Origins of the Empress
From Roger Munson Sir: Sam Leith notes (Books, 14 August) that the Sykes family showed 'an admiration of pigs worthy of Lord Emsworth himself.
But there is much, much more. The Sledmere library contained a Gutenberg Bible; so did the Blandings Castle library (Something Fresh). Sykey Sykes was locked out of a fancy-dress party dressed in full plate armour; Gussie Fink-Nottle suffered the same fate, dressed as Mephistopheles (Right. Ho, Jeeves). Sykey was tricked into being tipped into an icy bathtub; Bertie Wooster was tricked into falling into the Drones Club swimming bath, in full evening dress. And that's just from the review; what further gems will the book itself reveal?
The teenage Wodehouse was billeted with aunts around the country, and was introduced into grand houses where he must have heard dinner-table family gossip. Can there be a shadow of doubt? The Sykes family as pigowners were not merely worthy of Lord Emsworth: they were the origin of Lord Emsworth,
Roger Munson
London N6
Previous page
