Galahad at Blandings

Last updated

Galahad at Blandings
GalahadAtBlandings.jpg
First edition (US)
Author P. G. Wodehouse
Original titleThe Brinkmanship of Galahad Threepwood
LanguageEnglish
Publisher Simon & Schuster (US)
Herbert Jenkins (UK)
Publication date
31 December 1964 (US)
26 August 1965 (UK)
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (hardback & paperback)
Preceded by Service With a Smile  
Followed by"Sticky Wicket at Blandings" (short story), A Pelican at Blandings (novel) 

Galahad at Blandings is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United States on 31 December 1964 by Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York under the title The Brinkmanship of Galahad Threepwood, and in the United Kingdom on 26 August 1965 by Herbert Jenkins, London. [1]

Contents

It forms part of the Blandings Castle saga, being the ninth full-length novel to be set there.

Plot summary

Galahad Threepwood is in residence at Blandings Castle, where his sister, Lady Hermione Wedge, has hired a secretary, Sandy Callender. Galahad finds himself dealing with Sandy and her now-ex-betrothed Sam Bagshott, who needs £700 to fix up his inherited family seat and sell it.

Sam comes down to Blandings to plead his case with Sandy, but his first accidental encounter with her proves disastrous. Gally brings Sam into the Castle under the name of Augustus Whipple, noted author.

Meanwhile, Lady Hermione has learned that her prospective son-in-law Tipton Plimsoll has lost all his money in the stock market crash and is now impoverished. She rushes up to London to instruct her daughter Veronica to break the engagement. When Colonel Wedge receives Tipton, he asks Gally to intercept the letter, which Gally is pleased to do. On Hermione's return, Gally threatens to deliver the letter to Tipton unless Hermione allows Sam to stay. Sandy confronts Galahad, but ends up persuaded by him to take Sam back.

Meanwhile, Emsworth discovers the fatal letter in his desk and has it delivered to Tipton. Gally convinces Tipton that Veronica meant not a word of it, and the two couples head to the registrar's for a double wedding.

Lady Hermione, having discovered that the letter was delivered and nullified, exposes Sam, declares Emsworth to be impossible to manage, and leaves. Gally convinces Emsworth to lend the money to Sam.

Publication history

The first US edition dust jacket was illustrated by John Alcorn. The first UK edition dust jacket was illustrated by "Payne". [1]

The US edition, The Brinkmanship of Galahad Threepwood, is dedicated: "To Scott Meredith, prince of literary agents and best of friends". [1] Scott Meredith was an American literary agent.

Reception

Wodehouse biographer Richard Usborne found that "at this late stage Wodehouse ravels as tangled a plot as ever, but he unravels it with a rather unseemly rush." [2]

Adaptations

In 1992, the story was adapted as a radio drama in four parts in the Blandings radio series. [3]

The sixth episode of the first series of the Blandings television series, "Problems with Drink", was based on Galahad at Blandings and first aired on 17 February 2013. [4]

Related Research Articles

Blandings Castle is a recurring fictional location in the stories of British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being the seat of Lord Emsworth, home to many of his family and the setting for numerous tales and adventures. The stories were written between 1915 and 1975.

Clarence Threepwood, 9th Earl Emsworth, commonly known as Lord Emsworth, is a recurring fictional character in the Blandings Castle series of stories by British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse. He is the amiable and somewhat absent-minded head of the large Threepwood family. Longing for nothing more than to talk to his prize pig, Empress of Blandings, or potter peacefully in the idyllic gardens of Blandings Castle, he must frequently face the unpleasant reality of his domineering sisters and familial duties.

<i>Something Fresh</i> 1915 novel by P. G. Wodehouse

Something Fresh is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published as Something New in the United States, by D. Appleton & Company on 3 September 1915. It was published in the United Kingdom as "Something Fresh" by Methuen & Co. on 16 September 1915. There are a number of differences between the American and British versions, but essentially, it is the same book. The novel introduces Lord Emsworth of Blandings Castle, whose home and family reappear in many of Wodehouse's later short stories and novels.

<i>Summer Lightning</i> 1929 novel by P. G. Wodehouse

Summer Lightning is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United States on 1 July 1929 by Doubleday, Doran, New York, under the title Fish Preferred, and in the United Kingdom on 19 July 1929 by Herbert Jenkins, London. It was serialised in The Pall Mall Magazine (UK) between March and August 1929 and in Collier's (US) from 6 April to 22 June 1929.

Sebastian Beach is a fictional character in the Blandings stories by P. G. Wodehouse. He is the butler at Blandings Castle, seat of Lord Emsworth and his family, where he serves for over eighteen years.

The Honourable Galahad "Gally" Threepwood is a fictional character in the Blandings Castle stories by P. G. Wodehouse. Lord Emsworth's younger brother, a lifelong bachelor, Gally was, according to Beach, the Blandings butler, "somewhat wild as a young man". When he appears in the Blandings books, he is in his fifties, has thick grey hair and wears a black-rimmed monocle on a black ribbon.

<i>Heavy Weather</i> (Wodehouse novel) 1933 novel by P. G. Wodehouse

Heavy Weather is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United States on 28 July 1933 by Little, Brown and Company, Boston, and in the United Kingdom on 10 August 1933 by Herbert Jenkins, London. It had been serialised in The Saturday Evening Post from 27 May to 15 July 1933.

<i>Uncle Fred in the Springtime</i> 1939 novel by P. G. Wodehouse

Uncle Fred in the Springtime is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United States on 18 August 1939 by Doubleday, Doran, New York, and in the United Kingdom on 25 August 1939 by Herbert Jenkins, London.

<i>Full Moon</i> (novel) 1947 novel by P. G. Wodehouse

Full Moon is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United States by Doubleday & Company on 22 May 1947, and in the United Kingdom by Herbert Jenkins on 17 October 1947. It is the sixth full-length novel to be set at the beautiful but trouble-ridden Blandings Castle, home of Lord Emsworth.

<i>Pigs Have Wings</i> 1952 novel by P. G. Wodehouse

Pigs Have Wings is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, which first appeared as a serial in Collier's Weekly between 16 August and 20 September 1952. It was first published as a book in the United States on 16 October 1952 by Doubleday & Company, New York, and in the United Kingdom on 31 October 1952 by Herbert Jenkins, London. It is the seventh novel set at Blandings Castle.

<i>Service with a Smile</i> 1961 novel by P. G. Wodehouse

Service with a Smile is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United States on 15 October 1961 by Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York, and in the United Kingdom on 17 August 1962 by Herbert Jenkins, London. A condensed version of the story had previously been published in two parts in the Toronto Star Weekly, on 26 August and 2 September 1961.

<i>A Pelican at Blandings</i> 1969 novel by P. G. Wodehouse

A Pelican at Blandings is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 25 September 1969 by Barrie & Jenkins, London, and in the United States on 11 February 1970 by Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York, under the title No Nudes Is Good Nudes.

<i>Sunset at Blandings</i> Unfinished novel by P. G. Wodehouse

Sunset at Blandings is an unfinished novel by P. G. Wodehouse published in the United Kingdom by Chatto & Windus, London, on 17 November 1977 and in the United States by Simon & Schuster, New York, 19 September 1978. Wodehouse was working on the novel when he died in 1975. The book's first edition publisher, Chatto & Windus, gave the book its title.

"The Crime Wave at Blandings" is a short story by P. G. Wodehouse that first appeared in the United States in two parts, in the October 10 and October 17, 1936 editions of the Saturday Evening Post, and in the United Kingdom in the January 1937 issue of the Strand. It was included in the collection Lord Emsworth and Others (1937), and provided the title to the U.S. equivalent of that collection.

"Lord Emsworth Acts for the Best" is a short story by P. G. Wodehouse, which first appeared in the United Kingdom in the June 1926 Strand Magazine, and in the United States in the 5 June 1926 issue of Liberty. Part of the Blandings Castle canon, it features the absent-minded peer Lord Emsworth, and was included in the collection Blandings Castle and Elsewhere (1935), although the story takes place sometime between the events of Leave it to Psmith (1923) and Summer Lightning (1929).

"Pig-Hoo-o-o-o-ey" is a short story by P. G. Wodehouse, which first appeared in the United States in the 9 July 1927 issue of Liberty, and in the United Kingdom in the August 1927 Strand. Part of the Blandings Castle canon, it features the absent-minded peer Lord Emsworth, and was included in the collection Blandings Castle and Elsewhere (1935), although the story takes place sometime between the events of Leave It to Psmith (1923) and Summer Lightning (1929).

"Company for Gertrude" is a short story by P. G. Wodehouse, which first appeared in the United Kingdom in September 1928 in Strand, and in the United States in October 1928 in Cosmopolitan. Part of the Blandings Castle canon, it features the absent-minded peer Lord Emsworth, and was included in the collection Blandings Castle and Elsewhere (1935), though the story takes place sometime between the events of Leave it to Psmith (1923) and Summer Lightning (1929).

"Sticky Wicket at Blandings" is a short story by P. G. Wodehouse, which first appeared, under the title "First Aid for Freddie", in the United States in the October 1966 issue of Playboy magazine. Part of the Blandings Castle canon, it features the absent-minded peer Lord Emsworth, and was included in the collection Plum Pie (1966). It was published, under the title "First Aid for Freddie", in the United Kingdom in the April 1967 issue of Argosy, after being published in Plum Pie in the UK.

<i>Blandings</i> (radio series) Radio show

The Blandings radio series is a series of radio dramas based on the Blandings Castle stories by British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse. The stories were dramatised by Wodehouse biographer Richard Usborne. The series ran between 1985 and 1992 on BBC Radio 4.

References

Notes
  1. 1 2 3 McIlvaine (1990), pp. 98–99, A88.
  2. ↑ Usborne, Richard (1988). The Penguin Wodehouse Companion. Penguin Books. p. 88. ISBN   0-14-011165-4.
  3. ↑ "Galahad at Blandings (Part 1)". BBC Genome. BBC. 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  4. ↑ "Blandings: Problems With Drink". Apple Books. 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
Sources
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.