Showing results by narrator "Jonathan Cecil" in All Categories

If Lord Ickenham had not succumbed to the temptation to dislodge the hat of Beefy Bastable, the irascible QC, with a well-aimed Brazil nut, the latter's famous legal mind might never have been stimulated to literature. But the incident provoked Beefy to write his exposé of the younger generation, a novel so shocking that it caused endless repercussions for its hapless author, and sparked off a whole series of outrageous misunderstandings that it would take the inventive talents of Lord Ickenham himself to resolve.

Psmith and his friend Mike are sent by their fathers to work in the City. But work is the last thing on Psmith's mind; surely there are more interesting things to do with the day than spend it in a bank? Unfortunately the natives aren't conducive to his socialising within work hours, but all's fair in love and work as the monocled Old Etonian, with a little grudging help from Mike, begins to rope in allies in order to reform the bank manager and make him A Decent Member of Society.

When Monty Bodkin returns home to England after a year in America, his absence has strengthened his resolve to claim the hand in marriage of his intended, the hockey-playing Gertrude Butterwick. However, his association with an overweight Hollywood movie mogul, his redoubtable wife, and even more formidable stepdaughter sets the scene for complications.

When Maud Marsh flings herself into George Bevan's cab in Piccadilly, he starts believing in damsels in distress. George traces his mysterious travelling companion to Belpher Castle, home of Lord Marshmoreton, where things become severely muddled. Maud's aunt, Lady Caroline Byng, wants Maud to marry Reddie, her stepson. Maud, meanwhile, is known to be in love with an unknown American she met in Wales. So when George turns up speaking American, a nasty case of mistaken identity breaks out.

This hilarious installment of the inimitable manservant Jeeves and his twit of an employer, Bertie Wooster, is one of the best stories written by the master of the pen, prank, and pun. When Bertie Wooster goes to stay with his Aunt Dahlia at Brinkley Court and finds himself engaged to the imperious Lady Florence Craye, disaster threatens from all sides.

Meet Psmith, with a silent 'P' as in psychic. A gallant, charming individual, Psmith has a gift for getting into awful scrapes, and when he takes over a gentile journal known as Cosy Moments with the aid of Billy Windsor, its sub-editor, he turns it into a radical publication...with alarming and hilarious results.

How fortunate that Stilton Cheesewright drew Bertie Wooster, the red-hot favourite, in the Drones Club annual darts tournament. Had he not he would surely have beaten Bertie to a pulp and buttered the lawn with him. Stilton does not like men trifling with his fiancée Florence Craye's affections. In the event Florence would seem to prefer Percy Gorringe, stepson of L.G. Trotter.

A chance meeting on a train brought together Lord Ickenham and Bill Oakshott - although being told that the love of his life, Hermione, was engaged to none other than Pongo, Lord Ickenham's nephew, did make Bill feel like he'd been struck behind the ear.

Joey Cooley is a golden-curled child film star, the idol of American motherhood. Reginald, Third Earl of Havershot, is a boxing blue on a mission to save his wayward cousin from the fleshpots of Hollywood. Both are under anesthetic at the dentists when something strange happens - and their identities are swapped. Suddenly Joey can use his six-foot frame to get his own back on his Hollywood persecutors. But Reggie has to endure everything Joey had to put up with in the horrible life of a child star - including kidnapping.

Witty Wodehouses�s best-loved creation is the master-servant team of Bertie Wooster, the charming nitwit, and Jeeves, his effortlessly superior valet and protector. Newsweek says "they are at their best in The Code of the Woosters." Newsweek says "they are at their best in The Code of the Woosters."

The idyll of Blandings Castle is about to be disturbed, for the Hon. Freddie Threepwood is poised to make his debut as a jewel thief. Freddie, however, is not alone: Blandings is simply brimming with criminals and impostors all intent on stealing Aunt Constance's 20,000 pound diamond necklace. It is left to the debonair Psmith, with his usual aplomb, to unscramble the passion, problems, and identities, of one and all.

The hideous Walsingford Hall is home to an odd assortment of coves…The vile premises belong to Sir Buckstone, who is in a little financial difficulty. So for a little monetary help he puts a roof over the heads of people like (among others) Tubby Vanringham, the adoring slave of cold-hearted Miss Whittaker. His brother Joe has fallen head over heels for Sir Buck’s daughter, Jane. She, however, only has eyes for Adrian Peake, who has already formed a liaison with the terrifying - but superbly wealthy - Princess Dwornitzchek. Is there no end to the confusion?

In the Angler’s Rest, drinking hot scotch and lemon, sits one of Wodehouse’s greatest raconteurs. Mr. Mulliner, his vivid imagination lubricated by Miss Postlethwaite the barmaid, has fabulous stories to tell of the extraordinary behavior of his far-flung family.... One of them concerns Wilfred, who lights on the formula for Buck-U-Uppo, a tonic given to elephants to enable them to face tigers with the necessary nonchalance. Its explosive effects on a shy young curate and then the higher clergy are gravely revealed.

Bertie Wooster's friend Gussie Fink-Nottle is sentenced to 14 days for wading in the fountain at Trafalgar Square. Bertie is worried that Gussie's fiancé Madeline will be angry because she has a distressing habit of turning her attentions to Bertie when her fiancé upsets her. Bertie has the bright idea of impersonating Gussie, and showing up at Deverill Hall. The situation is wonderfully comical when Gussie shows up, posing as Bertie. Only Jeeves, arriving in his own disguise, can sort out this mess.

The instinct of the true Porterhouse man faced with a crisis is to reach for the bottle and then to fall back on the subtle tactical skills honed at Cambridge down the centuries: blackmail and kidnap. But will these be enough? Menaced on all sides - by the collapse of the Chapel, by the tentacles of organised crime, and by the hovering threat of the abominable Dog’s Nose Man - will Porterhouse be forced to unleash the most fearsome weapon in its armoury - the college food?

On doctor's orders, Bertie Wooster retires to sample the bucolic delights of Maiden Eggesford. But his idyll is rudely shattered by Aunt Dahlia who wants him to nobble a racehorse. Similar blots on Bertie's horizon come in the shape of Major Plank, the African explorer, Vanessa Cook, proud beauty and 'moulder of men', and Orlo Porter, who seems to have nothing else to do but to think of sundering Bertie's head from his body.

Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge has hit upon a foolproof plan to get rich quick: he's starting a chicken farm. Dragging his adoring wife Millie and his long-suffering friend and novelist Jeremy Garnet with him to Dorset, he begins his enterprise. Complications ensue, involving the taciturn Hired Man and his bumptious dog, supercilious chickens, irascible professors, angry creditors, and divided lovers.

Bertie Wooster is in trouble again as his lovesick pal, Bingo Little, falls in love with every girl he lays eyes on. The real problem starts when Bingo decides to marry one of the girls, and he enlists Bertie's help. Luckily for Bertie, Jeeves once again comes to the rescue!

The house party at Chateau Blissac, Brittany, features a rather odd array of guests this year. Mr. J. Wellington Gedge is hoping for some peace and quiet while his wife takes herself off for a while. She, however, has invited numerous visitors to the chateau, to whom he will have to play reluctant host. Senator Opal and his daughter are expected, and so is the chateau's handsome owner, Vicomte de Blissac.

My Man Jeeves, first published in 1919, introduced the world to affable, indolent Bertie Wooster and his precise, capable valet, Jeeves. Some of the finest examples of humorous writing found in English literature are woven around the relationship between these two men of very different classes and temperaments. Where Bertie is impetuous and feeble, Jeeves is coolheaded and poised.