![]() ![]() The plot is somewhat like this:Ī guest of the Crumpet at the Drones Club, on seeing Pongo Twistleton acting in a distracted and despairing manner, is told that a visit from Pongo’s notorious Uncle Fred is imminent, and that previous visits have shown that despair is the only sensible option in such circumstances. He walks onstage in “Uncle Fred Flits By” and it is the best introduction. His life can be summed up in this immortal sentence: “I don’t know if you happen to know what the word “excesses” means, but these are what Pongo’s Uncle Fred from the country, when in London, invariably commits.” ![]() In my effort to redress this, meet Frederick Altamont Cornwallis Twistleton, 5th Earl of Ickenham, commonly known as Uncle Fred, described as an energetic and mischievous old chap with his talent for trouble being the bane of his long-suffering nephew Pongo Twistleton’s life. But as it happens, while reading the canon to collect examples, I came this story, voted as the best by Wodehouse societies around the globe, and introducing an endearing and unforgettable character, who has never got as much of the due he deserves unlike Bertie and Jeeves, Psmith, Mr Mulliner, Lord Emsworth and Ukridge. ![]() I had intended this post to initiate the series on “Sources of Humour” I had planned and told you about, with examples of the work of that superbly comic writer P G Wodehouse.
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