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Blandings (A BBC Comedy) #0.5
Blandings: TV Tie-In
Published to coincide with the star-filled BBC production of Blandings, this superb new anthology sees these celebrated stories together for the first time.
Set in the delightfully dysfunctional mess of Blandings Castle these 6 gems follow the trials of poor Earl Emsworth and his beloved pig Empress as they clash with a panoply of friends and family, servants and spongers, bookies and hucksters. And all served up with great lashings of comedy from that rarest of geniuses: P.G. Wodehouse.
Set in the delightfully dysfunctional mess of Blandings Castle these 6 gems follow the trials of poor Earl Emsworth and his beloved pig Empress as they clash with a panoply of friends and family, servants and spongers, bookies and hucksters. And all served up with great lashings of comedy from that rarest of geniuses: P.G. Wodehouse.
400 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2012
8 people are currently reading
57 people want to read
About the author
P.G. Wodehouse
1,694 books6,945 followersSir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE, was a comic writer who enjoyed enormous popular success during a career of more than seventy years and continues to be widely read over 40 years after his death. Despite the political and social upheavals that occurred during his life, much of which was spent in France and the United States, Wodehouse's main canvas remained that of prewar English upper-class society, reflecting his birth, education, and youthful writing career.
An acknowledged master of English prose, Wodehouse has been admired both by contemporaries such as Hilaire Belloc, Evelyn Waugh and Rudyard Kipling and by more recent writers such as Douglas Adams, Salman Rushdie and Terry Pratchett. Sean O'Casey famously called him "English literature's performing flea", a description that Wodehouse used as the title of a collection of his letters to a friend, Bill Townend.
Best known today for the Jeeves and Blandings Castle novels and short stories, Wodehouse was also a talented playwright and lyricist who was part author and writer of fifteen plays and of 250 lyrics for some thirty musical comedies. He worked with Cole Porter on the musical Anything Goes (1934) and frequently collaborated with Jerome Kern and Guy Bolton. He wrote the lyrics for the hit song Bill in Kern's Show Boat (1927), wrote the lyrics for the Gershwin/Romberg musical Rosalie (1928), and collaborated with Rudolf Friml on a musical version of The Three Musketeers (1928).
An acknowledged master of English prose, Wodehouse has been admired both by contemporaries such as Hilaire Belloc, Evelyn Waugh and Rudyard Kipling and by more recent writers such as Douglas Adams, Salman Rushdie and Terry Pratchett. Sean O'Casey famously called him "English literature's performing flea", a description that Wodehouse used as the title of a collection of his letters to a friend, Bill Townend.
Best known today for the Jeeves and Blandings Castle novels and short stories, Wodehouse was also a talented playwright and lyricist who was part author and writer of fifteen plays and of 250 lyrics for some thirty musical comedies. He worked with Cole Porter on the musical Anything Goes (1934) and frequently collaborated with Jerome Kern and Guy Bolton. He wrote the lyrics for the hit song Bill in Kern's Show Boat (1927), wrote the lyrics for the Gershwin/Romberg musical Rosalie (1928), and collaborated with Rudolf Friml on a musical version of The Three Musketeers (1928).
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
August 12, 2015
This is the first time I've read anything by P.G. Wodehouse, though I've been meaning to for quite some time now. I should have started reading him a long time ago! The short, though connected, stories were very humorous and entertaining. I'm looking forward to reading some more!
October 29, 2014
Oh, I love P G Wodehouse! The characters at Blandings are fantastic and I love the interaction between Galahad and the others. You get the feeling that Plum feels more like Gally?
January 26, 2021
I've been busy. It took quite a while for me to finish reading this book.
Thanks to my husband who kept me awake by typing away on the laptop with the light on in our bedroom more than an hour after midnight, I was finally able to reach the concluding page of this novel. What a clever ending! (Gallahad Threepwood is especially endearing!)
With his allusions to several awkward issues in the 21st century, P. G. Wodehouse is OBVIOUSLY not a man of our time. Yet, he's the only author who literally cheers me up by LOL without guilt. Every page of his book bursts with rays of sunshine that "tickles the funny bone".
Thanks to my husband who kept me awake by typing away on the laptop with the light on in our bedroom more than an hour after midnight, I was finally able to reach the concluding page of this novel. What a clever ending! (Gallahad Threepwood is especially endearing!)
With his allusions to several awkward issues in the 21st century, P. G. Wodehouse is OBVIOUSLY not a man of our time. Yet, he's the only author who literally cheers me up by LOL without guilt. Every page of his book bursts with rays of sunshine that "tickles the funny bone".
November 13, 2017
I loved it!
P.G. Wodehouse can certainly describe an amusing group of characters.
I laughed at the way he used insults, the most interesting, and probably the reason it stuck in my memory was "a child of unmarried parents".
This will be my go-to book when I want to laugh or brighten my day.
Capital!
Quite, quite so!
P.G. Wodehouse can certainly describe an amusing group of characters.
I laughed at the way he used insults, the most interesting, and probably the reason it stuck in my memory was "a child of unmarried parents".
This will be my go-to book when I want to laugh or brighten my day.
Capital!
Quite, quite so!
February 26, 2021
It consists of five short stories and a novel from the Blanding Castle universe. The book, like most Wodehouse books, is entertaining. The first story, Pig-hoo-o-o-o-ey, is one of the funniest of the lot followed by The Crime Wave At Blandings. I think, Lord Emsworth is my favourite. Every time he or his name appears, I go 'Yay! '
January 12, 2018
3.75 stars.
Just really good fun. Sure it's dated and has the odd moment that makes you go "oh dear me, you should NOT say things like that", but that's to be expected from works of this time. As unfortunate as that it, it is unavoidable.
Just really good fun. Sure it's dated and has the odd moment that makes you go "oh dear me, you should NOT say things like that", but that's to be expected from works of this time. As unfortunate as that it, it is unavoidable.
February 8, 2018
Wodehouse you're a gem of a writer. Blandings castle is the best places to go and stay as a imposter. Nicely written book!
April 20, 2022
Fun and breezy. Enough of good old English upper class to delight in their antics and disparage for their stuffiness.
February 8, 2015
Blandings is a compilation of five short stories and one novella of and about Lord Emsworth, thus set in Blandings Castle. The collection is a result of the six-part adaptation of P G Wodehouse's Bladings series by Guy Andrews. This series was aired on BBC in 2013 as Season 1. Another seven-part adaptation was aired in 2014 as Season 2. I have not watched either, and so will limit my review to the book I have just read.
A myriad of characters appear in the stories - Lord Emsworth and his prized sow the Empress of Blandings being the perpetual recurring ones. Sisters, sons, brothers, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, butlers, constables, secretaries, imposters - the compendium has them all. Wodehouse takes you through the excitement in the seemingly mundane routine of Blandings Castle. A lot has been said about Wodehouse's skill with the written word and storytelling, not to mention the side splitting sense of humour - justifiably so - and this book is yet another testimony to those attributes.
Wodehouse's stories leave me with a sense that all is well a the end, and an unconscious smile - quite literally. I thoroughly enjoyed the collection. Some of them have featured earlier in Lord Emsworth and Others. I had read Crime Wave at Blandings before but gave it a re-read neverthless, for the humour and build up. Rupert Baxter appears in this story and his set right by Lord Emsworth. Pig-hoo-o-o-oey! is a feel good story, revolving around the rotund Empress and Lord Emsworth's devotion to her. Lord Emsworth and the Girl shows us the tender and stern sides of Lord Emsworth. I had not read this before and was a sweet discovery. This is the best feel good story amongst the lot for me. Company for Gertrude spins yarn in Wodehouse's favourite fashion - laying out an imbroglio and then rearranging everything perfectly. The Go-Getter features the incorrigible Hon. Freddie Threepwood who in his efforts to touch one of his aunts for a fortune ends up in unfortunate situations. For once he is not getting on to his father's nerves. It was good to have Freddie in the surroundings. The novella - Galahad at Blandings - is a stand out feature of the book. A quick read and classic Wodehouse. If you know what I mean.
A myriad of characters appear in the stories - Lord Emsworth and his prized sow the Empress of Blandings being the perpetual recurring ones. Sisters, sons, brothers, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, butlers, constables, secretaries, imposters - the compendium has them all. Wodehouse takes you through the excitement in the seemingly mundane routine of Blandings Castle. A lot has been said about Wodehouse's skill with the written word and storytelling, not to mention the side splitting sense of humour - justifiably so - and this book is yet another testimony to those attributes.
Wodehouse's stories leave me with a sense that all is well a the end, and an unconscious smile - quite literally. I thoroughly enjoyed the collection. Some of them have featured earlier in Lord Emsworth and Others. I had read Crime Wave at Blandings before but gave it a re-read neverthless, for the humour and build up. Rupert Baxter appears in this story and his set right by Lord Emsworth. Pig-hoo-o-o-oey! is a feel good story, revolving around the rotund Empress and Lord Emsworth's devotion to her. Lord Emsworth and the Girl shows us the tender and stern sides of Lord Emsworth. I had not read this before and was a sweet discovery. This is the best feel good story amongst the lot for me. Company for Gertrude spins yarn in Wodehouse's favourite fashion - laying out an imbroglio and then rearranging everything perfectly. The Go-Getter features the incorrigible Hon. Freddie Threepwood who in his efforts to touch one of his aunts for a fortune ends up in unfortunate situations. For once he is not getting on to his father's nerves. It was good to have Freddie in the surroundings. The novella - Galahad at Blandings - is a stand out feature of the book. A quick read and classic Wodehouse. If you know what I mean.
March 17, 2013
didnt finish. got side tracked too much thou hes an amazing writer.
September 13, 2015
Delightful a treat like no other..
November 16, 2015
Sparkling...
January 22, 2014
Such a joy after a Dickens.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews