Blandings Castle and Elsewhere

First edition (UK)

Blandings Castle and Elsewhere is a collection of short stories by P. G. Wodehouse. It was first published in the United Kingdom on 12 April 1935 by Herbert Jenkins, London, and, as Blandings Castle, in the United States on 20 September 1935 by Doubleday Doran, New York.[1] All the stories had previously appeared in Strand Magazine (UK) and all except the last in various US magazines.

Overview

The first six stories all take place at the book's namesake Blandings Castle; they are set some time between the events of Leave it to Psmith (1923) and those of Summer Lightning (1929). The seventh concerns Bobbie Wickham, an acquaintance and sometime fiancée of Bertie Wooster, and the last five are narrated by Mr Mulliner.

Contents

Television

Several of the Blandings shorts from this collection were adapted for television by the BBC, broadcast in February and March 1967 in six half-hour episodes. They starred Ralph Richardson as Lord Emsworth, Derek Nimmo as Freddie Threepwood, Meriel Forbes as Lady Constance, and Stanley Holloway as Beach. Unfortunately the master tapes of all but the first part ("Lord Emsworth and the Girl Friend"), were wiped, and no known copies exist.

Three of the stories featured in the collection, "Mr Potter takes a Rest Cure", "The Rise of Minna Nordstrom" and "The Nodder", were produced as part of the BBC's Wodehouse Playhouse series, starring John Alderton and Pauline Collins, airing in 1975 and 1976 respectively.[2]

In 2013. BBC television aired a new series Blandings starring Timothy Spall as Clarence, Jennifer Saunders as Connie, and Jack Farthing as Freddie. Beach was played by Mark Williams (2013) and Tim Vine (2014).

See also

References and sources

References
  1. McIlvaine, E., Sherby, L.S. and Heineman, J.H. (1990) P.G. Wodehouse: A comprehensive bibliography and checklist. New York: James H. Heineman, pp. 68-69. ISBN 087008125X
  2. Wodehouse Playhouse, Blandings.
Sources

External links