Welcome to the world of P.G. Wodehouse
Pelham Grenville (P.G.) Wodehouse was born on the fifteenth of October, 1881, in the idyllic English town of Guildford. It is located in the Surrey County countryside, just to the North of Southampton. His father was a judge, who was chosen to serve in the then British colony of Hong Kong. As a result, young P.G. was raised by his aunts. The importance of aunts in the lives of his characters would become a recurring theme in his works. From 1894-1900, he was a full-time boarding student at Dulwich College (what we would today consider a private high school) in London. Wodehouse wanted to attend university and become a writer, but his father told him that he could not afford it. P.G. began working at a London bank, but immediately began submitting articles and stories to publications. They were purchased by several magazines and The Globe newspaper. By 1903, he had become an editor at The Globe, and would spend the rest of his life writing.
His first novel, Love Among the Chickens, was published in 1906. For the next 28 years, Wodehouse wrote prolifically. He published novels, short stories, plays, and even song lyrics. The election of the Liberal Party in 1910 spelled huge changes in Britain. There was a strong movement, which only gained momentum through the years, to tax the British wealthy out of existence. There was “double taxation” of income, and high taxes on land, homes and retained wealth. As a result, it was not unusual for high income earners to owe more in taxes than they made in a year. This drove Wodehouse to leave his beloved Britain for France in 1934. When the Germans invaded in 1940, Wodehouse was captured and taken to Berlin. During the war, he was coerced into making comic radio broadcasts for the Germans. At the end of the war, he was informed that he was viewed as a traitor in Britain, and could face prosecution at any time.
Even though he appealed to the British government for decades, Wodehouse was never given assurances that he would not be prosecuted if he returned home. He and his wife were allowed to enter the United States. He became a U.S. citizen in 1955. He purchased a home and would spend the rest of his life in, of all places, Southampton, New York. P.G. never stopped writing. He would make significant additions to his Blandings Castle and Jeeves series in his later years. When he saw death approaching, he decided to write his final book, Sunset at Blandings. Sadly for us all, he would not live to finish it. Just before his death, Wodehouse learned that British Prime Minister Harold Wilson, over the strong objections of government officials, had secured Wodehouse a knighthood. He was buried Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE (Knight of the British Empire).