Aunt Agatha
Encyclopedia
Agatha Gregson, née Wooster, later Lady Worplesdon, is a recurring fictional character
in the Jeeves
stories of British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse
, being best known as Aunt Agatha, Bertie Wooster
's least favourite aunt, and a counterpoint to her sister, Bertie's Aunt Dahlia
. Fearsome and strong-willed, she is always trying to get Bertie married, though without success, thanks to Jeeves
's interference. She is known as "the nephew-crusher". Bertie would avoid her if he could, but far too often finds himself bent to her indomitable will.
ball, she had ended the engagement. She then married Spenser Gregson, who is her husband for most of the Wodehouse canon, though he dies in time for her to marry Craye, who had by then become Lord Worplesdon
, Earl of Worplesdon, whereupon she becomes Lady Worplesdon. She has one son, Thomas Gregson, (Thos.). She is also the stepmother of Lord Worplesdon's daughter, Florence Craye
.
She has a pet dog companion named McIntosh. It is a West Highland white terrier
and was the center of the plot of Episode of the Dog McIntosh and its TV adaptation Tuppy and the Terrier, in which Bertie almost lost it to a Broadway producer.
Aunt Agatha has been described as "the best image of the dialoguing philosopher".
, a Granada Television
series based on the canon, which aired in the early 1990s, she was played by Mary Wimbush
for the first three series and by Elizabeth Spriggs
in the fourth. In the 1960s tv adaptation starring Ian Carmichael and Dennis Price, Aunt Agatha was played formidably by Fabia Drake.
Aunt Agatha also seems likely to have caused Bertie's expostulation that "It is no use telling me that there are bad aunts and good aunts. At the core, they are all alike. Sooner or later, out pops the cloven hoof
".
The Inimitable Jeeves
Very Good, Jeeves
Joy in the Morning
The Mating Season
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
in the Jeeves
Jeeves
Reginald Jeeves is a fictional character in the short stories and novels of P. G. Wodehouse, being the valet of Bertie Wooster . Created in 1915, Jeeves would continue to appear in Wodehouse's works until his final, completed, novel Aunts Aren't Gentlemen in 1974, making him Wodehouse's most famous...
stories of British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse
P. G. Wodehouse
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE was an English humorist, whose body of work includes novels, short stories, plays, poems, song lyrics, and numerous pieces of journalism. He enjoyed enormous popular success during a career that lasted more than seventy years and his many writings continue to be...
, being best known as Aunt Agatha, Bertie Wooster
Bertie Wooster
Bertram Wilberforce "Bertie" Wooster is a recurring fictional character in the Jeeves novels of British author P. G. Wodehouse. An English gentleman, one of the "idle rich" and a member of the Drones Club, he appears alongside his valet, Jeeves, whose genius manages to extricate Bertie or one of...
's least favourite aunt, and a counterpoint to her sister, Bertie's Aunt Dahlia
Aunt Dahlia
Dahlia Travers is a recurring fictional character in the Jeeves novels of British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being best known as Bertie Wooster's bonhomous, red-faced Aunt Dahlia. She is much beloved by her nephew, in contrast with her sister, Bertie's Aunt Agatha...
. Fearsome and strong-willed, she is always trying to get Bertie married, though without success, thanks to Jeeves
Jeeves
Reginald Jeeves is a fictional character in the short stories and novels of P. G. Wodehouse, being the valet of Bertie Wooster . Created in 1915, Jeeves would continue to appear in Wodehouse's works until his final, completed, novel Aunts Aren't Gentlemen in 1974, making him Wodehouse's most famous...
's interference. She is known as "the nephew-crusher". Bertie would avoid her if he could, but far too often finds himself bent to her indomitable will.
Overview
Agatha had at first been affianced to Percy Craye, though upon reading in the papers of his behavior at a Covent GardenCovent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
ball, she had ended the engagement. She then married Spenser Gregson, who is her husband for most of the Wodehouse canon, though he dies in time for her to marry Craye, who had by then become Lord Worplesdon
Lord Worplesdon
Percival "Percy" Craye, later Earl of Worplesdon, is a recurring fictional character from the Jeeves stories of British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being Agatha Gregson's second husband, who would have been her first but for Agatha's discovering that he had behaved shamefully at a ball at Covent...
, Earl of Worplesdon, whereupon she becomes Lady Worplesdon. She has one son, Thomas Gregson, (Thos.). She is also the stepmother of Lord Worplesdon's daughter, Florence Craye
Florence Craye
Lady Florence Craye is a fictional character who appears in P. G. Wodehouse's Jeeves stories and novels. Lady Florence, the daughter of Percy Craye, Earl of Worplesdon and elder sister to Edwin, a nasty little runtish type of lad, is the sometime fiancee of Bertie Wooster...
.
She has a pet dog companion named McIntosh. It is a West Highland white terrier
West Highland White Terrier
The West Highland White Terrier, commonly known as the Westie, is a Scottish breed of dog with a distinctive white coat. The modern breed is descended from a number of breeding programes of white terriers in Scotland prior to the 20th century...
and was the center of the plot of Episode of the Dog McIntosh and its TV adaptation Tuppy and the Terrier, in which Bertie almost lost it to a Broadway producer.
Aunt Agatha has been described as "the best image of the dialoguing philosopher".
Actors
In Jeeves and WoosterJeeves and Wooster
-External links:*—An episode guide to the series, including information about which episodes were adapted from which Wodehouse stories.*—Episode guides, screenshots and quotes from the four series....
, a Granada Television
Granada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
series based on the canon, which aired in the early 1990s, she was played by Mary Wimbush
Mary Wimbush
Mary Wimbush was an English actress, whose career spanned sixty years from the 1940s to the 2000s...
for the first three series and by Elizabeth Spriggs
Elizabeth Spriggs
-Early life and career:Born in Buxton, Derbyshire as Elizabeth Jean Williams, Spriggs had an unhappy childhood and grew up entirely without affection, particularly from her distant, domineering father, a master builder and farmer. She studied at the Royal College of Music and taught speech and...
in the fourth. In the 1960s tv adaptation starring Ian Carmichael and Dennis Price, Aunt Agatha was played formidably by Fabia Drake.
Aunt Agatha as described by Bertie
- "My Aunt Agatha, the one who chews broken bottles and kills rats with her teeth."
- "Aunt Agatha, who eats broken bottles and wears barbed wireBarbed wireBarbed wire, also known as barb wire , is a type of fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strand. It is used to construct inexpensive fences and is used atop walls surrounding secured property...
next to the skin." - "When Aunt Agatha wants you to do a thing you do it, or else you find yourself wondering why those fellows in the olden days made such a fuss when they had trouble with the Spanish InquisitionSpanish InquisitionThe Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition , commonly known as the Spanish Inquisition , was a tribunal established in 1480 by Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. It was intended to maintain Catholic orthodoxy in their kingdoms, and to replace the Medieval...
." - "Aunt Agatha, the one who kills rats with her teeth and devours her young."
- "My Aunt Agatha who eats broken bottles and is strongly suspected of turning into a werewolfWerewolfA werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope , is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse...
at the time of the full moon." - "We run to height a bit in our family and there's about five-foot-nine of Aunt Agatha, topped off with a beaky nose, an eagle eye, and a lot of grey hair, and the general effect is pretty formidable."
Aunt Agatha also seems likely to have caused Bertie's expostulation that "It is no use telling me that there are bad aunts and good aunts. At the core, they are all alike. Sooner or later, out pops the cloven hoof
Cloven hoof
A cloven hoof is a hoof split into two toes. This is found on members of the mammalian order Artiodactyla. Examples of mammals that possess this type of hoof are deer and sheep. In folklore and popular culture, a cloven hoof has long been associated with the Devil.The two digits of cloven hoofed...
".
Appearances
The Man with Two Left FeetThe Man With Two Left Feet
The Man With Two Left Feet, and Other Stories is a collection of short stories by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on March 8, 1917 by Methuen & Co., London, and in the United States in 1933 by A.L. Burt and Co., New York...
- Extricating Young GussieExtricating Young Gussie"Extricating Young Gussie" is a short story by British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being the first appearance of two of his most popular characters, the ingenious valet Jeeves and his master Bertie Wooster. It was first published in the U.S. in the 15 September 1915 issue of The Saturday Evening...
The Inimitable Jeeves
The Inimitable Jeeves
The Inimitable Jeeves is a semi-novel collecting Jeeves stories by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom by Herbert Jenkins, London, on May 17, 1923, and in the United States by George H...
- Aunt Agatha Takes The Count
- Scoring off Jeeves
- Sir Roderick Comes to Lunch.
- The Delayed Exit of Claude and Eustace
Very Good, Jeeves
Very Good, Jeeves
Very Good, Jeeves is a collection of eleven short stories by P. G. Wodehouse, all featuring Jeeves and Bertie Wooster. It was first published in the United States on 20 June 1930 by Doubleday, Doran, New York, and in the United Kingdom on 4 July 1930 by Herbert Jenkins, London...
- Jeeves and the Impending Doom
- Jeeves and the Yule-tide Spirit
- The Indian Summer of an Uncle
Joy in the Morning
Joy in the Morning (1946 novel)
Joy in the Morning is a novel by P.G. Wodehouse, first published in the United States on August 22, 1946 by Doubleday & Co., New York, and in the United Kingdom on June 2, 1947 by Herbert Jenkins, London...
The Mating Season
Allusion
- The term "Aunt Agatha" has come to mean a "formidable aunt" or, more generally, "any older woman of fearsome disposition".
- "Aunt Agatha", or "Great Aunt Agatha", is a term sometimes used somewhat disparagingly by workers in the City of LondonCity of LondonThe City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
's financial markets to describe a risk-averse, low-volume, non-corporate investor. - "Aunt Agatha's flying helmet" is used as a raffleRaffleA raffle is a competition in which people obtain numbered tickets, each ticket having the chance of winning a prize. At a set time, the winners are drawn from a container holding a copy of every number...
box for competition entries in the 'Straight and Level' humour page in Flight InternationalFlight InternationalFlight International is a global aerospace weekly publication produced in the UK. Founded in 1909, it is the world's oldest continuously published aviation news magazine...
, a British aviationAviationAviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Aviation is derived from avis, the Latin word for bird.-History:...
-related trade journalTrade journalA trade magazine, also called a professional magazine, is a magazine published with the intention of target marketing to a specific industry or type of trade. The collective term for this area of publishing is the trade press....
.