PG Wodehouse was more of a silly dupe than a Nazi collaborator.
The broadcasts – to be beamed to America, not yet at war with Germany – were couched in humorous terms that might have made some German propagandist think them more favourable to the Nazi cause than they were.
“A short time ago they had a look at me on parade and got the right idea; at least, they sent us to the local lunatic asylum,” one of them ran. “And I have been there 42 weeks. There is a good deal to be said for internment. It keeps you out of the saloon and helps you to keep up with your reading.”
In the broadcasts Wodehouse adopts the persona of the silly ass, which was his habitual pose in public. But, unlike his brilliant career in Broadway musicals and humorous writing, this incident really did reveal him as foolishly naive.
Full piece at The Telegraph.
Full piece at The Telegraph.
