P. G. Wodehouse (15 October 1881 – 14 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humourists of the 20th century. His novels and short stories feature elaborate plots and a unique writing style based on a combination of very formal language, references to classical literature, and contemporary club-room slang. His early novels were mostly school stories, but he later switched to comic fiction, creating several regular characters who became familiar to the public. They include the jolly gentleman of leisure Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jeeves. He began the 1930s writing for MGM in Hollywood and moved to France in 1934 for tax reasons. In 1940 he was taken prisoner at Le Touquet by the invading Germans and interned for nearly a year. After his release he made six broadcasts from German radio in Berlin. The talks were comic and apolitical, but they prompted anger and a threat of prosecution in Britain. He never returned to England, living from 1947 until his death in the US. (Full article...)