Major Brabazon-Plank (possibly later Major Plank) 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, ...

created by British comic writer

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 ...

, being a famed explorer who led an expedition up the Amazon but is afraid of babies. Major Brabazon-Plank (who appears in the

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 ...

novel ''Uncle Dynamite'') and Major Plank (who appears in the

Jeeves Jeeves (born Reginald Jeeves, nicknamed Reggie) is a fictional character in a series of comedic short stories and novels by English author P. G. Wodehouse. Jeeves is the highly competent valet of a wealthy and idle young Londoner named Bertie W ...

novels ''Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves'' and ''Aunts Aren't Gentlemen'') have been interpreted by some Wodehouse scholars as being the same character, while others have described them as being two similar but separate characters.

Overview

In ''

Uncle Dynamite ''Uncle Dynamite'' is a novel by P.G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 22 October 1948 by Herbert Jenkins, London and in the United States on 29 November 1948 by Didier & Co., New York.McIlvaine (1990), pp. 82–83, A68. It fe ...

'', Major Brabazon-Plank (also called Major Plank) is a famed explorer who led at least one expedition up the

Amazon River The Amazon River (, ; es, Río Amazonas, pt, Rio Amazonas) in South America is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and the disputed longest river system in the world in comparison to the Nile. The headwaters of t ...

in Brazil. He is a fat, pear-shaped man and a perpetual eater. He was educated at Eton, where he was called "Bimbo", and is a former Governor of a Crown colony. While in Peru, Major Plank judged a bonny baby competition, where the mother of one of the honourable mentions was unhappy with the results and stabbed him in the leg. (He will show the scar when asked.) This experience has instilled in him a lifelong phobia of babies and marriage ('as marriages lead to bonny babies, and bonny babies lead to bonny baby competitions'). He has recently come back from leading an expedition up the Amazon with Bill Oakshott. Visiting Ashenden Manor, he finds Uncle Fred, whom he knew at Eton, usurping his identity. In ''

Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves ''Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves'' is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, published in the United States on 22 March 1963 by Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York, and in the United Kingdom on 16 August 1963 by Herbert Jenkins, London.McIlvaine (1990), p. 97, A8 ...

'' and ''

Aunts Aren't Gentlemen ''Aunts Aren't Gentlemen'' is a comic novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom in October 1974 by Barrie & Jenkins, London, and in the United States under the title ''The Cat-nappers'' on 14 April 1975 by Simon & Schuste ...

'', Major Plank is a retired explorer. An elderly, tanned, square-faced man, he was an explorer in Brazil and now lives in a house that he inherited from his godfather in Hockley-cum-Meston. He is devoted to rugby football and was educated at Haileybury, where he had the nickname "Barmy". He breeds cocker spaniels and eats nonfattening protein bread. He was once scarred in the leg by the mother of an Honourable Mention in a Bonny Babies contest he judged in Peru, and is now strongly averse to marriage and babies. In South Africa, he hitched-hiked from Johannesburg to Cape Town to avoid being married. In the first Jeeves novel in which he appears, he sells a black amber statuette he obtained in the Congo to Sir Watkyn Bassett, and wants to call the police on

Bertie Wooster Bertram Wilberforce Wooster is a fictional character in the comedic Jeeves stories created by British author P. G. Wodehouse. An amiable English gentleman and one of the "idle rich", Bertie appears alongside his valet, Jeeves, whose intelligenc ...

trying to sell it back to him. Jeeves (as Inspector Witherspoon) diverts the call to the police by naming Bertie as Alpine Joe and takes Bertie away. Major Plank also seeks a prop forward for the local rugby team. He finds this in Bertie's old friend, the Reverend Harold 'Stinker' Pinker, to whom he gives a vicarage. In the latter novel, he is a visitor haunting Bertie Wooster, the Major trying to remember where they had met before. He suffers from a poor memory as an after-effect of having contracted malaria during his time in Brazil.

Quotes

All Marriages are disastrous.... They lead to bonny babies, and bonny babies lead to bonny baby competitions. If she'd adeline Bassetthave seen as many native chiefs' wives as I have, she wouldn't want to make such an ass of herself. Dickens of a life they lead, those women. Nothing to do but grind maize meal and have bonny babies. I'm strongly opposed to anyone marrying anybody, but if you are going to marry someone, you unquestionably save something from the wreck by marrying a woman who knows what to do with a joint of beef.

Stories

Major Brabazon-Plank (or Major Plank) is featured in: * ''

'' (1948) - an Uncle Fred novel (as Major Brabazon-Plank) * ''

'' (1963) - a Jeeves novel (as Major Plank) * ''

'' (1974, U.S. title: ''The Cat-nappers'') - a Jeeves novel (as Major Plank)

Adaptations

Donald Hewlett Donald Marland Hewlett (30 August 1920 – 4 June 2011) was a British actor who was best known for his sitcom roles as Colonel Charles Reynolds in ''It Ain't Half Hot Mum'' and Lord Meldrum in '' You Rang, M'Lord?'', both written by Jimmy Perry ...

voiced Major Brabazon-Plank in the 1994 BBC radio adaptation of ''Uncle Dynamite''. Major Plank was portrayed by

Norman Rodway Norman John Frank Rodway (7 February 1929 – 13 March 2001) was an Anglo-Irish actor. Early life Rodway was born at the family home, Elsinore (named after the castle where Shakespeare's ''Hamlet'' is set), on Coliemore Road, Dalkey, Dublin ...

in the ''

Jeeves and Wooster ''Jeeves and Wooster'' is a British comedy-drama television series adapted by Clive Exton from P. G. Wodehouse's "Jeeves" stories. It aired on the ITV network from 22 April 1990 to 20 June 1993, with the last series nominated for a British ...

'' episode " Trouble at Totleigh Towers". Ronald Fraser portrayed Major Plank in the 1980–1981 radio dramatisation of ''Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves'', part of the BBC radio series ''

What Ho! Jeeves ''What Ho! Jeeves'' (sometimes written ''What Ho, Jeeves!'') is a series of radio dramas based on some of the Jeeves short stories and novels written by P. G. Wodehouse, starring Michael Hordern as the titular Jeeves and Richard Briers as Berti ...

''. The character was voiced by

Michael York Michael York OBE (born Michael Hugh Johnson; 27 March 1942) is an English film, television and stage actor. After performing on-stage with the Royal National Theatre, he had a breakthrough in films by playing Tybalt in Franco Zeffirelli's ''Ro ...

in the 2018 BBC radio dramatisation of the same novel.

References

; Sources consulted * ; Endnotes {{DEFAULTSORT:Brabazon-Plank, Major P. G. Wodehouse characters Fictional explorers Fictional majors Literary characters introduced in 1948 Male characters in literature