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37-580: The Drones Club is a recurring fictional location in the stories of British humorist P. G. Wodehouse . It is a gentlemen's club in London. Many of Wodehouse's Jeeves and Blandings Castle stories feature the club or its members. Various members of the club appear in stories included in the "Drones Club series", which contains stories not already included in other series. Most of the Drones Club stories star either Freddie Widgeon or Bingo Little . The club

74-474: A combination of both characters, on the one hand imbued with Jeeves' precision of speech and concern for being well turned out, and on the other hand expressing Uncle Fred's humorous self-expression and insouciant attitude. We first meet Psmith shortly after he has been expelled from Eton , and sent to Sedleigh , where he meets Mike , and their long friendship begins. He is a tall and thin boy, immaculately dressed, and sports his trademark monocle . His speech

111-409: A continent or vice versa, rotate orientation, or combine two similar locales to get the best (for the story) of both. Psmith Rupert Psmith (or Ronald Eustace Psmith , as he is called in the last of the four books in which he appears) is a recurring fictional character in several novels by British author P. G. Wodehouse , being one of Wodehouse's best-loved characters. The P in his surname

148-417: A judge. Psmith is a principled young man – although his principles can sometimes be eccentric – and is generous towards those he likes. In a typical example from Leave it to Psmith , he perceives Eve, trapped by the rain under an awning, and decides, as a chivalrous gentleman, to get her an umbrella , which he unfortunately does not possess. He solves this problem by appropriating one, and when confronted by

185-417: A male bee that does no work, living off the labour of others, it aptly describes the late 1920s to early 1930s stereotype of rich, idle young club members, though some of them have careers and even jobs. As decided by a vote of the club's members, the Drones Club tie is a striking "rich purple". A Drones Club scarf is also mentioned. Wodehouse based the Drones Club on a combination of three real London clubs:

222-464: A particularly well-informed Crumpet narrating the story as he tells it to an uninformed Egg or Bean: Wodehouse had already used this technique in the stories told by his Mr Mulliner , who refers to his anonymous interlocutors by the name of their drink. The total number of members is not established. At the Drones Club weekend in Le Touquet , France, were "about 87 members", and not all of them crossed

259-470: A single room are kept out of the umbrella of fictional locations by convention, as are most single buildings. A fictional location can be the size of a university ( H. P. Lovecraft 's Miskatonic University ), a town ( Stephen King 's Salem's Lot ), a county ( William Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County ), a state ( Winnemac in various Sinclair Lewis stories), a large section of continent (as in north-western Middle-earth , which supposedly represents Europe),

296-479: A time there, he persuades his father to let him study to become a lawyer, and goes to Cambridge , accompanied by Mike. During the summer after their first year, Psmith travels to New York , accompanying Mike, who is on a cricketing tour with the M.C.C. There, he gets involved with the magazine Cosy Moments , befriending its temporary editor Billy Windsor and helping in its crusade against slum housing, which involves clashes with violent gangsters . We discover in

333-506: A whole planet ( Anne McCaffrey 's Pern ), a whole galaxy ( Isaac Asimov 's Foundation books), even a multiverse ( His Dark Materials ). In a larger scale, occasionally the term alternate reality is used, but only if it is considered a variant of Earth rather than an original world. Austin Tappan Wright 's Islandia has an invented continent, Karain, on our world. However in fanfiction , along with pastiche and/or parody , it

370-453: Is silent ("as in pshrimp", in his own words) and was added by himself, in order to distinguish him from other Smiths. A member of the Drones Club , Psmith is a monocle -sporting Old Etonian . He is something of a dandy , a fluent and witty speaker, and has the ability to pass through incredible adventures unruffled. Wodehouse said that he based Psmith on Rupert D'Oyly Carte (1876–1948),

407-516: Is allegedly based on the habit they have of addressing each other as "old egg", "old bean", or "my dear old crumpet", though characters in the stories almost never address other characters by these nicknames. A few later stories introduce a fourth subset of Drones Club members known as "Piefaces". Many of the Drones Club stories begin with these nondescript members talking about the latest exploits of Freddie Widgeon, Pongo Twistleton, Bingo Little, or another of their number. The story then transitions into

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444-463: Is fluid and flowery. Psmith spends much of his time at Sedleigh lounging in deck chairs rather than engaging in physical activity. His most notable talent, even at this age, is a remarkable verbal dexterity, which he uses to confuse boys and masters alike; with his sombre, still face, it is often impossible to tell if he is being serious or not. This skill frequently comes in handy to get himself and his friends out of difficulty. In such circumstances, he

481-671: Is initially introduced as a minor element in Wodehouse's 1920 novel Jill the Reckless ; it subsequently appears with more prominence across many Wodehouse stories and novels. The Drones Club makes its final appearance as a setting in 1972's Pearls, Girls and Monty Bodkin . The name "Drones" has been used by several real-life clubs and restaurants. The Drones Club is in Mayfair , London , located in Dover Street , off Piccadilly . A drone being

518-502: Is known to move fairly quickly too. The Psmith name, he admits from the start, is one he has adopted that morning, as there are "too many Smiths ”. His father, Mr Smith, is a fairly wealthy man, although a little eccentric, who lives at Corfby Hall, Lower Benford, in Shropshire , not far from Crofton where his friend Mike grew up; he later moves to Ilsworth Hall, in a "neighbouring county", mostly to find better cricket. While at Eton, he

555-562: Is not considered canon unless they get authorized . Within narrative prose, providing a believable location can be greatly enhanced by the provision of maps and other illustrations. This is often considered particularly true for fantasy novels and historical novels which often make great use of the map, but applies equally to science fiction and mysteries : earlier, in mainstream novels by Anthony Trollope , William Faulkner , etc. Fantasy and science fiction novels often also provide sections which provide documentation of various aspects of

592-653: Is one story, which features the club and a Drone as a secondary character, and marks the first mention of the Drones Club: Many more stories simply include a Drones member in some scenes, or have mentions of club members. Not included are all identical stories published under other titles (in magazines or U.S. versions), or "recycled" stories, especially: Most of the Drones short stories are also "Eggs, Beans, and Crumpets stories". These stories feature unnamed club members, each referred to as an "Egg", "Bean", or "Crumpet". This

629-558: Is perhaps because Leave it to Psmith contains another character named Rupert, the efficient Baxter ; Wodehouse presumably thought having two Ruperts would be confusing for readers, and since Psmith is generally referred to by his surname only, Wodehouse may have assumed that the change would go largely unnoticed. In the United States version of The Prince and Betty , essentially a reworking of Psmith, Journalist that's been relocated to New York City and merged with some elements of

666-400: Is under your control. Maps are an immediate necessity for some works, as they do not take place on Earth. Writers need working maps to keep straight at a glance whether the castle is north or south of the river, and how long it takes to get between valleys. This can be very helpful in preventing snags when dealing directly with fictional geography. Authors are as forgetful and absent-minded as

703-610: The Bachelors' Club (which existed around the turn of the century), Buck's Club (established 1919), and a dash of the Bath Club for its swimming pool's ropes and rings. The fictional Drones barman, McGarry, has the same surname as the Buck's first bartender, a Mr McGarry (Buck's barman from 1919 to 1941, credited with creating the Buck's Fizz and Sidecar cocktails). However Evelyn Waugh declared that

740-661: The Channel (such as Pongo Twistleton and Horace Pendlebury-Davenport). Some real "Drones" clubs or restaurants exist or have existed, including: Fictional location They may also be used for technical reasons in actual reality for use in the development of specifications, such as the fictional country of Bookland , which is used to allow EAN "country" codes 978 and 979 to be used for ISBN numbers assigned to books, and code 977 to be assigned for use for ISSN numbers on magazines and other periodicals . Fictional locations vary greatly in their size. Very small places like

777-537: The City and Psmith, Journalist are youthful adventures, Psmith's final appearance fits the pattern of Wodehouse's more mature period, a romantic comedy set in the idyllic, invariably imposter-ridden Blandings Castle . Here, Psmith fulfils the role of the ingenious, levelheaded fixer, a part taken elsewhere by the likes of Gally , Uncle Fred , or Jeeves , and finally shows a romantic streak of his own. Though predating both Jeeves and Uncle Fred by some years, Psmith seems to be

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814-713: The Drones did not resemble any real club in 1920s London. A real club has been based at 40 Dover Street since 1893, The Arts Club . Other gentlemen's clubs which have existed on Dover Street but are now dissolved include the Bath Club, the Junior Naval and Military Club, and the Scottish Club, as well as two mixed-sex clubs, the Albemarle Club and the Empress Club. None of these were considered among London's 'premier' clubs of

851-518: The United Kingdom version, the Psmith character is replaced by Rupert Smith, an American and alumnus of Harvard who retains many of Psmith's characteristics, including the monocle. A Prince for Hire is another blending of these stories. Leave It to Psmith differs somewhat in style from its predecessors. While Mike is a school story along the lines of much of Wodehouse's early output, and Psmith in

888-661: The Wykehamist schoolboy described to Wodehouse was not her father but his elder brother Lucas, who was also at Winchester. Benny Green offers the theory that Psmith was partially based on Henry Hyndman , an eccentric Victorian demagogue who founded the Socialist Democratic Federation, the first major Marxist political organisation in England. Similarly, Psmith is Wodehouse's most socialist-leaning character, frequently referring to other individuals as 'Comrade'. Hyndman

925-465: The castle claiming to be Canadian poet Ralston McTodd, he is eventually hired as secretary to Lord Emsworth , who knew his father by reputation, and is engaged to Eve Halliday. In a preface to the 1953 version of Mike and Psmith , Wodehouse informs us that Psmith went on to become a successful defence lawyer, in the style of Perry Mason . In his introduction to the omnibus The World of Psmith (1974), Wodehouse suggests that Psmith eventually became

962-415: The club millionaire Oofy Prosser . Among the Wodehouse works, what was later dubbed the "Drones Club series" is a loose set of separate stories told by various narrators about members of the Drones Club. Many of the stories are told at the club or have some events happening at the club. The main canon consists of 21 short stories (nine Bingo Little , eight Freddie Widgeon, and four other Drones, including

999-425: The environment of the fiction, including languages, character lists, cultures and, of course, locations. In an online article on writing Dawn Arkin writes about the importance of location to the author's art: Setting has become a very important part of most novels. Creating a fictional location has many advantages for the writer. You get to name the town, streets, businesses, schools, etc. Everything inside your town

1036-609: The kind found on St James's Street and Pall Mall, and so their ambience often had something of the raucous informality of the fictional Drones Club. About a dozen club members are major or secondary recurring characters in the Wodehouse stories. In addition to Bertie Wooster (Jeeves stories), Pongo Twistleton (Uncle Fred stories), Rupert Psmith (Psmith stories), and Freddie Threepwood (Blandings stories), prominent recurring drones include Bingo Little and Freddie Widgeon, plus Monty Bodkin , Barmy Fotheringay-Phipps, Tuppy Glossop , Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright , Archibald Mulliner , and

1073-481: The last chapter, when the head editor returns, that Psmith has persuaded his father to let him invest some money he has inherited from an uncle and now owns the magazine. After university, his father dies, having made some unsound investments. As a result, Psmith must work for a time for an uncle in the fish business, something which repels him. He leaves the job shortly before meeting and falling for Eve Halliday, whom he follows to Blandings Castle. Despite having entered

1110-447: The lesser breeds of humankind, and a simple precaution like taking a moment to sketch out a map helps prevent such errors and inconsistencies (upon which eagle-eyed readers are bound to swoop with gleeful cries, thereafter sitting down to write nasty letters to the poor author). Sometimes an actual geographic corner is used as a model for "getting it right", and identifying these can become a game for readers. Authors may turn an island into

1147-513: The novel by Wodehouse and Ian Hay , Psmith was portrayed by Basil Foster , with Jane Baxter as Eve Halliday. The 1933 film based on the play, Leave It to Me , replaced Psmith with a different character, Sebastian Help, who was portrayed by Gene Gerrard , with Molly Lamont as Eve Halliday. Simon Ward voiced Psmith, with Caroline Langrishe as Eve Halliday, in the radio adaptation of Leave it to Psmith dramatised by Michael Bakewell , which aired on BBC Radio 4 on 3 October 1981. Psmith

Drones Club - Misplaced Pages Continue

1184-516: The one introducing Pongo Twistleton and his Uncle Fred ), as eventually collected in the omnibus: The same set of short stories is also available in their original collections: Six novels about the adventures of Drones Club Members as main protagonist: Related are all stories about those Drones Club members already part of another series ( Jeeves and Bertie, Blandings 's Freddie Threepwood, Uncle Fred and Pongo, Psmith , Mr Mulliner 's nephew Archibald Mulliner), but more especially: Relatable

1221-512: The original hero and central character of Mike and Psmith in the City until he was eclipsed by Psmith's wit and force of personality. In his first appearance (in Mike , Enter Psmith or Mike and Psmith , depending on edition) Psmith introduces himself as Rupert. He is also referred to as Rupert twice in Psmith in the City . In Leave it to Psmith , however, he introduces himself as Ronald Eustace. This

1258-485: The owner, Psmith attempts to mollify him by saying it is for a good cause; and he later recounts it as: "Merely practical Socialism. Other people are content to talk about the Redistribution of Property. I go out and do it." (Another of Psmith's quirks is his penchant for nominal socialism , observed mostly in his casual use of "Comrade" as a substitute for "Mister.") In the 1930 play Leave It to Psmith adapted from

1295-449: The son of the Gilbert and Sullivan impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte , as he put it "the only thing in my literary career which was handed to me on a silver plate with watercress around it". Carte was a school acquaintance of a cousin of Wodehouse's at Winchester College , according to an introduction to Leave It to Psmith . Rupert's daughter, Bridget D'Oyly Carte , however, believed that

1332-459: Was a competent cricketer, on the verge of the first team – a slow left-arm bowler with a swerve, his enormous reach also makes him handy with a bat when some fast hitting is required, such as in the match between Sedleigh and Wrykyn at the climax of Mike and Psmith . After Sedleigh, Psmith goes to work at the New Asiatic Bank , having annoyed his father's schoolfriend John Bickersdyke. After

1369-439: Was also known for his fastidious dress and for being an accomplished cricketer in his youth. Psmith appears in four novel-length works, all of which appeared as magazine serials before being published in book form. "The Lost Lambs" was later republished separately as: * Enter Psmith (1935) and * Mike and Psmith (1953). All these works also feature Mike Jackson , Psmith's solid, cricket -playing friend and sidekick,

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