FAMOUS HUMORIST

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23883, 10 August 1939, Page 12

FAMOUS HUMORIST

NOT BRIGHT AS A BOY WHAT SCHOOL REPORT SHOWS Readers of P. G. Wodehouse all over the world will be interested to know that the creator of Jeeves and Psmith thought too much of cricket when at school and was rather weak at Latin and Greek. These facts have come to light by the publication in a London newspaper of a school report dated July. 1899, of P. G. Wodehouse when a scholar at Dulwich College. Recording that the youthful Wodehouse was twenty-third out of 25, the report makes the following comments:— Latin prose, very fair; Greek prose, poor; Latin verse, often good; Greek verse, fair only; Latin unseen, very fair; Greek unseen, good; Prepared Authors, just satisfactory; General Paper, fair; Critical Paper, bad; Ancient History, weak; English Essay, not very strong. General remarks: " He has done just fairly in the summer examinations, but no more. I fear he has spent too much thought upon his cricket and the winning of colours. He is a most impractical boy—continually he does badly in examinations from lack of the proper books, he is often forgetful; he finds difficulties in the most simple things, and asks absurd questions, whereas he can understand the more difficult thing. "He has the most distorted ideas about wit and humour; he draws over his books and examinations papers in the most distressing way and writes foolish rhymes in other people's books."