Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge

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"Ukridge" redirects here; for the omnibus work of the same name see Ukridge (short stories)

Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge (pronounced "Fanshawe Ewkridge" (as in fridge)) is a fictional character from the short stories and novels of P. G. Wodehouse.

Ukridge is a schemer who will do anything to increase his funding -- except, of course, work. An alert and creative opportunist, he makes sure that no kindness shown to him, however small, will go unexploited for financial gain.

1 Appearances
2 Character
3 Life
4 Inspiration and impersonation
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Appearances

He appears in the following stories:

Love Among the Chickens (1906), a novel about Ukridge
All 10 stories in the omnibus Ukridge (1924).
"Ukridge and the Home from Home", "The Come-back of Battling Billson", and "The Level Business Head", which all appear in Lord Emsworth and Others (1937).
"A Bit of Luck for Mabel", "Buttercup Day" and "Ukridge and the Old Stepper", collected in Eggs, Beans, and Crumpets (1940).
"Success Story" from the collection Nothing Serious (1950).
"A Tithe for Charity" from A Few Quick Ones (1959).
"Ukridge Starts a Bank Account" from Plum Pie (1966)

[edit] Character

Standing around 6' 2" tall, with large ears and a loud voice, Ukridge makes a striking figure, generally found wearing a worn grey flannel suit with a bright yellow Mackintosh over it; his collar is rarely properly attached to his shirt, and his pince-nez glasses are held in place with wire from a ginger beer bottle.

Ukridge has a fondness for whisky and cigars. He tends to address people as "laddie" or "my old horse", and his favourite exclamations are "upon my Sam" and "it's a bit hard", the latter summing up his view of the treatment life invariably seems to mete out to him, although he remains forever cheerful.

Ukridge is forthright and opinionated, and likes to maintain a casual, informal atmosphere. Though rarely meaning to be rude, he often manages to offend those not used to his manner, and people overwhlemed by his personality and persuaded to give him credit regularly become less civil when they find their bills unpaid.

He does occasionally win people over, the ex-butler Bowles who owns his friend Jimmy Corcoran's apartment building being a quite mystifying case-in-point. Ukridge exhibits no snobbery, and is often pally with members of the lower orders, domestic staff, bookies, and chaps he meets in pubs. For a time Ukridge manages the boxer "Battling" Billson, who he met at sea.

To those who count themselves his friends (foremost among them being Corcoran, who narrates the shorts, and Jeremy Garnet, narrator of Love Among the Chickens), Ukridge is a difficult and often exasperating companion, but one who is generally well-regarded. Corcoran has a lot of time for him, despite the ordeals he endures at his friend's hand, and their old schoolfellow George Tupper, a man of some wealth and distinction in the Foreign Office, has some faith in his schemes and is often generous with funds.

[edit] Life

Ukridge's early years (as recounted in "Ukridge's Dog College") were not proud times; expelled from school (later revealed to be Wrykyn) for sneaking out at night to attend a local fair (he had the forethought to wear a false beard, but omitted to remove his school cap), he travelled the world in various capacities, visiting a wide number of countries and getting himself in trouble in almost all of them.

At some point in his youth he was a schoolmaster at a private school, along with his friend Jeremy Garnet. His time in England seems to be mostly in a state of penury, although he has a wealthy aunt named Julia, who lives in the Wimbledon Common area and with whom he resides from time to time, generally upsetting by abusing her hospitality in some way.

In Love Among the Chickens, the events of which seem to occur some time after those of the shorts, Ukridge is married to Millie, a small young woman who is often described as looking like a little girl, but who is capable and cheerful despite her husbands' frequent financial troubles. The events leading to their engagement are recounted in the short story "Ukridge Rounds a Nasty Corner".

[edit] Inspiration and impersonation

Ukridge appears to based on an acquaintance of Wodehouse's friend of school days, William Townend. Both Love Among the Chickens and the Ukridge collection are dedicated to Townend, and in the Love Among the Chickens dedication, Wodehouse mentions a letter he received from Townend describing an acquaintance who, like Ukridge, starts a chicken farm in the West country.

In 1968, the BBC made seven 30-minute adaptations of Ukridge's adventures as part of the World of Wodehouse. The great man was played by Anton Rodgers, with Julian Holloway as his sidekick Corky.

In a series of BBC radio adaptions aired between December 1991 and January 1992, Ukridge was played by Griff Rhys Jones.