Monty Bodkin
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Montague "Monty" Bodkin (also referred to as Montrose) is a recurring fictional character in three novels of English comic writer
P. G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse ( ; 15 October 1881 – 14 February 1975) was an English writer and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Je ...
, being a wealthy young member of the
Drones Club 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 member ...
, well-dressed, well-spoken, impeccably polite, and generally in some kind of romantic trouble.


Stories

Monty is featured in: * '' Heavy Weather'' (1933) – a
Blandings Castle Blandings Castle is a recurring fictional location in the stories of British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being the seat of Lord Emsworth and the setting for numerous tales and adventures. The stories were written between 1915 and 1975. The ...
novel * '' The Luck of the Bodkins'' (1935) * '' Pearls, Girls and Monty Bodkin'' (1972) – quoted as "Montrose" instead of "Montague" Monty is mentioned in: * '' Uncle Fred in the Springtime'' (1939) – Blandings * ''
Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves ''Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves'' is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, published in the United States on 22 March 1963 by Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York, and in the United Kingdom on 16 August 1963 by Herbert Jenkins, London.McIlvaine (1990), p. 97, A8 ...
'' (1963) – Jeeves


Life and character

Monty Bodkin is the second-richest member of the Drones Club (the richest being
Oofy Prosser The following is an incomplete list of fictional characters featured in the books and stories of P. G. Wodehouse, by series, in alphabetical order by series name. Due to overlap between the various classifications of Wodehouse's work, some char ...
). He is tall and slender, and has butter-coloured hair. The son of a solicitor with a small country-town practice, Monty inherited his money from an aunt who married an American millionaire from Pittsburgh when she was in the chorus of a musical at the
Adelphi Theatre The Adelphi Theatre is a West End theatre, located on the Strand in the City of Westminster, central London. The present building is the fourth on the site. The theatre has specialised in comedy and musical theatre, and today it is a receiv ...
. When we first meet Monty Bodkin at the start of '' Heavy Weather'', he is employed by Lord Tilbury as assistant editor of ''Tiny Tots'', one of the many imprints of the mighty Mammoth Publishing Company, his uncle Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe having prevailed upon Tilbury to give him the job at a public dinner. Monty does not work, however, because of any need for income; as he himself explains, there are "wheels within wheels". He is in love with Gertrude Butterwick but her father, named J. G. Butterwick in this novel (it'll evolve), feeling that his daughter should not marry some kind of a waster, requires Monty to hold down a job for a full year, and Gertrude, being an old-fashioned sort of girl of solid middle-class stock, refuses to elope with Monty. His time at ''Tiny Tots'' is brief, however, as he finds himself left in charge one day when the regular editor, the Reverend Aubrey Sellick, is away on vacation. His efforts at writing a piece for the "Uncle Woggly to His Chicks" column results in a swift and acrimonious parting between Bodkin and Tilbury's employ, and the hunt is on for new work. On the advice of his friend and fellow-
Drone Drone or The Drones may refer to: Science and technology Vehicle * Drone, a type of uncrewed vehicle, a class of robot ** Unmanned aerial vehicle or aerial drone *** Unmanned combat aerial vehicle ** Unmanned ground vehicle or ground drone ** Unma ...
Hugo Carmody, he once again uses his uncle, this time to wangle the post of secretary to Lord Emsworth, recently vacated by Carmody. He spends a few happy days at Blandings, in company of his former fiancee Sue Brown, before events conspiring against him, particularly Lord Emsworth's suspicions of anyone connected to the Parsloe-Parsloe camp, lead to his expulsion from the post. He tries to get back in with Lord Tilbury by stealing
Galahad Threepwood The Honourable Galahad "Gally" Threepwood is a fictional character in the Blandings Castle stories by P. G. Wodehouse. Lord Emsworth's younger brother, a lifelong bachelor, Gally was, according to Beach, the Blandings butler, "somewhat wild as a ...
's reminiscences, but is scuppered by Percy Pilbeam; he later takes revenge on Pilbeam, but repents and ends up paying him handsomely for the chance to work for his Detective Agency, the ''Argus'', for a year. In "The Plot That Thickened" (American title for Pearls, Girls and Month Bodkin) Monty manages to hold down a job in the entertainment industry, only to be informed by J.G. Butterwick that it does not count. Surprising his fiancee's father, he immediately secures a job with his former employer in England, thanks to the efforts of his secretary. Over the course of the book, he falls in love with said secretary, and marries her after Gertrude breaks the engagement to marry a police officer.


Adaptations

Royce Mills Anthony Royce Mills (12 May 1942 – 21 May 2019) was an English television, stage and film actor. Life and career Born in Tetbury, Gloucestershire to Herbert Mills and concert pianist Winifred, Royce did not feel the need to look into the disa ...
portrayed Monty Bodkin in the 1988 radio dramatisation of ''Heavy Weather'', part of the '' Blandings'' radio series. In the 1995 TV adaptation of ''Heavy Weather'' made by the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
and partners, also broadcast in the United States by
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
, and titled '' Heavy Weather'', Monty Bodkin was played by
Samuel West Samuel Alexander Joseph West (born 19 June 1966) is an English actor, theatre director, and narrator. He has directed on stage and radio, and worked as an actor in theatre, film, television, and radio. West was nominated for the BAFTA Award f ...
. Monty was portrayed by Nicholas Boulton in the 2000 BBC radio adaptation of ''The Luck of the Bodkins''.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bodkin, Monty P. G. Wodehouse characters Literary characters introduced in 1933