Ian talks to writer Thom Robinson about the seventh Wodehouse book, "Love Among the Chickens". There will be spoilers.

Among Wodehouse's books, this is:

   The first intended for a general audience, as opposed to schoolboys or young children

   The first to involve a love story

   The first to introduce a major recurring character, which is Ukridge

   The first with golf as a major element.

   The first to be properly published in the USA

It exists in two versions (four versions actually, but two book versions): The original 1906 book and the 1921 rewrite. We look at both versions to discuss how the changes reflect his development as a writer.

Also discussed:

   William Townend, who gave him the plot

   Herbert Westbrook, partial model for Ukridge

   The trip Wodehouse took to Lyme Regis with the "Lyon cubs", that provided the setting

   Arthur Conan Doyle's The Stark-Munro Letters, a probable influence on the novel

   The narrator Jeremy Garnet's description of his working life as a novelist, and how far it is likely autobiographical

   The self-deprecating humour about being unable to write convincing female characters

   The old "Have someone pushed into the water so you can rescue them" wheeze

Thom's old podcast with Hazel Smoczynska: https://soundcloud.com/yammerofthegods

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