WODEHOUSE, Sir Pelham Grenville (PG) 1881-1975. Author. Among the Dulwich College boarders at Elm Lawn in the 1890s was one who went on to become one of the greatest comic writers in the English language. PG Wodehouse, 'Plum', as he was known from an early age, was at Dulwich between 1894 and 1900, years which he was to describe much later in life as ‘like heaven’. His fictional School 'Wrykyn' was based on the College; Dulwich itself features as 'Valley Fields', and certain houses in Acacia Grove can be identified from their descriptions, particularly in his 'Psmith' series. He was knighted shortly before his death and was, in the words of his biographer Frances Donaldson, ‘one of the most admired and probably the most loved of all the writers of his time’. In his will, he left a number of personal effects to the College. These include his typewriter, desk, pipes, books and manuscripts, and have been arranged as a memorial in a corner of the school library.
By Patrick Darby and Patrick Spencer