Wodehouse, Wooster and their wheels

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If you have ever to asked yourself that pressing question "What would P. G. Wodehouse drive?", we provide you herewith the answer. That’s an AC two-seater with the great novelist and humorist in it. The connoisseurs agree it has to be a 12hp Royal Roadster and according to the picture source the shot was taken at Hunstanton Hall, the Norfolk home of Wodehouse’s friend Charles le Strange, in 1928.

Was Wodehouse a motoring enthusiast? Perhaps he was, although cars don’t get frequent mentions in his books even though the settings are all often perfect for them. Wodehouse's best-known character Bertie Wooster has been seen in moving-picture adaptions behind the wheel of a Bentley Three-Litre as well as an Aston Martin 1½-Litre. Wodehouse fan Bruce Partington said: “Bertie remains blissfully ignorant of the inner workings of the motor car, knowing only that it runs on something called petrol but not that it has something called an ‘engine’. These things are best left to Jeeves or the local mechanic, naturally. But you can just imagine Bertie hearing about this wonderful sporting car company from his chums at the Drones Club and then heading off to the dealer to place his order.”

Alas, the books are not so generous car-wise. Bertie Wooster talks cars just the once in Very Good, Jeeves when he refers to a red two-seater called the 'Widgeon Seven’. In his autobiography, Wodehouse writes at one point: “My income rose like a rocketing pheasant. I made £505 1s. 7d. in 1906 and £527 17s. 1d. in 1907 and was living, I suppose, on £203 4s. 9d. In fact, if on November 17th, 1907, I had not bought a second-hand Darracq car for £450 (and smashed it up in the first week) I should soon have been one of those economic royalists who get themselves so disliked.” A car buff after all, it seems…

Words: Jeroen Booij; picture: Hulton Archive
 

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