Roderick Spode

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Roderick Spode, 8th Earl of Sidcup, also known as Lord Sidcup, is a minor fictional character from the novels of P. G. Wodehouse.

Spode is modelled after and a parody of Sir Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists. The name was probably suggested by Mosley's family connection to Staffordshire and the Potteries area. Spode was at first an 'amateur dictator' who led a farcical group of fascists called the Saviours of Britain, better known as the Black Shorts. Spode adopted black shorts as a uniform because, according to Gussie Fink-Nottle in The Code of the Woosters, "By the time Spode formed his association, there were no shirts left." This is considered to be a major fashion faux pas, according to Bertie Wooster (wearing shorts was a sign of immaturity at the time, as a young man did not receive long pants until he left school) , and he uses this to make fun of Spode. He marched his followers around London and the countryside, preaching loudly to the public on the dissoluteness of modern society until a heckler hit him in the eye with a potato.

Spode is a large and intimidating figure, appearing "as if Nature had intended to make a gorilla, and had changed its mind at the last moment". He is constantly in love with Madeline Bassett, and though he intended to remain a bachelor during his career as a dictator, he nevertheless attempted to protect her from men "playing fast and loose"; to this end, he threatened on several occasions to beat Wooster and Gussie to jelly.

Before Spode inherited the title of Earl of Sidcup from his uncle, he made a living as the "founder and proprietor of the emporium in Bond Street known as Eulalie Soeurs", a famed designer of ladies' lingerie. (This may allude to the fact that The Lady was owned by the Mitford family, and Mosley became Diana Mitford's second husband.) Out of embarrassment, Spode had long attempted to keep his ownership of the business a secret, though Jeeves discovered the fact in the Junior Ganymede Club's official Book, where one of Spode's former valets had inscribed it. In The Code of the Woosters, this discovery allowed Bertie to threaten Spode with public embarrassment and prevent being coshed: as Bertie says, "You can't be a successful Dictator and design women's underclothing. One or the other. Not both." Indeed, whenever Bertie mentions the name "Eulalie" throughout the book, Spode instantly becomes meek and acquiesing (except for one memorable scene where Bertie joyfully provokes Spode into anger and then finds out he cannot remember the name of the lingerie store). Bertie plans to use the same strategem in Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit to prevent Spode - who is an expert on jewellery - from revealing that Aunt Dahlia's pearl necklace is in fact a fake (she pawned the real one to raise money for her magazine, Milady's Boudoir). Before he attempts the blackmail, however, Spode dashes his hopes by telling Bertie that he has sold Eulalie Soeurs. It is left up to Aunt Dahlia to save the day by actually coshing Spode herself.

Spode appears in a number of Wodehouse's novels:

The Code of the Woosters (1937), in which the Eulalie Soeurs incident occurs
Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit (1954), as Lord Sidcup
Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves (1963), again as Lord Sidcup; he gets engaged to Madeline Bassett
Much Obliged, Jeeves (1971)

[edit] Quote

"The trouble with you, Spode, is that just because you have succeeded in inducing a handful of half-wits to disfigure the London scene by going about in black shorts, you think you're someone. You hear them shouting 'Heil, Spode!' and you imagine it is the Voice of the People. That is where you make your bloomer. What the Voice of the People is saying is: 'Look at that frightful ass Spode swanking about in footer bags! Did you ever in your puff see such a perfect perisher?'"
—Bertie Wooster speaking to Spode in The Code of the Woosters

[edit] References

Usborne, Richard (2003). Plum Sauce: A P. G. Wodehouse Companion. New York: The Overlook Press, pages 137–207. ISBN 1-58567-441-9.
Wodehouse, P. G. (1937). The Code of the Woosters. Vintage Books, pages 221–222. ISBN 0-394-72028-8.
Wodehouse, P. G. (1954). Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-028120-7.