Uncle Fred in the Springtime: Pelham Wodehouse

‘I don’t know if you happen to know what the word “excesses” means, but these are what Pongo’s Uncle Fred, when in London, invariably commits.’ When the dastardly Duke of Dunstable plots to steal Lord Emsworth’s pig, Empress of Blandings, the wily Uncle Fred - aka the Earl of Ickenham – is called in to thwart him. To that end, the Earl arrives at Blandings Castle under false pretences, posing as pompous `loony-doctor’ Sir Roderick Glossop, accompanied by two other imposters, one of them the unfortunate Pongo; a bookie turned private detective; an angry sixteen-stone poet; a suspicious dancing secretary, and Lord Emsworth’s pink-faced heir who will keep pointing his gun in the wrong direction. In other words: business as usual in Wodehouse’s enchanted England.