The Mind Creative DECEMBER 2013 | Page 50

The Mind Creative DEC 2013 It was a proud day for Wodehouse (nicknamed “Plum”) when in 1939 he was awarded an honorary D.Litt. from Oxford University. He was later honoured with KBE (Knight of British Empire). Born in Surrey, England in 1981 he died in New York in on 14th February1975, aged 93. Quite appropriate that the lovable author passed away on Valentine’s Day. Having read over 60 of his classic comedies, it was a personal loss to me. PG Wodehouse made more people laugh than any other author. I end with another quote from Belloc: “If in, say, 50 years Jeeves and any other of that company – but in particular Jeeves – shall have faded, then what we have so long called England will no longer be.” This was written 65 years ago and neither PGW nor Jeeves are forgotten. Television sitcoms mention Jeeves and there is a laundry in St Ives called Jeeves. Lives there a man with mind so glum, as not to laugh when reading “Plum”? The quotable PG Wodehouse “Big chap with a small moustache and the sort of eye that can open an oyster at sixty paces.” “Just as I am about to feel belligerent about some country, I meet a decent sort of chap. We go out together and lose any fighting thoughts or feelings.” 50