The author of almost a hundred books and the creator of Jeeves, Blandings Castle, Psmith, Ukridge, Uncle Fred and Mr Mulliner, P.G. Wodehouse was born in 1881 and educated at Dulwich College. After two years with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank he became a full-time writer, contributing to a variety of periodicals. As well as his novels and short stories, he wrote lyrics for musical comedies, and at one stage had five shows running simultaneously on Broadway. At the age of 93, in the New Year's Honours List of 1975, he received a long-overdue Knighthood, only to die on St Valentine's Day some 45 days later.
Wodehouse always lifts your spirits, no matter how high they happen to be already * Lynne Truss * For as long as I'm immersed in a P.G. Wodehouse book, it's possible to keep the real world at bay and live in a far, far nicer, funnier one where happy endings are the order of the day * Marian Keyes * Not only the funniest English novelist who ever wrote but one of our finest stylists * Susan Hill * A genius ... Elusive, delicate but lasting * Alan Ayckbourn * It's dangerous to use the word genius to describe a writer, but I'll risk it with him * John Humphrys *