I am rejoined by Gwen Sheldon to peruse the first collection of Wodehouse short stories for a general audience, The Man Upstairs and Other Stories (1914), a bumper crop of nineteen stories and a favourite of both of us. Because there is so much to discuss, we have split it into two parts. In the second part we look at the remaining eleven stories, including the two stories whose success persuaded Wodehouse to move to America, "Archibald's Benefit" (his first golf short story) and "The Good Angel" (the first Keggs story, and first mention of a Lord Emsworth). Also in this batch we have a rare football-themed story, a Knights of the Round Table parody, and a highly autobiographical love story. We also each list our ten favourite stories. There will be spoilers.You can e-mail me at
[email protected] a donation at ko-fi.com/wodehousekeepingor follow me on Bluesky or FacebookStories covered in this instalment, with start times:"Archibald's Benefit" / "Reginald's Record Knock" 2m 09s"The Man, The Maid, and the Miasma" 10m 44s"The Good Angel" 17m 12s"Pots o' Money" 30m 08s"Out of School" 38m 46s"Three from Dunsterville" 43m 53s"The Tuppenny Millionaire" 51m 26s"Ahead of Schedule" 55m 22s"Sir Agravaine" ih 05m 50s"The Goal-Keeper and the Plutocrat" 1h 06m 40s"In Alcala" 1h 16m 16sOther works by Wodehouse mentionedLove Among the Chickens"The Truth about Webster"A Damsel in Distress"Mr Punch's Spectral Analyses. IV - An Official Muddle""Love Me, Love My Dog"The Coming of BillOver SeventySomething Fishy"The Crime Wave at Blandings""Creatures of Impulse""Jeeves in the Springtime"William Tell Told Again"The Idle King""At Geisenheimers"Reference works consultedRichard Usborne, Wodehouse at Work to the End, notes to Sunset at Blandings Sophie Ratcliffe, P. G. Wodehouse: A Life in LettersRobert McCrum, Wodehouse: A LifeNorman Murphy, A Wodehouse HandbookMadame Eulalie's Rare Plums websiteAlso mentionedElla Wheeler WilcoxRobert BrowningAlfred, Lord Tennyson, Idylls of the KingGene (band)Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Romeo and JulietFlanders and Swann, At The Drop of Another Hat (stage patter)"Purity" Statue, Times Square, New York City, 1909Thomas Mallory, Le Morte D'ArthurShrekJames Thurber, The 13 Clocks and The White DeerMark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in the Court of King ArthurJ B Priestley, The 31st of JuneTed LassoAndré Messager, MiretteAlice DoveyLeslie BradshawWilliam Townend Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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