Posted inBookishness Miscellaneous Period Dramas

Happy New Year with Jeeves and Wooster

January 1, 20246 Comments
"Happy New Year" over screencap from Jeeves and Wooster

Happy New Year to one and all! To help usher in the New Year, I thought it would be fitting to share a project that I’ve spent what some would call far too much time on. I like to make my own calendars every year, you see, and this time I got the marvelous idea of combing through P.G. Wodehouse’s Jeeves and Wooster stories for quotes related to each month (or roughly the right time of year, even if the month is not specified), and then combing through the J&W show to find stills to match the quotes.

I think Bertie and Jeeves are perfectly qualified to help us usher in the New Year (not to mention that it would be very sad if I went through all that effort and couldn’t even share it), so here’s a bit of J&W to give you a cozy British start to the new year.

January

"He had been trying to get me to go to Florida after Christmas, handing out a lot of talk about how pleasant it would be for my many American friends, most of whom make a bee line for Hobe Sounds in the winter months, to have me with them again, but I recognized this, though specious, as merely the old oil. I knew what was the thought behind his words. He likes the fishing in Florida and yearns some day to catch a tarpon. - Jeeves and the Greasy Bird"

February

"Young Bingo made me stand there in the teeth of a nor-east half-gale for ten minutes, keeping me on my toes with a series of false alarms, and I was just thinking of suggesting that we should lay off and give the rest of the proceedings a miss, when round the corner there came a fox-terrier, and Bingo quivered like an aspen. Then there hove in sight a small boy, and he shook like a jelly. Finally, like a star whose entrance has been worked up by the personnel of the ensemble, a girl appeared, and his emotion was painful to witness. His face got so red that, what with his white collar and the fact that the wind had turned his nose blue, he looked more like a French flag than anything else. - The Metropolitan Touch"

March

"'You were absolutely right about the weather. It is a juicy morning.' 'Decidedly, sir.' 'Spring and all that.' 'Yes, sir.' 'In the spring, Jeeves, a livelier iris gleams upon the burnished dove.' 'So I have been informed, sir.' - Jeeves Exerts the Old Cerebellum"

April

"'This is springtime, Bertie, the mating season, when, as you probably know, a livelier iris gleams upon the burnished dove and a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love. The sudden impact plumb spang in the middle of spring, of a girl like Corky on a fathead like Gussie, weakened by constantly swilling orange juice, must have been terrific.' - The Mating Season"

May

"I don't know if you know the sort of feeling you get on these days round about the end of April and the beginning of May, when the sky's a light blue with cotton-wool clouds and there's a bit of a breeze blowing from the west? Kind of uplifted feeling. Romantic, if you know what I mean. I'm not much of a ladies' man, but on this particular morning it seemed to me that what I really wanted was some charming girl to buzz up and ask me to save her from assassins or something. - Jeeves Exerts the Old Cerebellum"

June

"It was one of those warm, drowsy, peaceful afternoons. I was up in my bedroom, getting off a spot of correspondence which I had neglected of late, and from where I sat I looked down on the shady lawn, fringed with its gay flower-beds. There was a bird or two hopping about, a butterfly or so fluttering to and fro, and an assortment of bees buzzing hither and thither. In a garden-chair sat old Mr. Anstruther, getting his eight hours. It was a sight which, had I had less on my mind, would no doubt have soothed the old soul a bit. - The Love That Purifies"

July

"It was one of those still evenings you get in the summer, when you can hear a snail clear its throat a mile away. The sun was sinking over the hills and the gnats were fooling about all over the place, and everything smelled rather topping - what with the falling dew and so on - and I was just beginning to feel a little soothed by the peace of it all when I suddenly heard my name spoken. - Jeeves Takes Charge"

August

"'Nice day,' I said. 'Quite.' 'But they say the crops need rain.' He had buried himself in his paper once more, and seemed peeved this time on being lugged to the surface. 'What?' 'The crops.' 'The crops?' 'Crops.' 'What crops?' 'Oh, just crops.' He laid down his paper. 'You appear to be desirous of giving me some information about crops. What is it?' 'I hear they need rain.' 'Indeed?' That concluded the small-talk. - The Inferiority Complex of Old Sippy"

September

"'Is it morning?' 'Yes, sir.' 'Are you sure? It seems very dark outside.' 'There is a fog, sir. If you will recollect, we are now in Autumn - season of mists and mellow fruitfulness.' 'Season of what?' 'Mists, sir, and mellow fruitfulness.' 'Oh? Yes. Yes, I see.' - The Code of the Woosters"

October

"It was one of those days you sometimes get lateish in the autumn when the sun beams, the birds toot, and there is a bracing tang in the air that sends the blood beetling briskly through the veins. - Jeeves and the Old School Chum"

November

"Every year, starting about the middle of November, there is a good deal of anxiety and apprehension among owners of the better-class of country-house throughout England as to who will get Bertram Wooster's patronage for the Christmas holidays. It may be one or it may be another. As my Aunt Dahlia says, you never know where the blow will fall. - The Ordeal of Young Tuppy"

December

"The shades of night were falling fairly fast as I latchkeyed self and suit-case into the Wooster G.H.Q. Jeeves was in the sitting-room messing about with holly, for we would soon be having Christmas at our throats and he is always a stickler for doing the right thing. - Jeeves and the Greasy Bird"

Happy New Year! Are you excited for the New Year? Are you making any resolutions for 2024? What’s your favorite Jeeves and Wooster quote that I shared?

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Last updated on January 1, 2024

6 Comments

  1. Grace Avender
    Reply
    January 2, 2024,

    What a fun idea! Great job Lizzie!! You have inspired me to make the goal of reading at least one of the Bertie Wooster books this year!! I have found an audio book version which I hope will be good!! I especially liked your May and September quotes!!

    • Lizzie Hexam
      Reply
      January 3, 2024,

      Thank you!! That sounds like a very sensible goal to me 😉 Ooh, which book is it?

      I like the May and September ones quite a bit too 🙂

      • Grace Avender
        Reply
        January 4, 2024,

        It’s for the first book, My Man Jeeves, but alas I think I need to read a physical copy myself instead if listening to it! The narrator I found was very good, but I’ve got the voices from the show in my head and nothing else will do :)!!

        • Lizzie Hexam
          Reply
          January 6, 2024,

          Ah yes, that’s where I started too! I don’t think My Man Jeeves is the best book, but I do like starting at the beginning. (Although – this is rather confusing, but – it turns out that all the stories in MMJ that are actually about Bertie and Jeeves are repeated in a later J&W book, so IF you wanted to skip MMJ and go straight to The Inimitable Jeeves, you wouldn’t miss much.)

          Hehe, I have exactly the same problem. I’ve never listened to more than a few minutes of audiobook versions of J&W…everyone else just sounds wrong once you’re used to the show! (I believe Stephen Fry (Jeeves, you know) actually did do audiobooks of some J&W stories…but it would be so strange to hear him reading the parts narrated by Bertie!)

    • Lizzie Hexam
      Reply
      January 6, 2024,

      Thank you! Jeeves is rather iconic, isn’t he? You might almost call him inimitable. ; )

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