Some of these are substantial interviews, others merely quote Wodehouse briefly. I have indicated those that have appeared in McIlvaine; as far as I can tell, the others haven’t, though McCrum’s biography quotes at least one of them.
Please e-mail me at awrobins@yahoo.com if you have any additions or corrections, or if you want further information on any of these.
The American Legion Weekly
“An English Master of Yankee Slang,” 24 October 1919, p. 21.
Australian Women’s Magazine
“Wodehouse - humorist who made a fool of himself,” 11 March 1950, p. 13.
Captain
“Impressions of P. G. Wodehouse,” by Leslie Havergal Bradshaw. Captain 22 (March 1910) 500–501. (McIlvaine H130)
Daily Express
“No, We Won’t Go Home Unless We Are Welcome,” Daily Express (London) 4 July 1955 p. 4. (McIlvaine H255)
Daily Mail
“P. G. Wodehouse Reveals How His Gaily Comic Stories Are Written.” Daily Mail, 10 April 1928, p. 7. (signed P.M.)
“Mr. Wodehouse’s Film Deal.” Daily Mail, 30 April 1928, p. 11
“Mr. Wodehouse Gets His Ideas in the Bath.” Daily Mail, 12 June 1928, p. 13.
Lewis, Peter. “87 Today.” Daily Mail, 15 October 1968, p. 8.
Esquire
“Checking In with P. G. Wodehouse,” Esquire 81 (May 1974) 98–99, 202, 204, 208, 210–211. (McIlvaine H137)
Evening Despatch (Birmingham, England)
“Humorist’s Bath of Inspiration.” Evening Despatch, 11 March 1927 (signed W.H.B.)
Herald-Journal (Spartansburg, SC)
“Author Wodehouse Still Writes at 90.” Sat., Oct. 9, 1971, p. C2.
Illustrated
“‘I’ve Been a Silly Ass.’” Illustrated, 7 Dec. 1946 (?) p. 9. (McIlvaine D95.2) This has been reprinted in the Sunday Mail (Brisbane), 5 April 1947 (and part of the first page is reprinted in Ratcliffe’s P.G. Wodehouse: A Life in Letters).
Illustrated London News
“P. G. Wodehouse at Home,” Illustrated London News no. 6895 (Feb. 24, 1973) 39–40.
Lincolnshire Echo
“Mr. Wodehouse on ‘Psmith,’ and Others,” by W. Crawford Snowden. Lincolnshire Echo (Lincoln, UK), July 17, 1933, p. 4.
Listener
“Of Aunts and Drones: P. G. Wodehouse Talks to Robert Robinson,” Listener 92 (17 Oct. 1974) 496. (McIlvaine D103.1 and H210)
Los Angeles Times
“P. G. Airs View on Hollywood,” July 13, 1930, p. B7. (interview)
“Wodehouse Out and Still Dazed,” June 7, 1931, p. C9. (interview)
“Wodehouse, 87, Co-Authors Musical,” June 5, 1968, p. E17.
(New York) Evening World
“Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, Novelist, Praises American Slang,” [scanned image] by Roger Batchelder, March 23, 1922, p. 3. (found by Ananth Kaitharam) This title appeared above a “ten-second movie” of eight frames of small photos of PGW. The headline on the article itself is “Cheerio! American Slang Is Far Better Than England’s; Mr. Wodehouse, Past Master of It in His Stories, Says So.” This article was widely syndicated to other newspapers, e.g. Hanover, Pennsylvania Evening Sun, April 1, 1922, p. 7. [Text transcription with illustration on this site]
(New York) Sun
“Wodehouse, an American Humorist out of England,” [scanned image] Apr. 29, 1916, p. 8. (found by Ananth Kaitharam) [Text transcription on this site]
New York Times
“War Will Restore England's Sense of Humor,” [scanned image] New York Times Magazine, Nov. 7, 1915, p. 13. [Text transcription with illustration on this site]
“Humorist to Do Films,” June 1, 1930, p. X4.
“Wodehouse Marvels at Hollywood Method,” June 9, 1931, p. 36.
“Wodehouse Declines Role,” June 16, 1931, p. 33.
“P. G. Wodehouse Says Farewell,” Aug. 7, 1932, p. X3.
“Jeeves’s Mr. Wodehouse to Receive Oxford Honor,” May 25, 1939, p. 27.
“Doctor Wodehouse? ‘Precisely, Sir.’” New York Times Sunday Magazine, June 25, 1939, pp. 6, 17.
“Wodehouse Works on New Book in ‘Padded Cell’ at German Camp,” Dec. 27, 1940, p. 3
“Wodehouse Is Freed from Internment Camp; Germans Permit Weekly Broadcasts to U.S.,” June 26, 1941, p. 3
“Wodehouse Denies Helping Germans,” Sep. 1, 1944, p. 4. (refers to “an interview with a London Daily Sketch correspondent, J. Darcy Dawson”)
“Wodehouse Here, Admits Mistake,” April 27, 1947, p. 45.
“Wodehouse at 73 Mulls New Book,” July 15, 1955. p. 44.
“Oh, I Say, Sir, It Can’t Be the Eightieth,” New York Times Book Review, Oct. 15, 1961, pp. 4–5, 36. (McIlvaine H198)
“Pets Find Author Is a Soft Touch,” July 17, 1966, p. 40.
“At 88, P. G. Wodehouse Is Serving New Readers,” July 17, 1969. P. 56.
“On L.I., Wodehouse Does Without a Jeeves,” June 6, 1971, p. BQ79, 104.
“P. G. Wodehouse, Imported Knight,” Jan. 12, 1975, p. 82.
“P. G. Wodehouse Is Dead on L.I. at 93; Creator of Jeeves and Bertie Wooster,” Feb. 15, 1975, p. 1, 32.
New York Tribune
“P. G. Wodehouse on the Gilbertian Tradition,” [scanned image] Sunday, Jan. 12, 1919, p. 4. [Text transcription on this site]
New Yorker
“Plummie” (in “The Talk of the Town,” by Geoffrey T. Hellman), Oct. 15, 1960, pp. 36–37.
“Chap with a Good Story to Tell,” New Yorker 47.13 (May 15, 1971), pp. 43ff. (McIlvaine H249, published in book form as The World of P. G. Wodehouse by Herbert Warren Wind, 1972)
“Three Gatherings,” New Yorker 47.37 (Oct. 30, 1971) 40–41.
Newsweek
“Talk with the Author,” Newsweek 74 (Feb. 6, 1961), p. 87 [with review of Ice in the Bedroom]
“Newsmakers,” Newsweek 85 (Jan. 13, 1975), p. 44.
Observer (London)
“Wodehouse at 90,” Observer (10 Oct. 1971), p. 12. (McIlvaine H145)
Paris Review
“P. G. Wodehouse: The Art of Fiction LX,” Paris Review 64 (Winter 1975) 149–171.
Philadelphia Inquirer
“Fun to Write Musical Comedy,” Philadelphia Inquirer, March 24, 1918, p. 22.
Saturday Evening Post
“Keeping Posted,” Nov. 21, 1936, p. 112.
“Keeping Posted,” Aug. 5, 1939, p.84.
Screenland
Strider, Gray. “Oh, I Say! Ripping, What?” Screenland, Aug. 1930, pp. 20–21.
Straits Times
“Fear Makes Writers Humorists,” The Straits Times, May 1, 1932, p. 2
Sunday Times
Foster, William. “With Digressions” (column interviewing Wodehouse on verge of 75th birthday) Sunday Times issue 6961 (14 October 1956), p. 12
Norman, Philip. “Thank You, Plum,” Sunday Times issue 7625 (20 July 1969)
Theatre
O’Connor, Eileen. “A Team of Playwrights Extraordinary,” Theatre 26.202 (Dec. 1917) 368. (brief quotation)
Time
“The Literary Life,” Time 49.18 (May 5, 1947) pp. 47–48.
“Wodehouse Aeternus,” Time 98.17 (Oct. 25, 1971), pp. 91–92.
Times (London)
“Hollywood Methods: Mr. P. G. Wodehouse’s Experiences,” June 10, 1931, p. 14.
“Mr. Wodehouse Freed from Internment,” June 27, 1941, p. 3.
“Mr. P. G. Wodehouse’s Nationality: U.S. Citizenship Sought,” Sep. 10, 1955, p. 6.
• Note: “The Times Diary,” July 18, 1973, p. 16, quotes a letter from PGW to Guy Bolton (in which he comments on “this bloody Watergate business”).
Writer’s Digest
“Exclusive Interview with P. G. Wodehouse,” Writer’s Digest 51 (Oct. 1971) 22–24, 43. (McIlvaine H125)
Miscellaneous sources and broadcasts
Another interview, “Wodehouse at Eighty,” may be found in Alistair Cooke’s Memories of the Great and the Good (New York: Arcade Publishing. 1999) 41–52. This is presumably a reprint; I suspect that this is McIlvaine H139, “The Hermit of Remsenburg,” originally published in the Guardian, 13 Oct. 1965, p. 5.
An interview with Jack Ellsworth, conducted in 1970 but apparently published in The Seasoned Citizen, Jan. 1999, may be read at http://www.pgwodehousebooks.com/ellsworth.htm.
A BBC interview from 16 October 1958 can be viewed at http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/writers/12201.shtml. (Many thanks to Brad Stevens for providing the link.)
• Update November 2013: this link provides a descriptive page, but at least in the US the video doesn’t play. I assume this link will work in the UK.
Brief excerpts from interviews can be seen in the BBC documentary “Wogan on Wodehouse” which once was available on YouTube but has since been removed. (Wodehouse speaks at ca. 5:11, 12:40, 16:51, 19:11. 25:50, 38:01, 43:56, 49:18, 53:10, 54:35, 55:35). Some of these clips have been excerpted from the documentary and posted again on YouTube; Sir Terry Wogan’s narration introduces some of them.
If you have questions on any of the items above, please e-mail me at awrobins@yahoo.com.
http://madameulalie.org/arobinson/pgwinterviews.html
Arthur Robinson, awrobins@yahoo.com
Last updated 1 January 2024
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