Oldest Member (character)

The Oldest Member (of an unnamed golf club) is a fictional character from the short stories and novels of P. G. Wodehouse. He narrates the majority of Wodehouse's golf stories from the terrace of a golf club whose location is unclear, and he never has a proper name. We don't even know whether the Golf Club is located in England or in the United States. In The Clicking of Cuthbert, it appears to be in England. In The Heart of a Goof, it seems to be in the United States, but then, some characters will talk about pounds instead of dollars, and Marvis Bay is mentioned in one of the story. And we know that Marvis Bay is one of the favourite fictional English seaside resorts of Wodehouse.

While the club's members enjoy having drinks in the clubhouse after a brisk eighteen holes, they do so fully aware of the risk that the Oldest Member who, though he has long since given up golf, has seen all and knows all, might pick up on their conversation and begin to relate a story from his experience. Once he has started talking, he cannot be stopped. These stories are often told to another character, 'the young man' who for some reason seems eager to leave before the story has even started.

BBC Radio 4 aired an adaptation of some of the short stories and novels. Maurice Denham starred in three series between 1994 and 1999.

Isaac Asimov copied the format for his Union Club Mysteries.

Stories

The Oldest Member narrates twenty-five short stories:

• Nine of the ten stories in The Clicking of Cuthbert:
  • "The Clicking of Cuthbert"
  • "A Woman is Only a Woman"
  • "A Mixed Threesome"
  • "Sundered Hearts"
  • "The Salvation of George Mackintosh"
  • "Ordeal by Golf"
  • "The Long Hole"
  • "The Heel of Achilles"
  • "The Rough Stuff"
• All nine stories in The Heart of a Goof:
  • "The Heart of a Goof"
  • "High Stakes"
  • "Keeping in with Vosper"
  • "Chester Forgets Himself"
  • "The Magic Plus Fours"
  • "The Awakening of Rollo Podmarsh"
  • "Rodney Fails to Qualify"
  • "Jane Gets off the Fairway"
  • "The Purification of Rodney Spelvin"
• Five of the stories in Nothing Serious:
  • "Up From the Depths"
  • "Feet of Clay"
  • "Excelsior"
  • "Rodney Has a Relapse"
  • "Tangled Hearts"
• A single story from A Few Quick Ones:
  • "Scratch Man"
• A single story from Lord Emsworth and Others:
  • "There's Always Golf"

References

1. Usborne, Richard (2003). Plum Sauce: A P. G. Wodehouse Companion. New York: The Overlook Press. p. 118. ISBN 1-58567-441-9. 

External links

• Radio 4 adaptation episode listing The Oldest Member on epguides.com