Blandings Castle

Downton Abbey - PG Wodehouse style! Here we have a glorious ensemble of Wodehousian characters knocking elbows to foreheads in the elegant and grand Blandings Castle. Meet Freddy Threepwood, the vagrant son of doddering old Lord Emsworth of Blandings Castle. Freddy has recently become engaged to Aline Peters, the American heiress of an irascible father. The snag is that Freddy seems to have at one point become enamored of a struggling actress, Joan Valentine, and written some impetuous and imprudent letters to her. Joan has now moved on and is currently employed as a writer for a magazine's society column. Freddy has employed a certain R. Jones, a man of portly and dubious character, to attempt to buy back Freddy's letters, and keep his engagement safe. We also meet Ache Marson, an athlete who writes the Gridley Quayle series of pulp mystery stories, and also lives in the flat just below the actress/writer Joan Valentine. Got that strait? Sound confusing? Wait till we get going. Narrated by B.J. Harrison of The Classic Tales Podcast who brings each whimsical Wodehouse character to life with his usual, wonderful gusto.

One thing that constantly dis- rupts the peace of life at Blandings is the constant incursion of impostors. Blandings has impostors like other houses have mice. Now there are two of them—both intent on a dangerous enterprise. Lord Emsworth's secretary, the efficient Baxter, is on the alert and determined to discover what is afoot—despite the distractions caused by the Honorable Freddie Threepwood's hapless affair of the heart.

Welcome to Blandings Castle, a place that is never itself without an imposter.Wodehouse himself once noted that "Blandings has impostors like other houses have mice." On this particular occasion there are two, both intent on a dangerous enterprise. Lord Emsworth's secretary, the Efficient Baxter, is on the alert and determined to discover what is afoot-despite the distractions caused by the Honorable Freddie Threepwood's hapless affair of the heart.Freddie is engaged to marry the daughter of a wealthy American who is a passionate collector of ancient Egyptian scarabs. When one goes missing, a thousand-pound reward is offered for its return and Blandings becomes a madhouse as friends turn rivals in the scramble to retrieve the object.

The idyll of Blandings Castle is about to be disturbed, for the Honorable Freddie Threepwood is poised to make his debut as a jewel thief. Freddie, however, is not alone: Blandings is simply brimming with criminals and impostors all intent on stealing Aunt Constance's twenty-thousand-pound diamond necklace. It is left to the debonair Psmith, with his usual aplomb, to unscramble the passion, problems, and identities, of one and all.

Here are a dozen stories to delight all Wodehouse addicts...A crooning tenor is attempting to captivate the affections of the Rev. Rupert Bingham's fiancee, Lord Emsworth is striving to remove a pumpkin-shaped blot on the family escutcheon, the Hon. Freddie Threepwood is making a last-ditch attempt to convert Lady Alcester to the beneficial quality of Donaldson's Dog-Joy, and in the bar-parlor of the Anglers' Rest, Mr. Mulliner fascinates everyone with the secret history of old Hollywood.

Another laugh-aloud story of Blandings Castle, set in an idyllic part of Shropshire, England, where the sun always seems to shine, even when it's stormy.

Part of the popular "Castle Blandings” series, Heavy Weather is as light as a feather. In this sparkling sequel to Summer Lightning a storm is brewing over Blandings Castle. But surely, the storm will conk out and the thunder grumble away……

Despite marriage to a millionaire's daughter and success as a vice-president of Donaldson's, Inc., manufacturers of the world-famous Donaldson's Dog-Joy, Freddie Threepwood, Lord Emsworth's younger son, still goes in fear of his aunts when at Blandings Castle. Full Moon tells the story of how he faces them down while promoting the love of Bill Lister and Prudence Garland. A charming Blandings comedy with a full Wodehouse complement of aunts, pigs, millionaires, colonels, imposters, and dotty earls.

Can the Empress of Blandings win the Fat Pigs class at the Shropshire Show for the third year running? Galahad Threepwood, Beach the butler, and others have put their shirt on this, and for Lord Emsworth it will be paradise on earth. But a substantial obstacle lurks in the way: Queen of Matchingham, the new sow of Sir Gregory Parsloe. Galahad knows this pretender to the crown must be pignapped. But can the Empress in turn avoid a similar fate? In this classic Blandings novel, pigs rise above their bulk to vanish and reappear in the most unlikely places, while young lovers are crossed and recrossed in every room in Blandings Castle.

In Pigs Have Wings, affably potty Lord Emsworth is embroiled in a fierce pig-rearing battle with his obese neighbour, Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe. Tossed in for good measure: romantic entanglements, some dubious detective work and a fearful dieting product called 'Slimmo'. Blandings is also never complete without the resourcefulness of canny Gally Threepwood, the staunchness of 'man mountain' butler Beach and the stentorian tones of Lady Constance.

Galahad can't abide broken hearts. So when Sam Bagshott and Sandy, Lord Emsworth's current secretary, have a falling-out over a bet, Galahad determines to reunite the warring couple. Sam stands to win a sackful if Tipton Plimsoll marries Veronica Wedge, Lord Emsworth's niece, but there's a rumor that Tipton is deep in the financial soup. Veronica's fearsome mother immediately stops all nuptials. To add to the mayhem, the Empress, Lord Emsworth's beloved prize porker, is discovered drunk. Fortunately, Galahad is on hand to put matters right. Or so he hopes.

Latest recording from the popular Blandings saga of novels. Sparkling comedy from P.G. Wodehouse read by the inimitable Martin Jarvis, hilarious and entertaining listening.

Clarence, ninth Earl of Emsworth, looks like the old man in a Victorian melodrama whose mortgage the villain had just foreclosed. He felt the absence of that glow which accompanied the departure of one of his sisters. Emsworth needed Galahad. There are tricky corners to be rounded and assorted godsons and pretty girls to be paired off. Fortunately, many years' membership of the Pelican Club means Galahad is able to keep cool, stiffen his upper lip, and always think quicker than the next man.