He was born Pelham Grenville Wodehouse on October 15, 1881 in Guildford, Surrey in South East England.
Pelham was the third son of Henry Ernest Wodehouse, a magistrate resident in the British colony of Hong Kong, and his wife, Eleanor, daughter of the Rev John Bathurst Deane.
The Wodehouses traced their ancestry back to the Boleyn family.
P. G. Wodehouse was one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His novels and short stories feature elaborate plots and a unique writing style based on a combination of very formal language, references to classical literature, and contemporary club-room slang.
His first novel was a school story called The Pothunters, serialised incomplete in Public School Magazine in early 1902, and issued in full in hardback on September 18, 1902.
After starting out with school stories, Wodehouse later switched to comic fiction, creating several regular comic characters who became familiar to the public, most famously the jolly gentleman of leisure Bertie Wooster and his invaluable and impeccable man-servant, Jeeves.
Percy Jeeves, a popular Warwickshire fast bowler, was the inspiration for Wodehouse's man-servant. The author witnessed the cricketer bowling at Cheltenham Cricket Festival in 1913. Jeeves died in the Battle of Somme during World War I, less than a year after the first appearance of the Wodehouse character who would make his name a household word.
The fictional character Aunt Agatha in the Jeeves novels was based on Wodehouse's own aunt, Mary Bathurst Deane.
Other comic characters created by Wodehouse include the immaculate and loquacious Psmith; Lord Emsworth of Blandings Castle with his pig, the Empress of Blandings; the disaster-prone opportunist Ukridge; the Oldest Member, with stories about golf; and Mr Mulliner, with tales on numerous subjects from film studios to the Church of England.
Wodehouse reached the peak of his productivity in the 1930s, averaging two books each year, and grossing an annual £100,000.
Kaiser Wilhelm II read P.G. Wodehouse aloud to his entourage, glaring at them when they failed to laugh.
In the mid 1900s, the young American composer Jerome Kern was writing for shows at London's Aldwych Theatre. In early 1906 the Aldwych Theatre actor-manager Seymour Hicks invited Wodehouse to join Kern and add topical verses to the shows running there.
The first Kern-Wodehouse collaboration, a comic number for The Beauty of Bath titled "Mr [Joseph] Chamberlain", was a show-stopper and was briefly the most popular song in London.
Towards the end of 1915 Jerome Kern introduced Wodehouse to the writer Guy Bolton, who became Wodehouse's closest friend and a regular collaborator.
Wodehouse also wrote scripts and screenplays and, in August 1911, his script A Gentleman of Leisure was produced on the Broadway stage.
His writing for plays also turned into movie scriptwriting, starting with the 1915 film A Gentleman of Leisure. He joined Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in 1930 for a year, and then worked for RKO Pictures in 1937.
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| Wodehouse in 1930, aged 48 |
Pelham was the third son of Henry Ernest Wodehouse, a magistrate resident in the British colony of Hong Kong, and his wife, Eleanor, daughter of the Rev John Bathurst Deane.
The Wodehouses traced their ancestry back to the Boleyn family.
P. G. Wodehouse was one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His novels and short stories feature elaborate plots and a unique writing style based on a combination of very formal language, references to classical literature, and contemporary club-room slang.
His first novel was a school story called The Pothunters, serialised incomplete in Public School Magazine in early 1902, and issued in full in hardback on September 18, 1902.
 |
| First edition Wikipedia |
After starting out with school stories, Wodehouse later switched to comic fiction, creating several regular comic characters who became familiar to the public, most famously the jolly gentleman of leisure Bertie Wooster and his invaluable and impeccable man-servant, Jeeves.
Percy Jeeves, a popular Warwickshire fast bowler, was the inspiration for Wodehouse's man-servant. The author witnessed the cricketer bowling at Cheltenham Cricket Festival in 1913. Jeeves died in the Battle of Somme during World War I, less than a year after the first appearance of the Wodehouse character who would make his name a household word.
The fictional character Aunt Agatha in the Jeeves novels was based on Wodehouse's own aunt, Mary Bathurst Deane.
Other comic characters created by Wodehouse include the immaculate and loquacious Psmith; Lord Emsworth of Blandings Castle with his pig, the Empress of Blandings; the disaster-prone opportunist Ukridge; the Oldest Member, with stories about golf; and Mr Mulliner, with tales on numerous subjects from film studios to the Church of England.
Wodehouse reached the peak of his productivity in the 1930s, averaging two books each year, and grossing an annual £100,000.
Kaiser Wilhelm II read P.G. Wodehouse aloud to his entourage, glaring at them when they failed to laugh.
In the mid 1900s, the young American composer Jerome Kern was writing for shows at London's Aldwych Theatre. In early 1906 the Aldwych Theatre actor-manager Seymour Hicks invited Wodehouse to join Kern and add topical verses to the shows running there.
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| Wodehouse aged 23 |
The first Kern-Wodehouse collaboration, a comic number for The Beauty of Bath titled "Mr [Joseph] Chamberlain", was a show-stopper and was briefly the most popular song in London.
Towards the end of 1915 Jerome Kern introduced Wodehouse to the writer Guy Bolton, who became Wodehouse's closest friend and a regular collaborator.
Wodehouse also wrote scripts and screenplays and, in August 1911, his script A Gentleman of Leisure was produced on the Broadway stage.
His writing for plays also turned into movie scriptwriting, starting with the 1915 film A Gentleman of Leisure. He joined Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in 1930 for a year, and then worked for RKO Pictures in 1937.
Wodehouse's only advice for would-be writers was "apply the seat of the trousers to the surface of the chair."
Wodehouse moved to France in 1934 for tax reasons where he bought a house near Le Touquet in the north.
In 1940 Wodehouse was taken prisoner at Le Touquet by the invading Germans and interned for nearly a year.
After his release, Wodehouse made some humorous broadcasts from German radio in Berlin. Though the talks were comic and apolitical, they were taken amiss in Britain at the time and there was a threat of prosecution. He never returned to England, living from 1947 until his death in the US.
Wodehouse was later exonerated and in 1974 the British prime minister, Harold Wilson, intervened to secure a knighthood for him which was announced in the January 1975 New Year Honours list.
He died of a heart attack in Southampton, New York on February 14, 1975 at the age of 93. Wodehouse was buried at Remsenburg Presbyterian Church four days later.
Wodehouse moved to France in 1934 for tax reasons where he bought a house near Le Touquet in the north.
In 1940 Wodehouse was taken prisoner at Le Touquet by the invading Germans and interned for nearly a year.
After his release, Wodehouse made some humorous broadcasts from German radio in Berlin. Though the talks were comic and apolitical, they were taken amiss in Britain at the time and there was a threat of prosecution. He never returned to England, living from 1947 until his death in the US.
Wodehouse was later exonerated and in 1974 the British prime minister, Harold Wilson, intervened to secure a knighthood for him which was announced in the January 1975 New Year Honours list.
He died of a heart attack in Southampton, New York on February 14, 1975 at the age of 93. Wodehouse was buried at Remsenburg Presbyterian Church four days later.
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