Barry Day and Tony Ring: P.G. Woodhouse 'in his own words'

By MARGIE THOMSON

Who was the man behind Jeeves, Bertie Wooster and that astonishing oeuvre of around 100 works of fiction, 16 plays, eight libretti and lyrics for 28 musical comedies?

Here's a sort of biography which succeeds brilliantly by telling the story largely in Wodehouse's own words, albeit often through his characters but also with chunks from his unfailingly amusing letters, with only minimal interruption from the biographer to tie it all together.

It's predictably hilarious (wildly politically unsound, of course) and will have you enjoying the old codger out loud to whoever happens to be around.

"I think we shall have to let truth go to the wall if it interferes with entertainment," Day quotes Wodehouse as saying. Nevertheless, with the help of Wodehousean Ring, he deftly sorts out the fiction from the real-life stuff, and the man from the clever mask.

Biggest surprise: that despite many a line such as "Warm though the morning was, he shivered, as only a confirmed bachelor gazing into the naked face of matrimony can shiver", Wodehouse was exceptionally happily married for 61 years to Ethel. Whether she shared his bliss, though, this biography admits it is unable to reveal.

Hutchinson

$45