The Honourable Galahad "Gally" Threepwood is a
fictional character
In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life person, ...
in the
Blandings Castle
Blandings Castle is a recurring fictional location in the stories of British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being the seat of Lord Emsworth (Clarence Threepwood, 9th Earl of Emsworth), home to many of his family and the setting for numerous tal ...
stories by
P. G. Wodehouse
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, ( ; 15 October 188114 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jeeve ...
.
Lord Emsworth
Clarence Threepwood, 9th Earl Emsworth, commonly known as Lord Emsworth, is a recurring fictional character in the Blandings Castle series of stories by British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse. He is the amiable and somewhat absent-minded head of th ...
's younger brother, a lifelong bachelor, Gally was, according to
Beach
A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...
, the Blandings
butler
A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. Some a ...
, "somewhat wild as a young man". When he appears in the Blandings books, he is in his mid- to late-fifties, has thick grey hair and wears a black-rimmed
monocle
A monocle is a type of corrective lens used to correct or enhance the visual perception in only one eye. It consists of a circular lens, generally with a wire ring around the circumference that can be attached to a string or wire. The other ...
on a black ribbon.
Life and character
Galahad is the only one of the Threepwood siblings never to have married. His true love was Dolly Henderson, with whom he was in love from 1896 to 1898 but who, as a music-hall singer who wore pink tights, was not an appropriate bride for a man of his social status. His father sent him to South Africa to prevent him from marrying, following which he spent most of his life drinking heavily and getting up to mischief. A member of the notorious
Pelican Club, he appears to have travelled widely and known many people.
The prospect of Galahad's writing his reminiscences causes a good deal of consternation among England's well-established upper-class because he had, in younger days, been "a notable lad about town," a partier, drinker, prankster, and ladies' man, and his stories are liable to embarrass his former comrades, most of whom have grown into respectable gentlemen. One particularly embarrassing story concerns
Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe
Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe, 7th Baronet (usually called Sir Gregory Parsloe) is a fictional character from the Blandings Castle short stories and novels of British author P. G. Wodehouse. In the stories, Parsloe resides at Matchingham Hall, near ...
and
prawn
Prawn is a common name for small aquatic crustaceans with an exoskeleton and ten legs (which is a member of the order decapoda), some of which can be eaten.
The term "prawn"Mortenson, Philip B (2010''This is not a weasel: a close look at nature ...
s, though we never learn many details of the incident, other than that it took place at
Ascot, "the year Martingale won the
Gold Cup".
His wildness makes him very popular with the members of the Blandings servants hall, who feel he sheds lustre on the castle, but less so with his sisters, who find him something of an embarrassment, particularly when recalling stories of their now-respectable friends. Despite the fact that he "apparently never went to bed until he was fifty", he is in remarkable shape, a sprightly, rosy, dapper man with bright eyes and a jaunty posture.
Appearances
Galahad appears in seven novels and a single short story:
* ''
Summer Lightning
''Summer Lightning'' is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United States on 1 July 1929 by Doubleday (publisher), Doubleday, Doran, New York, under the title ''Fish Preferred'', and in the United Kingdom on 19 July 1929 by Her ...
'' (1929)
* ''
Heavy Weather'' (1933)
* ''
Full Moon
The full moon is the lunar phase when the Moon appears fully illuminated from Earth's perspective. This occurs when Earth is located between the Sun and the Moon (when the ecliptic coordinate system, ecliptic longitudes of the Sun and Moon opp ...
'' (1947)
* ''
Pigs Have Wings
''Pigs Have Wings'' is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, which first appeared as a serial in ''Collier's Weekly'' between 16 August and 20 September 1952. It was first published as a book in the United States on 16 October 1952 by Doubleday & Company, ...
'' (1952)
* ''
Galahad at Blandings
''Galahad at Blandings'' is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United States on 31 December 1964 by Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York under the title ''The Brinkmanship of Galahad Threepwood'', and in the United Kingdom on 26 Au ...
'' (1965)
* "
Sticky Wicket at Blandings", from ''
Plum Pie
''Plum Pie'' is a collection of nine short stories by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 22 September 1966 by Barrie & Jenkins (under the Herbert Jenkins Ltd, Herbert Jenkins imprint), and in the United States on 1 Decembe ...
'' (1966)
* ''
A Pelican at Blandings
''A Pelican at Blandings'' is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 25 September 1969 by Barrie & Jenkins, London, and in the United States on 11 February 1970 by Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York, under the title ...
'' (1969)
* ''
Sunset at Blandings
''Sunset at Blandings'' is an unfinished novel by P. G. Wodehouse published in the United Kingdom by Chatto & Windus, London, on 17 November 1977 and in the United States by Simon & Schuster, New York, 19 September 1978.McIlvaine, E., Sherby, L ...
'' (1977)
Gally first appears in ''Summer Lightning'', where he is staying at Blandings to work on his scandalous reminiscences. He appears not to have been a regular visitor to the castle, however, as
Baxter, secretary to Lord Emsworth for some time, has never previously met him. Thereafter he becomes a regular visitor, frequently involved in the intrigues and conspiracies that invariably surround the place, generally filling the role of level-headed and resourceful saviour and the champion of youth and romance.
In the two Blandings novels after ''Summer Lightning'' in which he does not play a part, his shoes are ably filled by his fellow-Pelican
Uncle Fred
Frederick Altamont Cornwallis Twistleton, 5th Earl of Ickenham, commonly known as Uncle Fred, is a fictional character who appears in comedic short stories and novels written by P. G. Wodehouse between 1935 and 1961. An energetic and mischievous ol ...
(Lord Ickenham). In fact, it has been said that Ickenham lays down the pattern that Galahad follows. Uncle Fred's first appearance in a Blandings novel is ''
Uncle Fred in the Springtime
''Uncle Fred in the Springtime'' is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United States on 18 August 1939 by Doubleday, Doran, New York, and in the United Kingdom on 25 August 1939 by Herbert Jenkins, London.McIlvaine (1990), p. 7 ...
'' (1939), in which he arrives at the castle under an assumed name, bringing several other impostors with him. In the next Blandings novel, ''Full Moon'' (1947), critic
Richard Usborne
Richard Alexander Usborne (16 May 1910 – 21 March 2006) was a journalist, advertising executive, schoolmaster and author. After the publication of his book ''Wodehouse at Work'' in 1961 he became regarded as the leading authority on the works ...
points out that "in patches Gally,
he novel's
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
real hero, acts and talks more like Lord Ickenham than himself. 'Spreading sweetness and light' is Lord Ickenham's specific role, but here, Wodehouse, seeming to forget, applies these words to Gally." Critic
J. H. C. Morris agrees, "Gally becomes more and more like Lord Ickenham as the Blandings Saga progresses. In the later stories there is no one like him for telling the tale."
Adaptations
;Television
* In the 1995
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
.
* In the 2013–2014 BBC series ''
.
.
* Galahad was portrayed by Derwent Watson in the 1999 BBC radio dramatisation of ''Full Moon''.
*
portrayed Galahad in the 2010 BBC radio adaptation of ''Summer Lightning''.