PG Wodehouse died 50 years ago today. I am at the moment watching a TV series with Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry as the perfect casting for the two characters but I also remember excellent dramatisations of the books broadcast on radio 4 long ago.
Several times whilst teaching I successfully used the Wodehouse books as a safe bridge to move children on to adult fiction.
I think today the stories are seen as slightly ridiculous and totally of another time. However, I’m fairly sure that this lifestyle is still alive and well in the environs of St James’s in London. The graduates of the many butlers’ schools that exist must all go somewhere.
The books are a humorous delight; gentle, well-meaning and well written. A balm, often much needed.