Uneasy Money

In a day in June, at the hour when London moves abroad in quest of lunch, a young man stood at the entrance of the Bandolero Restaurant looking earnestly up Shaftesbury Avenue-a large young man in excellent condition, with a pleasant, good-humoured, brown, clean-cut face. He paid no attention to the stream of humanity that flowed past him. His mouth was set and his eyes wore a serious, almost a wistful expression. He was frowning slightly. One would have said that here was a man with a secret sorrow. William FitzWilliam Delamere Chalmers, Lord Dawlish, had no secret sorrow. All that he was thinking of at that moment was the best method of laying a golf ball dead in front of the Palace Theatre. It was his habit to pass the time in mental golf when Claire Fenwick was late in keeping her appointments with him. On one occasion she had kept him waiting so long that he had been able to do nine holes, starting at the Savoy Grill and finishing up near Hammersmith. His was a simple mind, able to amuse itself with simple things.

English writer Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, or P.G. Wodehouse, was born on October 15, 1881, and died on February 14, 1975. He was well known for his clever and light-hearted writing, especially for the novels and short tales he wrote that starred Bertie Wooster and Jeeves and were set in the picturesque English countryside. Before turning to creating plays and books, Wodehouse started out as a humourist for different periodicals. He wrote a large amount of literature, which included several plays, essays, short tales, and more than 90 novels. His writing frequently captured the eccentricities and vices of the upper class in Britain, presenting them in a humorous and light-hearted way. Wodehouse's conduct during World War II caused criticism in his later years, notwithstanding his popularity. While residing in France in 1940, he was detained by the Germans and gave a number of radio transmissions from Berlin that were heavily criticised for showing support for the Nazis. Even though Wodehouse insisted that his acts were innocent rather than treasonous, the broadcasts caused a great deal of controversy and allegations of betrayal.