Event Type: Branch

Takes Place: 25th June 2025

Time: 18:30

Venue: Lord Ashcroft Building Anglia Ruskin University

Description: PG Wodehouse was a phenomenally popular English humourist, best known for creating the characters of Bertie Wooster and his valet Jeeves. You may recall the Jeeves and Wooster series starring Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie (some may even recall The World of Wooster from further back!) Wodehouse write light comedy and his work was revered by other writers for his perfect use of language. His characters inhabited what Evelyn Waugh called an 'idyllic world', far removed from harsh reality. His own brush with the real world came when he was interned by the Germans during the war and induced to make some humourous broadcasts over German radio; the outcry this prompted in Britain was so angry that for years he was banned from the BBC and he settled in America, never returning to Britain. He was knighted in 1975, shortly before his death, in a final act of reconciliation. This lecture will look at the unexpected story of how Wodehouse's work - and other comedy - reflected and even contributed to the decline in British belief in the Empire. Comedy is light stuff - but, as I hope to show - it can pack a powerful punch.

How to book: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/jeeves-the-british-empire-pg-wodehouse-the-decline-of-imperialism-tickets-1377428919979?aff=oddtdtcreator

Price: Free

Lecturer: Sean Lang

Region: East of England

Branch: Cambridge