school. Of course, Bertie had a fellow-feeling for young G.G. Simmons ("One of us, you might say.")

So that leaves:

2. Lord Emsworth's precursor to the fat pig mania.

4. The Christian name of the Duke of Dunstable.

5. Lord Emwsorth's cook-like sister.

7. Reggie Tennyson's smuggling method.

8. More detail on Freddie Widgeon's talent for alientating his host.

9. Horace Davenport's unusual garb.

10. Gussie's act of defiance.

12. Jeff Miller's missiles.

13. The recipient of Jeff Miller's missiles.

Hmmmm - I'm going to go out on a limb and say that most people have read the Jeeves storie, some have read the Blandings, and only a few have dipped more deeply into the oeuvre.

Here's a few more, to please aseymayo

18. What was Rosie M. Banks doing when Bingo Little first met her?

19. Why was Bertie Wooster embarassed when Bingo married Rosie?

20. What did Bingo do with their son, leading to the resumption of civil relations with Oofy Prosser?

21. In the space of a short rainy afternoon in the suburbs, one notable character impersonated in short order: the man who had come to clip the parrot's claws; Mr. Roddis, householder; and J.G. Bulstrode from down the road. He simultaneously passed off his long-suffering nephew as: Mr. Walkinshaw, the parrot anaethetist; Roddis Jr.; and a deaf-mute parrot vet. Who was this crafty character, and what was the name of his nephew?

22. What episode from the wild youth of Sir Gregory Parsloe, Bart., did Galahad hold over Sir Gregory's head as a mild form of blackmail?

23. Lady Constance felt that she could almost tolerate her brother Gally, if it were not for one item of his appearence which invariably put her over the edge. What was it?

24. What did Monty Bodkin swear he would change about his personal appearence, and why?

25. When Sue Brown got engaged, what comment did one of her acquaintances make on the appearence of Sue's financé, Ronnie Fish?

26. With whom did Bertie get marooned on the top of the summer house on the lake at his aunt's place? What trapped them there?

27. What was the name of the cook with whom Gussie eloped?

[Northern Piper]

Oh, and by the way, Miss Mapp, any new poster who can simultaneously:

a) politely correct an administrator;

b) inspire love in a moderator; and

c) discuss Wodehouse,

is a welcome addition to the SDMB

[gallows fodder]

#27. Emerald Stoker

[sc913]

I had no idea a sport called rackets existed. Just assumed rackets meant tennis, especially since he played doubles with Beefy Anstruther. You learn something new every day :) Thanks.

Originally posted by Northern Piper

15. I've not checked, but the three titles that Jeeves and sc913 mentioned sound right (although I think it's "Mervyn Keene," not "Marvin" - romantic lady novelists always try to work a "y" into the given names :) )


It is Mervyn Keene, Clubman. I know I'm right about the books, because I did check :) Is this cheating? I finished The Inimitable Jeeves two days ago, it was right next to my comp. The others were all off the top of my head, though.


Hmmmm - I'm going to go out on a limb and say that most people have read the Jeeves storie, some have read the Blandings, and only a few have dipped more deeply into the oeuvre.


I've only recently started with Wodehouse. I've almost finished the Jeeves series. I'll be getting to the rest soon. Any recommendations which ones I could start with?


18. What was Rosie M. Banks doing when Bingo Little first met her?

19. Why was Bertie Wooster embarassed when Bingo married Rosie?


She was a waitress. I guess he was embarassed because he was pretending to be her earlier.

I have no idea about any of the others, even the Wooster ones. And I used to think I knew my Wodehouse....

Salil.

[IzzyR]

8. A dead cat or dog, I think the latter. It had been in his bed, and he thought to dispose of the body by throwing it out the window.

21. The Earl of Ickenham (Uncle Fred) and Pongo Twistleton.

26. Horace Filmer, the Cabinet Minister. They were trapped by an angry swan.

[rackensack]

Originally posted by Northern Piper

8. rackensack, you're not quite right. That was what Freddie did right at the startof the visit, leading unquestionably to a rocky beginning with the father of the girl he loved. I was looking for the action which sealed his fate at Matcham Scratching, forcing his departure.[/b]

Oh, that. That would have been the dead cat, with which the whacking great Alsatian had been toying in Freddie's room. He'd rather have bunged it into a houseplant or something downstairs for the maids to find, IIRC, except for the Prenderbys' butler who'd been posted outside his room to prevent his committing fresh offenses against the local population of dumb chums. As it was, the window represented the only avenue left to him. Just Freddie's luck that on the two occasions in his life upon which he deemed it desirable or necessary to fling a cat out of a window, Sir Mortimer Prenderby should have been on hand to arrest the progress of said felines.

Now that I consider, your question commits the same error to which Sir Mortimer and Lady Prenderby both fell victim; to wit, that Freddie had directed the cats, both the quick and the dead, at Sir Mortimer. Freddie's target with the cats, in each case, was some abstract point in the outer darkness; the point wasn't to throw the cats at anyone, but merely to throw them out of his room. Not that you could make la famille de Prenderby, aunts included, understand the distinction. Not that it would have made any difference to Lady Prenderby, in any case.


21. In the space of a short rainy afternoon in the suburbs, one notable character impersonated in short order: the man who had come to clip the parrot's claws; Mr. Roddis, householder; and J.G. Bulstrode from down the road. He simultaneously passed off his long-suffering nephew as: Mr. Walkinshaw, the parrot anaethetist; Roddis Jr.; and a deaf-mute parrot vet. Who was this crafty character, and what was the name of his nephew?

The Earl of Ickenham, Ickenham Hall, Ickenham, Hants., better known to his nephew Pongo Twistleton as Uncle Fred.

26. With whom did Bertie get marooned on the top of the summer house on the lake at his aunt's place? What trapped them there?

Right Hon. A.B. Filmer. A swan.

[Steve Wright]

Is #23 his monocle? (I have a vague feeling that's it...)

(And may I also extend a welcome to Miss Mapp? Provided she keeps her hands off my lobster recipes, that is ;)).

[Miss Mapp]

Ukulele Ike, Northern Piper, thank you! (I'm all a-flutter now...)

Ike, you're a Luciaphile? Perhaps I should start a thread on this subject. I've been recommending Benson's novels to friends for years by telling them, "They're kind of like Wodehouse, if the focus were on Aunts Dahlia and Agatha instead of Bertie and his chums."

I'm at something of a disadvantage in answering questions, since I can't post from work, but as long as I have Wodehouse books scattered all over the floor, I can pose some more questions:

28. I haven't found the answer to #9 yet, but in looking for it, I did find a reference to Oofy Prosser being swindled out of 2000 pounds. By whom, and how?

29. Why did Jeeves give notice and leave Bertie's service?

30. What did Tuppy Glossop do to Bertie so that Bertie bears a grudge against him?

31. What is the name of Rosie M. Banks' food-faddist friend?

32. As far as I know, there is only one short story written with Jeeves as the first-person narrator. What is the title of this story?

[IzzyR]

Originally posted by Miss Mapp
30. What did Tuppy Glossop do to Bertie so that Bertie bears a grudge against him?Tied back the final rope as Bertie swung across the pool.32. As far as I know, there is only one short story written with Jeeves as the first-person narrator. What is the title of this story?I've forgotten the title. Story about Bertie's misadventures giving a speech to a girl's school.

[Miss Mapp]

Originally posted by Steve Wright:
And may I also extend a welcome to Miss Mapp? Provided she keeps her hands off my lobster recipes, that is

Steve, thank you also! I will try, but if you give all your servants the day off and leave the kitchen unattended, and I just happen to be walking that way... well, I really can't be held responsible. :)

Enough hijacking; I'm going to start a Benson thread.

[Ogre]

Originally posted by Miss Mapp
Originally posted by C K Dexter Haven:
If I recall, it was sneaking into the kitchen late at night for a steak-and-kidney pie.

I believe, sir, that it was Tuppy Glossop who pilfered the s-and-k pie.

Most of my Wodehouse reading is in the Jeeves-and-Wooster series and all the ones I could answer right off have been done already. Question 9 sounds vaguely familiar, however, and I'm going to try and look that up.

May I put forth a few more questions?

15. Since Rosie M. Banks has been mentioned: list 3 of her novels.

16. What was Jeeves' uncle's name and where was he butler?



I had a geography teacher in junior high named Ms. Mapp. I swear to God.



17. What was the name of the boy who won a prize for scripture knowledge at Market Snodsbury grammar school?

[Ogre]

Originally posted by Ogre
Originally posted by Miss Mapp
Originally posted by C K Dexter Haven:
If I recall, it was sneaking into the kitchen late at night for a steak-and-kidney pie.

I believe, sir, that it was Tuppy Glossop who pilfered the s-and-k pie.

Most of my Wodehouse reading is in the Jeeves-and-Wooster series and all the ones I could answer right off have been done already. Question 9 sounds vaguely familiar, however, and I'm going to try and look that up.

May I put forth a few more questions?

15. Since Rosie M. Banks has been mentioned: list 3 of her novels.

16. What was Jeeves' uncle's name and where was he butler?

17. What was the name of the boy who won a prize for scripture knowledge at Market Snodsbury grammar school?

Siiiigh...one more time...



I had a geography teacher in junior high named Ms. Mapp. I swear to God.

[ENugent]

Originally posted by Northern Piper
22. What episode from the wild youth of Sir Gregory Parsloe, Bart., did Galahad hold over Sir Gregory's head as a mild form of blackmail?

I believe it was the episode with the prawns, whose details were never revealed.

[g8rguy]

29. Why did Jeeves give notice and leave Bertie's service?


Because Bertie wouldn't give up that stupid banjo (and I can't say I blame Jeeves here either...)

I've forgotten the name of the food fascist. Probably someone will beat me to recalling it, too... Alas.

But on a different note:

33. What's the name of the person who gets Bingo little taken off by the police for protesting the bomb?

[g8rguy]

31. What is the name of Rosie M. Banks' food-faddist friend?

32. As far as I know, there is only one short story written with Jeeves as the first-person narrator. What is the title of this story?

Ah! I found these two at least. I'd pat myself on my back, but I admit that I had to cheat and look them up. The answer to 31 is Laura Pyke, and 32 is Bertie Changes His Mind.

[Ogre]

...but has anyone here read The Lovecraft Papers, by PH Cannon? It's sort of a parody crossover in three stories between HP Lovecraft and PG Wodehouse...kind of a Bertie Wooster meets Cthulhu type thing.

Herein lies my ignorance. I've not read much actual Wodehouse, and I found the stories in The Lovecraft Papers to be quite amusing. I'm sure some purists here will decry me for this opinion.

Tell me, how do these stories stack up against the original Wodehouse? I think Cannon nailed Lovecraft pretty well. How'd he do with Bertie?

Don't worry. After I reduce my current reading pile, Wodehouse is one of the very next up to bat.

[aseymayo]

10. No-one's quite got Gussie's act of defiance (which to my mind occurred prior to eloping with the cook, Aseymayo - that was after relations with Madelyn were defintely severed) although several have come close.

Well I'm dashed! I thought I had this one in the proverbial bag. But after trying to remember if it was Spink-bottle who compared the sunset to a piece of rare roast beef or someone else entirely, I finally had to go and look the bally thing up and I think I've found the answer you're looking for - Gussie ate a ham sandwich! (Fairly brazenish stuff for old Gussie, but then he had just survived two b's with d at the hands of Roderick Spode, so I imagine he was feeling particularly bucked, or chuffed, as the poet Kipling might have put it.)

I had remembered the cook, the basin and the crumpled form of Spode, but I had forgotten it was the ham sandwich that made Madeline cry, "This is the end!" Ah well. One must take the roughs with the smooths, I suppose.

[IzzyR]

Some more questions:

34. What was the name of the worthy barmaid of the Angler's Rest? (Hint: Freddy Widgeon was once mistaken for someone of that surname).

35. What was the magazine published by Aunt Dahlia, and what article did Bertie write for it?

36. Who was the prizefighter managed and promoted by that "battered man of wrath" Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge?

General comment on the Wodehouse canon: at his best there was no finer writer in the English language, but he also produced a lot of junk. I think his best stuff was produced at around the midpoint of his career. Earlier he had not yet found his voice, and his later stuff was, for the most part, sub-par replays of his earlier work.

[Northern Piper]

I'm back again (real life has been intruding recently, so it looks like I'm a once-a-day poster.)

8. Rackensack got the answer I was looking for - a dead cat, "one that had made the great change - after life's fitful fever it slept well." I take the criticism, rack, but as you point out, such abstract concepts were irrelevant to the Penderby ménage.

10. Buck up aseymayo - better l. than n. Have a snootful of something soothing for the tonsils.

18 & 19. sc913 got this. Rosie was working as a waitress to get background for her next book. The reason Bertie was embarrassed was that to help reconcile Bingo to Bingo's uncle during an earlier contretemps, he had pretended to be Rosie, who was the uncle's favourite author. When Rosie married Bingo, unpleasantness with the uncle resulted, which Jeeves soothed over by advising Bingo to tell the uncle that Bertie was off his rocker. The episode is spread over several short stories collected in The Inimibtable Jeeves.

21. IzzyR nailed this one - it's in the short story "Uncle Fred Flits By," in the Drones collection, Young Men in Spats. Some feel that this is Plum's finest short story ever - it always makes the lists of everyone's favourite. sc913 - this collection would be a good one to expand your acquaintance with Wodehouse. I'd also recommend Summer Lightning, one of the key Blandings novels, as well as Leave it to Psmith, one of the first novels were Plum has made the transition from school-boy novels to the sublime souffles of his mature years.

22. ENugent got this one - it's featured in Summer Lightningand Heavy Weather, both set at Blandings Castle.

23. Steve Wright got this one - off the top of my head, I can't remember which of the Blandings novels it's mentioned in.

26. IzzyR and rackensack got this one. Amongst his many talents, Jeeves of course knew how to deal with a peevish swan, rescuing the young master from both the swan and a political career.

27. gallows fodder got this one. Emerald made the ham sandwich which Spink-Bottle ate to sever relations with Madeline Bassett, adding further poignancy and irony to a tale of tragedy.

29. gr8t guy got this one - it led to Bertie almost being disembowled by his replacement, Bingley, in an inebriated fit of Bolshevism (Bingley's fit, not Bertie's).

30. IzzyR got this one - provided the motive for several short stories of Bertie trying to get revenge, but they finally buried the hatchet when Tuppy got engaged to Bertie's cousin Angela.

31. Laura Pyke sounds right to me.

32. "Bertie Changes his Mind" - Bertie was temporarily bored with the clubman's life and suggested to Jeeves that he might get involved with some organizations for the young - Jeeves took prompt action to avert the threat, trapping Bertie into making a speech at a girl's school. Bertie scuttled back to the Drones quickly.

grt8 guy - you looked them up?? not quite playing the game, old chap.

Now, I'm going to take a crack at a couple of the new questions.

28. Miss Mapp, was it Soapy Molloy, the silver-toungued fraudster-salesman of Silver River Oil shares?

35. The magazine was Milday's Boudoir, featured in several of the Jeeves novels. Bertie's "piece" ("as we journalists call it") was "What the Well-Dressed Man is Wearing."

36. IzzyR, was it Battling Bilson, or am I confusing my pugilists here?


Now, there's still some questions left:

2. Lord Emsworth's precursor to the fat pig mania.

4. The Christian name of the Duke of Dunstable.

5. Lord Emwsorth's cook-like sister.

7. Reggie Tennyson's smuggling method.

9. Horace Davenport's unusual garb.

12. Jeff Miller's missiles.

13. The recipient of Jeff Miller's missiles. (hint - one of the characters mentioned in reply to another question is part of the answer here.)

20. What did Bingo do with their son, leading to the resumption of civil relations with Oofy Prosser?

24. What did Monty Bodkin swear he would change about his personal appearence, and why?

25. When Sue Brown got engaged, what comment did one of her acquaintances make on the appearence of Sue's financé, Ronnie Fish?

33. What's the name of the person who gets Bingo little taken off by the police for protesting the bomb?

34. What was the name of the worthy barmaid of the Angler's Rest? (Hint: Freddy Widgeon was once mistaken for someone of that surname).

[BTW - is there a point where people want the poser of the question to give the answer?]

I'm late for work so don't have time to think of any new questions. :(

[g8rguy]

*sigh*

Yes, I know, it's quite embarrassing. My excuse is that while I KNEW those stories and could lay my hands on them, describe the plots from memory, etc etc, the NAMES escaped me (and by the time I reached this thread, the answers I DID know off the top of my head, complete with names, had already been given). I'm horrible with names in general though, so it's not surprising.

But I think it's not Battling Bilson. Bilson was the pub-keeper in.. umm.. darn. Name escapes me (see?). I think it was called something along the lines of The Butler Did It, or some such, about the marriage tontine. Although I suppose the same character could be used in unrelated stories (I've read but little about Ukridge).

[IzzyR]

No, he's right. It is Battling Bilson.

[Miss Mapp]

Originally posted by Northern Piper:
28. Miss Mapp, was it Soapy Molloy, the silver-toungued fraudster-salesman of Silver River Oil shares?

No, that's not it.

I think all of my other questions have been answered. I'll have to go dig up some more...

[Chez Guevara]

The first love of Lord Emsworth is pumpkins, and the Duke of Dunstable is otherwise Alaric.

[g8rguy]

Originally posted by IzzyR
No, he's right. It is Battling Bilson.

Hmm.. He CHEATED and used a character from a Ukridge story in a non-Ukridge story! I want my money back. :D

[Miss Mapp]

Originally posted by Northern Piper:
9. What unexpected garb was Horace Davenport wearing at the Drones Club one day, leading Pongo Twistleton to lose a bet of 50 pounds, borrowed from Oofy Prosser?

I was looking for an answer to this one. Actually, I gave up on it more than a week ago, but am just coming back to the question now (sorry). I can't find this in any of the Wodehouse books I have. Answer, please?

Also, I will give the answer to my question re Oofy Prosser if you like.

[ENugent]

Originally posted by Northern Piper:
9. What unexpected garb was Horace Davenport wearing at the Drones Club one day, leading Pongo Twistleton to lose a bet of 50 pounds, borrowed from Oofy Prosser?

I just read that one last week (I think it's Uncle Fred in the Springtime). He was dressed as a Masai warrior, IIRC. (Pongo thought he would be dressed as a Boy Scout).

[Northern Piper]

Enugent's got it (although technically Horace later said he was a Zulu warrior).A movement along the corridor attracted therir attention. Claude Pott, accompanied by a small committee, was proceeding to the telephone booth. He removed the wedge from beneath the door, and as he opened it there emerged a figure.

Nature hath framed strange fellows in her time, but few stranger than the one that now whizzed out of the telephone booth, whizzed down the corridor, whizzed past the little group at the desk and, bursting through the door of the club, whizzed down the steps and into a passing cab.

The face of this individual, as the hall porter had foreshadowed, was a rich black in colour. Its long body was draped in tights of the same sombre hue, surmounted by a leopard's skin. Towering above his head was a head-dress of ostrich feathers, and in its right hand it grasped an assegai. It was wearing tortoise-shell spectacles.

Pongo, sliding back against the desk, found his arm gripped by a kindly hand.

'Shift ho, my boy, I think, eh?' said Lord Ickenham. 'There would appear to be nothing to keep you here, and a meeting with Oofy Prosser at this moment might be fraught with pain and embarrassment.'

So, Miss Mapp, I give - who swindled Oofy?

[Miss Mapp]

Originally posted by Northern Piper:
So, Miss Mapp, I give - who swindled Oofy?

Oofy Prosser was swindled out of 2000 pounds by a theatrical agent named Jas Waterbury in "Jeeves and the Greasy Bird." A remarkable feat, since "it is well known that it's practically impossible to extract as much as five bob from [Oofy] without using chloroform and a forceps. Dozens have tried it and failed."

The money was extracted from Oofy via threat of a breach of promise suit involving an actress/niece of Waterbury's. Waterbury also tries the same trick on Bertie, who is rescued by Jeeves, per usual.

[ellis555]

37. (I think) How many other books titled Summer Lightning did Wodehouse discover after already settling on that title himself?

Unfortunately, all of the answers that I could get off the top of my head have been given already. And my collection is some thousands of miles away.

-ellis

[Northern Piper]

ellis555 - didn't he say something like: "I hope my book is good enough to be included in the list, 'The 100 Best Books named Summer Lightning?' "

Miss Mapp - of course! The Greasy Bird! How could I have forgotten! (Mind you, I still think that somewhere in the oeuvre Oofy runs into Soapy, but I'm not sure where it is. Perhaps it will come to me in the night and I will run around my bedroom crying out, "Summer Lightning!" (Except Soapy and Oofy aren't in that one, but you get the idea.))

[Miss Mapp]

Originally posted by Northern Piper:
Miss Mapp - of course! The Greasy Bird! How could I have forgotten! (Mind you, I still think that somewhere in the oeuvre Oofy runs into Soapy, but I'm not sure where it is. [/B]

There may be. My collection is, unfortunately, incomplete. For example, I know I've read that passage about Pongo's costume before, but know just as surely that I don't have that story here.

So...are you up for another go-round? I've put my Wodehouse books back on the shelves, but they can be taken down again at a moment's notice if more trivia calls.

[ellis555]

Originally posted by Northern Piper
ellis555 - didn't he say something like: "I hope my book is good enough to be included in the list, 'The 100 Best Books named Summer Lightning?' "


I'm pretty sure he locates three or four in his own library alone. But it had already been sent off the the printers, thus the comment which you have recalled.

I'd attempt to revive the thread, but can't come up with any stumpers with out the books at hand.

-ellis