Narrator

Jonathan Cecil

Jonathan Cecil
  • When Monty Bodkin returns home to England after a year in America, his absence has strengthened his resolve to claim the hand in marriage of his intended, the hockey-playing Gertrude Butterwick. However, his association with an overweight Hollywood movie mogul, his redoubtable wife, and even more formidable stepdaughter sets the scene for complications. Add to this potpourri the piquant seasonings of a third-rate private detective, a devious pair of confidence tricksters, and a string of pearls, and the course of true love certainly won't run smoothly for Monty.

  • If Lord Ickenham had not succumbed to the temptation to dislodge the hat of Beefy Bastable, the irascible QC, with a well-aimed Brazil nut, the latter’s famous legal mind might never have been stimulated to literature. But the incident provoked Beefy to write his exposé of the younger generation, a novel so shocking that it caused endless repercussions for its hapless author, and sparked off a whole series of outrageous misunderstandings that it would take the inventive talents of Lord Ickenham himself to resolve.

  • Uncle Fred, or to give him his full title of Frederick Altamont Cornwallis Twistleton, fifth Earl of Ickenham, is considered by some as a splendid gentleman—a sportsman to his fingertips. Mr. Twistleton, nephew to the Earl, and otherwise known as Pongo to his friends, has a differing view. He simply describes his uncle as being loopy to the tonsils. But when the eccentric and well-loved Uncle Fred plays Cupid to Lord Emsworth, his old friend at Blandings Castle, little did he know that he would be known as Impostor A and the Lord's beloved pig, the Empress, as Impostor B.

  • These wonderfully funny short stories feature a cast of outrageous characters, all plotting to save themselves from wedlock, poverty, or ignominy—with various degrees of success. This recording includes the following stories: “All’s Well with Bingo,” “Bingo and the Peke Crisis,” “The Editor Regrets,” “Sonny Boy,” “Anselm Gets His Chance,” “Romance at Droitgate Spa,” “A Bit of Luck for Mabel,” “Buttercup Day,” and “Ukridge and the Old Stepper.”

  • Things on board the RMS Atlantic are terribly, terribly complicated. Monty Bodkin loves Gertrude, who thinks he likes Lotus Blossom, a starlet who definitely adores Ambrose, who thinks that she has a thing for his brother, Reggie, who is struck by Mabel Spence, sister-in-law of Ikey Llewellyn (movie mogul, Ambrose's prospective employer, and reluctant smuggler), but hasn't the means to marry her. With the well-meaning but unhelpful ship's steward, Albert Peasemarch, and a toy mouse with a screw-top head thrown in for good measure, it will, indeed, take the luck of the Bodkins to sort it all out.

  • Wodehouse dishes up non-stop hilarity in this classic quagmire featuring birdbrained Bertie Wooster and his astute butler, Reginald Jeeves. When Gussie Fink-Nottle lands in the slammer, Bertie poses as his pal in order to keep Madeline Bassett at bay. After all, no one knows Bertie at Deverill Hall. Corky’s dog, covert couples, five crackpot aunts, and a concert in costume increase the confusion. Captain Dobbs descends on Deverill to arrest a greenbearded burglar with a bonding hound—but who was the man in the checked suit? It’s Jeeves to the rescue again as he appears undercover to save nitwit Wooster from Fink-Nottle’s fate.

  • The hideous Walsingford Hall is home to an odd assortment of coves. The vile premises belong to Sir Buckstone, who is in a little financial difficulty. So for a little monetary help he puts a roof over the heads of people like (among others) Tubby Vanringham, the adoring slave of the coldhearted Miss Whittaker. His brother Joe has fallen head over heels for Sir Buck’s daughter Jane. She, however, only has eyes for Adrian Peake, who has already formed a liaison with the terrifying—but superbly wealthy—Princess Dwornitzchek. Is there no end to the confusion?

  • A private detective who can make the guilty confess simply by smiling at them. An artist so intimidated by his morally impeccable cat that he feels compelled to wear formal attire at dinner. A devotee of Proust whose life is turned upside down when he inadvertently subscribes to a correspondence course on "How to Acquire Complete Self-Confidence and an Iron Will." These are just a few of the many members of the eccentric Mulliner clan whose lives and exploits are laid before the regulars of the Angler's Rest by that doyen of raconteurs, Mr. Mulliner, in a series of tall stories in which lunacy and comic exuberance reign supreme.

  • Most of the big money belongs to Torquil Paterson Frisby, the dyspeptic American millionaire—but that doesn’t stop him wanting more out of it. His niece, the beautiful Ann Moon, is engaged to “Biscuit,” Lord Biskerton, who doesn’t have very much of the stuff and so he has to escape to Valley Fields to hide from his creditors. Meanwhile, his old school friend Berry Conway, who is working for Frisby, himself falls for Ann—just as Biscuit falls for her friend Kitchie Valentine. Life in the world of Wodehouse can sometimes become a little complicated.

  • At the house party at Chateau Blissac, Brittany features a rather odd array of guests this year.

    Mr. J. Wellington Gedge is hoping for some peace and quiet while his wife takes herself off for a while. She, however, has invited numerous visitors to the chateau, to whom he will have to play reluctant host. Senator Opal and his daughter are expected, and so is the chateau's handsome owner Vicomte de Blissac.

    When a certain letter goes missing, landing the Senator in the proverbial hot water, it's up to Packy Franklyn, a great pal of the Vicomte's, to sort out the mess. Unfortunately, this involves a little light safe-cracking.                                          

  • In the bar-parlor of the Angler's Rest, a bucolic English pub, Mr. Mulliner tells his amazing tales, holding the assembled company of pints of stout and whiskeys and splash in the palm of his expressive hand. Here you can discover what happened to the man who gave up smoking, share a frisson when the butler delivers something squishy on a silver salver ("Your serpent, Sir," said the voice of Simmons), and experience the dreadful unpleasantness at Bludleigh Court. Throughout, the Mulliner clan remains resourcefully in command in the most outlandish situations.

  • On doctor's orders, Bertie Wooster retires to sample the bucolic delights of Maiden Eggesford. But his idyll is rudely shattered by Aunt Dahlia who wants him to nobble a racehorse. Similar blots on Bertie's horizon come in the shape of Major Plank, the African explorer, Vanessa Cook, proud beauty and "molder of men," and Orlo Porter who seems to have nothing else to do but think of sundering Bertie's head from his body.

  • When Bertie Wooster goes to stay with his Aunt Dahlia at Brinkley Court and unexpectedly becomes engaged to the imperious Lady Florence Craye, disaster threatens from all sides.

    While Florence tries to cultivate Bertie’s mind, her former fiancé, hefty ex-policeman “Stilton” Cheesewright, threatens to beat his body to a pulp, and her new admirer, the bleating poet Percy Gorringe, tries to borrow a thousand pounds.

    To cap it all, there’s a jewelry heist; plus, Bertie has incurred the disapproval of Jeeves by growing a mustache. All in all, it’s a classic Wodehouse farce.

  • Bertie Wooster is in trouble again as his lovesick pal, Bingo Little, falls in love with every girl he lays eyes on. The real problem starts when Bingo decides to marry one of the girls and he enlists Bertie's help. Luckily for Bertie, Jeeves once again comes to the rescue! With his usual savoir-faire and panache, Jeeves unties the tangles and irons out the creases in his unflappable and inimitable way.

  • Who would think that an eighteenth-century silver cow creamer could cause so much trouble? Uncle Tom wants it, Sir Watkyn Bassett has it, and Aunt Dahlia is blackmailing Bertie to steal it. With relations between Bertie and Sir Watkyn being far from cordial (ever since the Boat Race night, when Sir Watkyn fined the young Wooster five pounds for pinching a policeman's helmet), the situation looks tricky. Arriving at Totleigh Towers, Sir Watkyn's country seat, matters get progressively worse. The nightmare crew includes not only that fierce old magistrate but his right-hand man, the frightful Roderick Spode. Add to that Madeline Bassett, Gussie Fink-Nottle, Stiffy Byng, and Harold "Stinker" Pinker and there's only one thing to say: "What ho, Jeeves!"

  • When Maud Marsh flings herself into George Bevan's cab in Piccadilly, he starts believing in damsels in distress. George traces his mysterious traveling companion to Belpher Castle, home of Lord Marshmoreton, where things become severely muddled. Maud's aunt, Lady Caroline Byng, wants Maud to marry Reggie, her stepson. Maud, meanwhile, is known to be in love with an unknown American she met in Wales. So when George turns up speaking American, a nasty case of mistaken identity breaks out. In fact, the scene is set for the perfect Wodehouse comedy of errors.

  • Bertie Wooster was indignant—and with reason. The neighbors had dared to make a fuss about the assiduous practicing of his beloved banjolele. But a further blow was to come. “If,” said Jeeves, “it is really your intention to continue playing that instrument, I have no option but to leave.” Haughtily rejecting this ultimatum, Bertie sought refuge in a cottage owned by his buddy, Lord Chuffington. But the peace and quiet were rudely shattered by the arrival of Pauline Stoker—to whom he was once unnervingly engaged—and her formidable father, who saw in Bertie a pestilential suitor barmy to the core.

  • It takes a lot of effort for Jimmy Crocker to become Piccadilly Jim—nights on the town roistering, headlines in the gossip columns, a string of broken hearts, and breaches of promise. Eventually he becomes rather good at it and manages to go to pieces with his eyes open. But no sooner has Jimmy cut a wild swathe through fashionable London than his terrifying Aunt Nesta decides he must mend his ways. He then falls in love with the girl he has hurt most of all, and after that, things get complicated. In a dizzying plot, impersonations pile on impersonations so that (for reasons that will become clear, we promise) Jimmy ends up having to pretend he's himself. Does he deserve a happy ending?

  • 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.

  • Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge has hit upon a foolproof plan to get rich quick: he's starting a chicken farm. Dragging his adoring wife Millie and his long-suffering friend and novelist Jeremy Garnet with him to Dorset, he begins his enterprise. Complications ensue, involving the taciturn Hired Man and his bumptious dog, supercilious chickens, irascible professors, angry creditors, and divided lovers.

  • My Man Jeeves, first published in 1919, introduced the world to affable, indolent Bertie Wooster and his precise, capable valet, Jeeves. Some of the finest examples of humorous writing found in English literature are woven around the relationship between these two men of very different classes and temperaments. Where Bertie is impetuous and feeble, Jeeves is coolheaded and poised. This collection, the first book of Jeeves and Wooster stories, includes “Absent Treatment,” “Helping Freddie,” “Rallying Round Old George,” “Doing Clarence a Bit of Good,” “Fixing It for Freddie,” and “Bertie Changes His Mind.”

  • Follow the adventures of Bertie Wooster and his gentleman’s gentleman, Jeeves, in this stunning new edition of one of the greatest comic short story collections in the English language. Whoever or whatever the cause of Bertie Wooster’s consternation―Bobbie Wickham giving away his fierce Aunt Agatha’s dog; getting into the bad books of Sir Roderick Glossop; attempting to scupper the unfortunate infatuation of his friend Tuppy for a robust opera singer―Jeeves can always be relied on to untangle the most ferocious of muddles. Even Bertie’s.

    Included in this collection are “Jeeves and the Impending Doom,” “Jeeves and the Kid Clementina,” “The Inferiority Complex of Old Sippy,” “The Love That Purifies,” “Jeeves and the Yuletide Spirit,” “Jeeves and the Old School Chum,” “Jeeves and the Song of Songs,” “Indian Summer of an Uncle,” “Episode of the Dog McIntosh,” “The Ordeal of Young Tuppy,” and “The spot of Art.”

  • Trapped in rural Steeple Bumpleigh, a man less stalwart than Bertie Wooster would probably give way at the knees, for among those present were Florence Craye, to whom Bertie had once been engaged; her new fianc├® “Stilton” Cheesewright, who sees Bertie as a snake in the grass; and that biggest blot on the landscape, Edwin the Boy Scout, who is busy doing acts of kindness out of sheer malevolence. All of Bertie’s forebodings are fully justified, for in his efforts to oil the wheels of commerce, promote the course of true love, and avoid the consequences of a vendetta, he becomes the prey of all and sundry. In fact only Jeeves can save him.

  • Mayhem has broken out at Brinkley Court and there would seem to be a desperate need for Jeeves. But Bertie is fed up with the assumption that he is merely an addendum to his personal attendant. There are more brains in the Wooster household than just Jeeves, you know! Stand back—Bertram Wooster is on the case.

  • A chance meeting on a train brought together Lord Ickenham and Bill Oakshott—although being told that the love of his life, Hermione, was engaged to none other than Pongo, Lord Ickenham’s nephew, did make Bill feel like he’d been struck behind the ear. But Pongo has troubles of his own to deal with when he accidently breaks one of Hermione’s father’s prized statues—and winds up replacing it with a smuggling vessel full of jewels.

  • From the author whom the Times called “a comic genius” and “an old master of farce” come eleven further stories featuring such eccentric characters as Freddie Widgeon, Cyril (Barmy) Fotheringay Phipps, Percy Wimbolt, and Pongo. This collection includes the stories “Fate,” “Tried in the Furnace,” “Trouble Down at Tudsleigh,” “The Amazing Hat Mystery,” “Goodbye to All Cats,” “The Luck of the Stiffhams,” “Noblesse Oblige,” “Uncle Fred Flits By,” “Archibald and the Masses,” “The Code of the Mulliners,” and “The Fiery Wooing of Mordred.”