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Lord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey is a fictional character in a series of detective novels and short stories by Dorothy L. Sayers, in which he solves mysteries—usually murder mysteries. Detective fiction is a branch of Crime fiction in which a Detective (or detectives either professional or amateur investigate a crime usually Murder Dorothy Leigh Sayers ( IPA: usually pronounced /ˈseɪɜrz/ although Sayers herself preferred /ˈsɛːz/ and encouraged the use of her middle initial to facilitate this

Born in 1890 and aging in real-time, Wimsey is described as having at best average height with straw-coloured hair, a beaked nose, and a vaguely foolish face (reputedly his looks were patterned after academic Roy Ridley). Maurice Roy Ridley ( January 25, 1890 - June 12, 1969) was a Writer and Poet, Fellow and He also possessed considerable intelligence and athletic ability, evidenced by playing cricket for Oxford University while earning a First. Cricket is a bat-and-ball team Sport that originated in England and is now played in more than 100 countries The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading scheme for Undergraduate degrees ( Bachelor's degrees and some Master's degrees

In How I Came to Invent the Character of Lord Peter Wimsey,[1] Sayers wrote:

Lord Peter's large income . . . I deliberately gave him . . . After all it cost me nothing and at the time I was particularly hard up and it gave me pleasure to spend his fortune for him. When I was dissatisfied with my single unfurnished room I took a luxurious flat for him in Piccadilly. When my cheap rug got a hole in it, I ordered him an Aubusson carpet. Aubusson (in Occitan Lo Buçon or Le Buçon Le Beçon) is a commune in the Creuse department of the When I had no money to pay my bus fare I presented him with a Daimler double-six, upholstered in a style of sober magnificence, and when I felt dull I let him drive it. This article is about the British automobile manufacturer See Daimler for other uses derived from the German engineer and inventor Gottlieb Daimler. I can heartily recommend this inexpensive way of furnishing to all who are discontented with their incomes. It relieves the mind and does no harm to anybody.

The novels are set in Britain contemporary to when they were written, from the early 1920s to the late 1930s; the story "Talboys" (and Jill Paton Walsh's recent continuations Thrones, Dominations and A Presumption of Death) continue this into the early 1940s. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Jill Paton Walsh CBE (born 29 April 1937) is an English novelist and children's writer Thrones Dominations is a Lord Peter Wimsey murder mystery novel that Dorothy L A Presumption of Death is a Mystery novel by Jill Paton Walsh, based loosely on The Wimsey Papers by Dorothy L

Contents

Biography

Lord Peter Wimsey's first known ancestor is the 12th Century knight Gerald de Wimsey, who went with King Richard The Lion Heart on the Third Crusade and took part in the Siege of Acre. Richard I (8 September 1157 &ndash 6 April 1199 was King of England from 6 July 1189 until his death The Third Crusade (1189&ndash1192 also known as the Kings' Crusade, was an attempt by European leaders to reconquer the Holy Land from Saladin The Siege of Acre was the first confrontation of the Third Crusade, lasting from August 28, 1189 until July 12, 1191, and the [2]. This makes the Wimseys an unusually ancient family since "Very few English noble families go that far in the first creation; rebellions and monarchial head choppings had seen to that" (as reviewer Janet Hitchman noted in the introduction to "Striding Folly"). The family motto, displayed under its coat of arms, is "As My Wimsey Takes Me".

He is the second child of Mortimer Wimsey, 15th Duke of Denver, and Honoria Lucasta Delagardie, who lives on throughout the novels as the Dowager Duchess. The fictitious title of Duke of Denver was created by Dorothy Sayers for the elder brother of Lord Peter Wimsey. A dowager is a widow who holds a title or property or Dower, derived from her deceased husband

Lord Peter was educated at Eton College and Balliol College, Oxford, where he received a first-class degree in history. Eton College, or just Eton, is a world-famous British Independent school for boys founded in 1440 by King Henry VI. Balliol College (ˈbeɪlɪəl founded in 1263 is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading scheme for Undergraduate degrees ( Bachelor's degrees and some Master's degrees He served in the British Army from 1914–1918 (World War I) including a stint in the trenches, attaining the rank of Major in the Rifle Brigade. The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Trench warfare is a form of warfare where both combatants have fortified positions and fighting lines are static Please see " Major " for other countries which use this rank In the British military, major is a military rank which is used The Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own was a regiment of the British Army, and the first to use Military camouflage. In the army he met Sergeant Mervyn Bunter, who had previously been in service. Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries police forces and other uniformed organizations around the world Mervyn Bunter is a fictional character in Dorothy L Sayers ' novels and short stories featuring Lord Peter Wimsey. A domestic worker, domestic, servingman, servingwoman, or servant is one who works and often also lives within the employer's household After sharing what the Dowager Duchess referred to as "a jam", the two arranged that if they were both to survive the war, Bunter would become Wimsey's valet. Valet and Varlet are terms for Male servants who serve as personal attendants to their employer Throughout the books Bunter always takes care to address Wimsey as "Your Lordship"—nevertheless, he is obviously a friend as well as (or more than) a servant, and Wimsey again and again expresses amazement at Bunter's high efficiency and competence at virtually every sphere of life.

Wimsey suffered a breakdown due to shell shock and was eventually sent home. After the war he was ill for many months, recovering at the family's ancestral home in Duke's Denver (fictional like the dukedom it gives its name to) which lies some fifteen miles beyond the "original" Denver on the A10 near Downham Market). Downham Market, also known simply as Downham, is a Town and Civil parish in the English County of Norfolk. Bunter arrived and, with the approval of the Dowager Duchess, took up his post. Bunter moved Wimsey to a London flat at 110A Piccadilly, W1 as Wimsey recovered. Piccadilly is a major London street running from Hyde Park Corner in the west to Piccadilly Circus in the east The London postal district is the area in England, currently of 241 square miles to which mail addressed to the LONDON Post town is delivered

Lord Peter begins his hobby of investigation by recovering the Attenbury Emeralds. He also becomes good friends with Scotland Yard Chief Inspector Charles Parker. New Scotland Yard or Scotland Yard, informally known as The Yard and NSY, is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service, responsible Bunter, being a man of many talents himself—not least photography—often proves instrumental in Peter's investigations. Photography (fә'tɒgrәfi or fә'tɑːgrәfi (from Greek φωτο and γραφία is the process and Art of recording pictures by means of capturing However, Wimsey is not entirely well. At the end of the investigation in Whose Body? (1923) he hallucinates that he is back in the trenches. Whose Body? is a 1923 novel by Dorothy L Sayers (ISBN 0-380-39966-0 which introduced the character of Lord Peter Wimsey. A hallucination, in the broadest sense is a Perception in the absence of a stimulus. He soon recovers his senses and goes on a long holiday.

The next year he returns to Duke's Denver to assist his older brother Gerald, accused of murdering their sister's fiancé. As Gerald is the current Duke of Denver, the resulting trial takes place in the House of Lords. Their sister, Lady Mary, also falls under suspicion. Gerald's snobbish wife, Helen, and devil-may-care heir, Viscount St. George, also make appearances in the novels.

It is not exactly known when Wimsey recruited Miss Climpson to run an undercover employment agency for women, in order to be able to garner information from the world of spinsters and widows which neither master nor man would be able to access, but it is prior to Unnatural Death (1927). Unnatural death is a category used by Coroners and Vital statistics specialists for classifying all human deaths not properly describable as Death by natural causes

In Strong Poison Lord Peter meets Harriet Deborah Vane and falls in love with her. Strong Poison is a 1931 novel by Dorothy L Sayers, her fifth featuring Lord Peter Wimsey. Harriet Deborah Vane, later Lady Peter Wimsey, is a fictional character in the works of British writer Dorothy L Harriet is a cerebral, Oxford-educated mystery writer on trial for the murder of her former lover. Needless to say, Wimsey saves her from the gallows, but based on the principle that gratitude is not a good foundation for marriage, she politely but firmly declines his frequent proposals. Lord Peter does encourage his friend and foil, Chief Inspector Charles Parker, to propose to his sister Lady Mary Wimsey. They marry and have a son, named Charles Peter ("Peterkin"), and a daughter, Mary Lucasta.

Wimsey continues to pursue Miss Vane, but does not get much satisfaction. He investigates a murder while on holiday in Scotland (Five Red Herrings). Five Red Herrings is a 1931 Novel by Dorothy L Sayers. The first time it was published in the United States its title was Suspicious Characters On his return he finds Miss Vane is not at home; he learns her location when reporter Salcombe Hardy asks Wimsey to comment on the murder victim Vane discovered on her walking tour of England's coast (Have His Carcase). Have His Carcase is a 1932 novel by Dorothy L Sayers, her seventh featuring Lord Peter Wimsey and her second novel in which Harriet Vane Hardy does not have to point out that Vane might have committed the murder herself - one who was once tried for murder does not have the best reputation. The next morning Wimsey is at her hotel, not only to investigate the death and once more offer proposals of marriage, but also act as her patron and protector with press and police. Patronage is the support encouragement privilege and often financial aid given by a person or an organization Despite a prickly relationship, they do work together to identify the murderer.

Back in London, Wimsey goes undercover as "Death Bredon" at an advertising firm, working as a copywriter (Murder Must Advertise). Being undercover is disguising one's own identity or using an assumed identity for the purposes of gaining the trust of an individual or organization to learn secret information Copywriting is the use of words to promote a Person, Business, Opinion, or Idea. Murder Must Advertise is a Lord Peter Wimsey mystery novel by Dorothy L Bredon is framed for murder, leading Charles Parker to "arrest" Bredon for murder in front of the press. To distinguish Death Bredon from Lord Peter Wimsey, Parker smuggles Wimsey out of the station and urges him to get into the papers. Accordingly Wimsey accompanies "a Royal personage" to a public event, leading the press to carry pictures of both "Bredon" and Wimsey.

By 1935 Lord Peter is in Europe, acting as an unofficial attaché for the British Foreign Office. Attaché is a French term in diplomacy referring to a person who is assigned ('attached' to the administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office or the FCO, is the British government department responsible for promoting Harriet Vane contacts him about a problem she has been asked to investigate in her college at Oxford (Gaudy Night). The University of Oxford (informally "Oxford University" or simply "Oxford" located in the city of Oxford, Oxfordshire, England is the Gaudy Night is a 1935 Lord Peter Wimsey detective story by Dorothy L At the end of their investigation, Vane finally accepts Peter's proposal of marriage. The couple marry, on October 8, 1935, at St. Events 314 - Roman Emperor Licinius is defeated by his colleague Constantine I at the Battle of Cibalae, and loses Year 1935 ( MCMXXXV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Cross Church, Holywell, Oxford (depicted in the opening collection of letters and diary entries in Busman's Honeymoon). Oxford is currently bidding for the 2010 Wikimania Conference Oxford () is a city, and the County town of Oxfordshire, Busman's Honeymoon is a 1937 novel by Dorothy L Sayers, her eleventh (and last featuring Lord Peter Wimsey.

The Wimseys go off on honeymoon to Talboys, a house in east Hertfordshire near where the young Harriet's father was a country doctor, which she has loved from childhood and which Peter has bought for her as a wedding present. Hertfordshire (ˈhɑːtfədʃə(r, abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of There, they find the body of the previous owner, and spend their honeymoon solving the case, thus having the eponymous Busman's Honeymoon. Busman's Honeymoon is a 1937 novel by Dorothy L Sayers, her eleventh (and last featuring Lord Peter Wimsey.

The Wimseys have three children: Bredon Delagardie Peter Wimsey (born in October 1936 in the story "The Haunted Policeman"); Roger Wimsey (born 1938), and Paul Wimsey (born 1940). Note that in A Presumption of Death the second son is called Paul, because in the wartime publications of The Wimsey Papers Dorothy L. A Presumption of Death is a Mystery novel by Jill Paton Walsh, based loosely on The Wimsey Papers by Dorothy L Sayers called him that. All three boys are presented in the 1942 story "Talboys," and it may be presumed that Paul is named after Lord Peter's Uncle Paul Delagardie. "Roger" is an ancestral Wimsey name.

Other recurring characters include multiple appearances from solicitor Murbles, newshound Salcombe Hardy, and city whizz The Honourable Freddy Arbuthnot, who finds himself entangled in the case in the first of the Wimsey books, 1923's Whose Body?. Whose Body? is a 1923 novel by Dorothy L Sayers (ISBN 0-380-39966-0 which introduced the character of Lord Peter Wimsey.

Among Lord Peter's hobbies, apart from criminology, is collecting incunabula (very early printed books). He is an expert on matters of food (especially wine) and male fashion, as well as on classical music. He is quite good at playing Bach's works for keyboard instruments on a piano he babies even more than his books, wines, and cars. WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section.2 This article is written in British English including maximised use of "-ise" One of Lord Peter's cars is a 12-cylinder ("double-six") 1927 Daimler four-seater, which he calls "Mrs. Year 1927 ( MCMXXVII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. This article is about the British automobile manufacturer See Daimler for other uses derived from the German engineer and inventor Gottlieb Daimler. Merdle" after a character in Little Dorrit (by Charles Dickens). Little Dorrit is a serial novel by Charles Dickens published originally between 1855 and 1857.

Sayers wrote no more Wimsey murder mysteries after the outbreak of the Second World War. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including In one of the Wimsey Papers (a series of fictionalised commentaries in the form of mock letters between members of the Wimsey family), there is a reference to Harriet's difficulty in continuing to write murder mysteries at a time when European dictators were openly committing mass murders with impunity; this seems to have reflected Sayers' own wartime feeling.

The Wimsey Papers included a reference to Wimsey and Bunter setting out on a secret mission of espionage in Europe, pointing to the possibility of a spy thriller featuring them; but, most unfortunately, such was never written. The Genre of spy fiction —sometimes called political thriller or spy thriller or sometimes shortened simply to Spy-fi —arose before The only occasion when Sayers returned to Wimsey was the 1942 short story "Talboys", where Peter and Harriet enjoy a rural domestic bliss with their three children and there happens no crime worse than the theft of peaches from the neighbor's tree (of which Wimsey successfully vindicates his wrongly-accused first-born). The war at that time devastating Europe got only a single oblique reference. Sayers told friends orally that Harriet and Peter were to eventually have five children in all.

Though Sayers lived until 1957, she never took up again the Wimsey books. In effect, rather than killing off her detective, as Conan Doyle unsuccessfully tried with his, Sayers pensioned Wimsey off to a happy, satisfying old age. Thus, Peter Wimsey remained forever fixed on the background of inter-war England, and the books are nowadays often read for their evocation of that period as much as for the intrinsic detective mysteries (as Sherlock Holmes is often read for the distinctive late Victorian atmosphere of his background).

Bibliography

Novels

With year of first publication

Short story collections

In addition there are

Dramatic adaptations

The cover of Gaudy Night, from the BBC series. Featuring Edward Petherbridge as Lord Peter Wimsey
The cover of Gaudy Night, from the BBC series. Featuring Edward Petherbridge as Lord Peter Wimsey

The novel Busman's Honeymoon was originally a stage play by Sayers and her friend Muriel St. Edward Petherbridge (born on 3 August 1936 in Bradford) is a British Actor. Clare Byrne.

Some of the Lord Peter Wimsey novels were made into two very successful television series by the BBC. Television ( TV) is a widely used Telecommunication medium for sending ( Broadcasting) and receiving moving Images, either monochromatic Lord Peter Wimsey was played by Ian Carmichael in a series that ran from 1972 to 1975 and adapted five novels, and by Edward Petherbridge in 1987, wherein the three major Wimsey/Vane novels were dramatized. Ian Carmichael OBE (born 18 June 1920) is an English Film, stage, Television and Radio Actor Edward Petherbridge (born on 3 August 1936 in Bradford) is a British Actor. Harriet was played by Harriet Walter. Harriet Mary Walter, CBE, (born September 24, 1950) is a British Actress. The BBC was unable to secure the rights to turn Busman's Honeymoon into the fourth part of the series. Both series are now available on videotape and DVD.

Edward Petherbridge also played Wimsey in the UK production of the Busman's Honeymoon play staged at the Lyric Hammersmith in 1988 (it also toured in the North of England), with the role of Harriet being taken by his real life spouse, Emily Richard. Edward Petherbridge (born on 3 August 1936 in Bradford) is a British Actor.

Ian Carmichael also starred as Wimsey in radio adaptations of the novels made by the BBC, all of which have been available on cassette and CD from the BBC Radio Collection. Ian Carmichael OBE (born 18 June 1920) is an English Film, stage, Television and Radio Actor In the original series, which ran on Radio 4 from 1973–1983, no adaptation was made of the seminal Gaudy Night, perhaps because the leading character in this novel is Harriet and not Peter; this was corrected in 2005 when a version specially recorded for the BBC Radio Collection was released starring Carmichael and Joanna David. Gaudy Night is a 1935 Lord Peter Wimsey detective story by Dorothy L The CD also includes a panel discussion on the novel, the major participants in which are P. D. James and Jill Paton Walsh. Phyllis Dorothy James Baroness James of Holland Park, OBE, FRSA, FRSL (born 3 August, 1920) is an English Crime writer Jill Paton Walsh CBE (born 29 April 1937) is an English novelist and children's writer It should be noted, however, that Gaudy Night was released as an unabridged audiobook read by Ian Carmichael in 1993.

There was a 1935 British movie of The Silent Passenger in which Lord Peter solved a mystery on the boat train crossing the English Channel, but the film does not seem to be available on videotape, at least in the United States. Sayers disliked the film; James Brabazon describes it as an "oddity, in which Dorothy's contribution was altered out of all recognition. "

The 1940 film The Haunted Honeymoon (US title) or Busman's Honeymoon (UK title), starring Robert Montgomery and Constance Cummings as Lord and Lady Peter, is available on videotape in generic boxes on the secondary market. Robert Montgomery ( May 21, 1904 &ndash September 27, 1981) was an American actor and director Constance Cummings CBE ( May 15 1910 – November 23 2005) was an American -born British actress known for her Any resemblance of its characters and events to those in Busman's Honeymoon is more than coincidental but less than satisfactory to Sayers's fans; the film script simplifies the novel's plot a great deal. (In the TV adaptation of Murder Must Advertise, a movie poster of Robert Montgomery is prominently visible on the wall in the secretaries' office). Sayers refused even to see this movie.

Books about Lord Peter by other authors

As a footnote, Lord Peter Wimsey has also been included by the science fiction writer Philip José Farmer as a member of the Wold Newton family; and Laurie R. King's detective character Mary Russell meets Lord Peter at a party in the novel A Letter of Mary. 2000 ( MM) was a Leap year that started on Saturday of the Common Era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. Philip José Farmer (born January 26 1918) is an American Author, principally known for his Science fiction and fantasy Laurie R King (born 1952 is an American Author best known for her Detective fiction. Mary Russell is a Fictional character in a book series by Laurie R

See also

References

  1. ^ Quoted by Barbara Reynolds in Dorothy L. (George Eric Whelpton (1894-1981 was the son of the Revd George Whelpton minister of Trinity Methodist church Abingdon. Sayers: Her Life and Soul with the parenthetical "not entirely accurate, but why should it be?", page 230.
  2. ^ Strong Poison, Ch. Strong Poison is a 1931 novel by Dorothy L Sayers, her fifth featuring Lord Peter Wimsey. XXI

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