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79-538: The Late Scholar is the fourth and final Lord Peter Wimsey - Harriet Vane detective novel written by Jill Paton Walsh . Featuring characters created by Dorothy L. Sayers , it was written with the co-operation and approval of Sayers' estate. It was published by Hodder & Stoughton on 5 December 2013 in the UK, and on 14 January 2014 in North America. The Late Scholar features the former Lord Peter Wimsey—now

158-480: A First in history (referred to in Gaudy Night ). He creates a spectacularly successful publicity campaign for Whifflet cigarettes while working for Pym's Publicity Ltd, and at age 40 is able to turn three cartwheels in the office corridor, stopping just short of the boss's open office door ( Murder Must Advertise ). Among Lord Peter's hobbies, in addition to criminology, is collecting incunabula , books from

237-453: A copywriter ( Murder Must Advertise ). Bredon is framed for murder, leading Charles Parker to "arrest" Bredon for murder in front of numerous witnesses. To distinguish Death Bredon from Lord Peter Wimsey, Parker smuggles Wimsey out of the police 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

316-514: A crime novel of the 2010s is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . See guidelines for writing about novels . Further suggestions might be found on the article's talk page . Lord Peter Wimsey Lord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey DSO (later 17th Duke of Denver ) is the fictional protagonist in a series of detective novels and short stories by Dorothy L. Sayers (and their continuation by Jill Paton Walsh ). A dilettante who solves mysteries for his own amusement, Wimsey

395-534: A fictional Oxford college . In How I Came to Invent the Character of Lord Peter Wimsey, 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

474-469: A first -class degree in history. He was also an outstanding cricketer, whose performance was still well remembered decades later. Though not taking up an academic career, he was left with an enduring and deep love for Oxford. To his uncle's disappointment, Wimsey fell deeply in love with a young woman named Barbara and became engaged to her. When the First World War broke out, he hastened to join

553-432: A boy, Peter was, to the great distress of his father, strongly attached to an old, smelly poacher living at the edge of the family estate. In his youth, Peter was influenced by his maternal uncle, Paul Delagardie, who took it upon himself to instruct his nephew in the facts of life – how to conduct various love affairs and treat his lovers. Lord Peter was educated at Eton College and Balliol College, Oxford , graduating with

632-491: A breakdown due to shell shock (which we now call post-traumatic stress disorder but which was then often thought, by those without first-hand experience of it, to be a species of malingering) and was eventually sent home. While sharing this experience, which the Dowager Duchess referred to as "a jam", Wimsey and Bunter arranged that if they were both to survive the war, Bunter would become Wimsey's valet . Throughout

711-545: A fluent and unaccented German. As noted in Have His Carcase , he communicated at that time with British Intelligence using the Playfair cipher and became proficient in its use. For reasons never clarified, after the end of his spy mission, Wimsey in the later part of the war moved from Intelligence and resumed the role of a regular line officer. He was a conscientious and effective commanding officer, popular with

790-466: A great deal better if you pretend to treat it as a joke. By being, on the surface, a little ironical about Lord Peter Wimsey and his noble ancestors, she is enabled to lay on the snobbishness ('his lordship' etc.) much thicker than any overt snob would dare to do". In 1935, the British film The Silent Passenger was released, in which Lord Peter, played by well-known comic actor Peter Haddon , solved

869-468: A hole in it, I ordered him an Aubusson carpet. 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. 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. Janet Hitchman, in the preface to Striding Folly , remarks that "Wimsey may have been

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948-595: A murderer to be hanged. As noted in Whose Body? , on such occasions Bunter would take care of Wimsey and tenderly put him to bed, and they would revert to being "Major Wimsey" and "Sergeant Bunter". In the reissue of The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (1935), the biography of Wimsey is "brought up to date" by his uncle, Paul Austin Delagardie, purportedly at the request of Sayers herself, further giving

1027-583: A mystery on the boat train crossing the English Channel . Sayers disliked the film and James Brabazon describes it as an "oddity, in which Dorothy's contribution was altered out of all recognition." The novel Busman's Honeymoon was originally a stage play by Sayers and her friend Muriel St. Clare Byrne. A 1940 film of Busman's Honeymoon (US: The Haunted Honeymoon ), stars Robert Montgomery and Constance Cummings as Lord and Lady Peter and Seymour Hicks as Bunter. Amateur Historically,

1106-401: A negative and positive light. Since amateurs often lack formal training and are self-taught, some amateur work may be considered sub-par. For example, amateur athletes in sports such as basketball , baseball , or football are regarded as possessing a lower level of ability than professional athletes. On the other hand, an amateur may be in a position to approach a subject with an open mind (as

1185-459: A result of the lack of formal training) and in a financially disinterested manner. An amateur who dabbles in a field out of interest rather than as a profession, or possesses a general but superficial interest in any art or a branch of knowledge, is often referred to as a dilettante . Through most of the 20th century the Olympics allowed only amateur athletes to participate and this amateur code

1264-530: 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 during the war on a secret mission of espionage in Europe, and provide the ironic epitaph Wimsey writes for himself: "Here lies an anachronism in the vague expectation of eternity". The papers also incidentally show that in addition to his thorough knowledge of

1343-697: A vaguely foolish face. Reputedly his looks are patterned after those of academic and poet Roy Ridley , whom Sayers briefly met after witnessing him read his Newdigate Prize -winning poem "Oxford" at the Encaenia ceremony in July 1913. Twice in the novels (in Murder Must Advertise and Busman's Honeymoon ) his looks are compared to those of the actor Ralph Lynn . Wimsey also possesses considerable intelligence and athletic ability, evidenced by his playing cricket for Oxford University while taking

1422-426: A womanizer - though a rather gentlemanly and sensitive one. It would have been out of character for him to return Marjorie Phelps' love, and inevitable that he would break her heart - as he must have done to many other women before. But Sayers - a woman writer who had herself experienced disappointments and frustrations in relations with men - evidently decided to take revenge on her character and educate him. Sayers took

1501-401: Is an archetype for the British gentleman detective . He is often assisted by his valet and former batman , Mervyn Bunter ; by his good friend and later brother-in-law, police detective Charles Parker ; and, in a few books, by Harriet Vane , who becomes his wife. Born in 1890 and ageing in real time, Wimsey is described as being of average height, with straw-coloured hair, a beaked nose, and

1580-549: Is asleep, affectionately calls him a "bloody little fool." In "The Vindictive Story of the Footsteps That Ran", the staunchly democratic Dr. Hartman invites Bunter to sit down to eat together with himself and Wimsey, at the doctor's modest apartment. Wimsey does not object, but Bunter strongly does: "If I may state my own preference, sir, it would be to wait upon you and his lordship in the usual manner". Whereupon Wimsey remarks: "Bunter likes me to know my place". At

1659-523: Is described as having authored numerous books, among them the following fictitious works: Dorothy Sayers wrote 11 Wimsey novels and a number of short stories featuring Wimsey and his family. Other recurring characters include Inspector Charles Parker, the family solicitor Mr Murbles, barrister Sir Impey Biggs, journalist Salcombe Hardy, and family friend and financial whiz the Honourable Freddy Arbuthnot, who finds himself entangled in

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1738-570: Is in continental Europe, acting as an unofficial attaché to the British Foreign Office (at the time of writing, British diplomacy was much concerned with the impending Italian invasion of Ethiopia ). Harriet Vane contacts him about a problem she has been asked to investigate in her college at Oxford ( Gaudy Night ). At the end of their investigation, Vane finally accepts Wimsey's proposal of marriage. The couple marry on 8 October 1935, at St Cross Church, Oxford , as depicted in

1817-478: Is invariably punctilious in using "my lord" even when they are alone, and "his lordship" in company. In a brief passage written from Bunter's point of view in Busman's Honeymoon , Bunter is seen, even in the privacy of his own mind, to think of his employer as "His Lordship". However, in the first book, Whose Body? , when Wimsey experiences a severe First World War flashback, Bunter takes care of him and, once Wimsey

1896-601: Is likely to arouse suspicion, while a middle-aged woman doing it would be dismissed as a gossip and people would speak openly to her. As recounted in the short story "The Adventurous Exploit of the Cave of Ali Baba", in December 1927 Wimsey fakes his own death, supposedly while hunting big game in Tanganyika , to penetrate and break up a particularly dangerous and well-organised criminal gang. Only Wimsey's mother and sister and

1975-489: Is not as brilliant as his father, and at Oxford unfavourable comparisons would have been inevitable. Harriet realises that Bredon is not only the son of Peter, but also the nephew of Peter's brother Gerald—who was deeply attached to the land and to the cares of its daily management, in a way that Peter never was. Kirkus Reviews observes that solving the various mysteries and saving the college "takes patience and diligence for Peter and Harriet—and for readers who may fidget over

2054-602: Is not entirely well. At the end of the investigation in Whose Body? (1923), Wimsey hallucinates that he is back in the trenches. He soon recovers his senses and goes on a long holiday. In Clouds of Witness (1926), Wimsey travels to the fictional Riddlesdale in North Yorkshire to assist his elder brother Gerald, who has been accused of murdering Captain Denis Cathcart, their sister's fiancé. As Gerald

2133-446: Is not exactly known when Wimsey recruited Miss Climpson to run an undercover employment agency for women, a means to garner information from the otherwise inaccessible world of spinsters and widows, but it is prior to Unnatural Death (1927), in which Miss Climpson assists Wimsey's investigation of the suspicious death of an elderly cancer patient. Wimsey's highly effective idea is that a male detective going around and asking questions

2212-543: Is not in London, but learns from a reporter that she has discovered a corpse while on a walking holiday on England's south coast. Wimsey is at her hotel the next morning. He not only investigates the death and offers proposals of marriage, but also acts as Harriet's patron and protector from press and police. Despite a prickly relationship, they work together to identify the murderer. Back in London in 1932, Wimsey goes undercover as "Death Bredon" at an advertising firm, working as

2291-524: Is the Duke of Denver, he is tried by the entire House of Lords, as required by the law at that time , to much scandal and the distress of his wife Helen. Their sister, Lady Mary, also falls under suspicion. Lord Peter clears the Duke and Lady Mary, to whom Parker is attracted. As a result of the slaughter of men in the First World War, there was in the UK a considerable imbalance between the sexes. It

2370-754: The 1984 Winter Olympics , a dispute formed over what made a player a professional. The IOC had adopted a rule that made any player who had signed an NHL contract but played less than ten games in the league eligible. However, the United States Olympic Committee maintained that any player contracted with an NHL team was a professional and therefore not eligible to play. The IOC held an emergency meeting that ruled NHL-contracted players were eligible, as long as they had not played in any NHL games. This made five players on Olympic rosters—one Austrian, two Italians and two Canadians—ineligible. Players who had played in other professional leagues—such as

2449-627: The British Army , releasing Barbara from her engagement in case he was killed or mutilated. The girl later married another, less principled officer. Wimsey served on the Western Front from 1914 to 1918, reaching the rank of major in the Rifle Brigade . He was appointed an intelligence officer , and on one occasion he infiltrated the staff room of a German officer. Though not explicitly stated, that feat implies that Wimsey spoke

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2528-807: The Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) felt their amateur players could no longer be competitive against the Soviet team's full-time athletes and the other constantly improving European teams. They pushed for the ability to use players from professional leagues but met opposition from the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC). At the IIHF Congress in 1969,

2607-765: The World Hockey Association —were allowed to play. Canadian hockey official Alan Eagleson stated that the rule was only applied to the NHL and that professionally contracted players in European leagues were still considered amateurs. Murray Costello of the CAHA suggested that a Canadian withdrawal was possible. In 1986, the IOC voted to allow all athletes to compete in Olympic Games starting in 1988, but let

2686-486: The casting vote , but he is nowhere to be found. And some of the successful and unsuccessful attacks resemble the murder methods in Peter's past cases—methods that Harriet has used in her published novels. A side plot concerns the decision of Bredon, the elder son of Peter and Harriet, not to apply for admission to Oxford University—but instead to study estate management at Reading University . While far from stupid, Bredon

2765-421: The Bellona Club . She has known Wimsey for years and is attracted to him, though it is not explicitly stated whether they were lovers. Wimsey likes her, respects her, and enjoys her company—but that is not enough. In Strong Poison , she is the first person other than Wimsey himself to realise that he has fallen in love with Harriet. Reviewer Barbara Stanton noted that "Dorothy Sayers had created Peter Wimsey as

2844-576: The Duke of Denver—and his wife, the former Harriet Vane and is set in a fictional Oxford college called St. Severin's. It is 1953, according to internal evidence within the text of the novel. For example, in Chapter 9, Harriet looks for an article published in 1948, because 'hadn't Gervase said it was five years ago?'. A book and a film which came out in 1953 are mentioned (' The Go-Between ' in Chapter 3, and ' From Here to Eternity ' in Chapter 13). Wimsey discovers that, as Duke of Denver, he has inherited

2923-460: The Fellows appeal to him to resolve the dispute, and before he has even arrived at Oxford, some of the Fellows turn up at his seat at Bredon Hall to try to convince him of the wisdom of either course of action. Peter and Harriet quickly set off for Oxford. But the dispute turns out to be even worse than they had thought, with attempts (some successful) to murder some of the Fellows. The Warden has

3002-851: The Fen country in Easter 1930 (in The Nine Tailors ) Wimsey must unravel a 20-year-old case of missing jewels, an unknown corpse, a missing World War I soldier believed alive, a murderous escaped convict believed dead, and a mysterious code concerning church bells. While on a fishing holiday in Scotland later in 1930, Wimsey takes part in the investigation of the murder of an artist, related in Five Red Herrings . Despite her rejection of his marriage proposals, he continues to court Miss Vane. In Have His Carcase , in 1931, he finds Harriet

3081-649: The IIHF decided to allow Canada to use nine non-NHL professional hockey players at the 1970 World Championships in Montreal and Winnipeg , Manitoba , Canada. The decision was reversed in January 1970 after IOC President Avery Brundage said that ice hockey's status as an Olympic sport would be in jeopardy if the change was made. In response, Canada withdrew from all international ice hockey competitions and officials stated that they would not return until "open competition"

3160-570: The Wimseys have three sons: Bredon Delagardie Peter Wimsey (born in October 1936 in the story "The Haunted Policeman"); Roger Wimsey (born 1938), and Paul Wimsey (born 1940). However, according to the wartime publications of The Wimsey Papers , published in The Spectator , the second son was called Paul. In The Attenbury Emeralds , Paul is again the second son and Roger is the third son. In

3239-447: The activities of amateurs. Gregor Mendel was an amateur scientist who never held a position in his field of study. Radio astronomy was founded by Grote Reber , an amateur radio operator . Radio itself was greatly advanced by Guglielmo Marconi , a young Italian man who started out by tinkering with a coherer and a spark coil as an amateur electrician. Pierre de Fermat was a highly influential mathematician whose primary vocation

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3318-504: The amateur was considered to be the ideal balance between pure intent, open mind, and the interest or passion for a subject. That ideology spanned many different fields of interest. It may have its roots in the ancient Greek philosophy of amateur athletes competing in the Olympics . The ancient Greek citizens spent most of their time in other pursuits, but competed according to their natural talents and abilities. The "gentleman amateur"

3397-475: The beginning of Whose Body? , there appears the unpleasant Inspector Sugg, who is extremely hostile to Wimsey and tries to exclude him from the investigation (reminiscent of the relations between Sherlock Holmes and Inspector Lestrade ). However, Wimsey is able to bypass Sugg through his friendship with Scotland Yard detective Charles Parker , a sergeant in 1921. At the end of Whose Body? , Wimsey generously allows Sugg to take completely undeserved credit for

3476-483: The books, Bunter takes care to address Wimsey as "My Lord". Nevertheless, he is a friend as well as a servant, and Wimsey again and again expresses amazement at Bunter's high efficiency and competence in virtually every sphere of life. After the war, Wimsey was ill for many months, recovering at the family's ancestral home in Duke's Denver, a fictional setting—as is the Dukedom of Denver—about 15 miles (24 km) beyond

3555-630: The breakup of the Amateur Athletic Union as a wholesale sports governing body at the Olympic level). Olympic regulations regarding amateur status of athletes were eventually abandoned in the 1990s with the exception of wrestling, where the amateur fight rules are used due to the fact that professional wrestling is largely staged with predetermined outcomes. Starting from the 2016 Summer Olympics , professionals were allowed to compete in boxing, though amateur fight rules are still used for

3634-613: The case Wimsey undertakes is just to clear his young son of the false accusation of stealing fruit from the neighbour's tree. Though Sayers lived until 1957, she never again took up the Wimsey books after this final effort. Jill Paton Walsh wrote about Wimsey's career through and beyond the Second World War. In the continuations Thrones, Dominations (1998), A Presumption of Death (2002), The Attenbury Emeralds (2010), and The Late Scholar (2014), Harriet lives with

3713-496: The case in the first of the Wimsey books, Whose Body? (1923). Sayers wrote no more Wimsey murder mysteries, and only one story involving him, after the outbreak of World War II . In The Wimsey Papers , a series of fictionalised commentaries in the form of mock letters between members of the Wimsey family published in The Spectator , there is a reference to Harriet's difficulty in continuing to write murder mysteries at

3792-515: The children at Talboys, Wimsey and Bunter have returned successfully from their secret mission in 1940, and his nephew Lord St. George is killed while serving as an RAF pilot in the Battle of Britain . Consequently, when Wimsey's brother dies of a heart attack in 1951 during a fire in Bredon Hall, Wimsey becomes — very reluctantly — the Duke of Denver. Their Graces are then drawn into a mystery at

3871-404: The classics of English literature, Wimsey is familiar — though in fundamental disagreement — with the works of Karl Marx , and well able to debate with Marxists on their home ground. The only occasion when Sayers returned to Wimsey was the 1942 short story "Talboys". The story is set in a quiet rural environment, the war at that time devastating Europe received only a single oblique reference, and

3950-401: The conclusion of Strong Poison , Inspector Parker asks "What would one naturally do if one found one's water-bottle empty?" (a point of crucial importance in solving the book's mystery). Wimsey promptly answers, "Ring the bell", whereupon Miss Murchison, the indefatigable investigator employed by Wimsey for much of this book, comments "Or, if one wasn't accustomed to be waited on, one might use

4029-423: The conscious decision to turn the tables on Wimsey and make him fall deeply in love with a woman who would make him sweat and wait very very long before she finally accepted him". In Strong Poison Lord Peter encounters Harriet Vane , a cerebral, Oxford-educated mystery writer, while she is on trial for the murder of her former lover in December 1929. He falls in love with her at first sight. He saves Harriet from

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4108-509: The earliest days of printing. He is an expert on matters of food (and especially wine), male fashion, and classical music. He excels at the piano, including Bach 's works for keyboard instruments. Lord Peter likes driving fast and keeps a powerful Daimler (for example, a 12-cylinder or "double-six" 1927 Daimler four-seater); he calls these cars "Mrs Merdle" after a character in Charles Dickens 's Little Dorrit who "hated fuss". In

4187-682: The eleventh novel, Busman's Honeymoon , we are told he has owned nine Daimlers with this name. Lord Peter Wimsey's ancestry begins with the 12th-century knight Gerald de Wimsey, who went with King Richard the Lionheart on the Third Crusade and took part in the Siege of Acre . This makes the Wimseys an unusually ancient family, since "Very few English noble families go that far in the first creation; rebellions and monarchic head choppings had seen to that", as reviewer Janet Hitchman noted in

4266-424: The gallows, but she believes that gratitude is not a good foundation for marriage, and politely but firmly declines his frequent proposals. Lord Peter encourages his friend and foil, Chief Inspector Charles Parker, to propose to his sister, Lady Mary Wimsey, despite the great difference in their rank and wealth. They marry and have a son, named Charles Peter ("Peterkin"), and a daughter, Mary Lucasta ("Polly"). Visiting

4345-417: The illusion that he is a real person. At this point, Wimsey is claimed to be 45 years old and "time he was settled". The biography takes up the last eight pages of the book and concludes with the statement that Wimsey "has always had everything except the things he really wanted, and I suppose he is luckier than most." Wimsey begins his hobby of investigation by recovering The Attenbury Emeralds in 1921. At

4424-647: The individual sport federations decide if they wanted to allow professionals. After the 1972 retirement of IOC President Brundage, the Olympic amateurism rules were steadily relaxed, amounting only to technicalities and lip service, until being completely abandoned in the 1990s (in the United States , the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 prohibits national governing bodies from having more stringent standards of amateur status than required by international governing bodies of respective sports. The act caused

4503-421: The introduction to Striding Folly . The family coat of arms, first mentioned in Gaudy Night , is " Sable , 3 mice courant, argent; crest, a domestic cat couched as to spring, proper ". The family motto, displayed under its coat of arms, is "As my Whimsy takes me." Lord Peter is the second of the three children of Mortimer Wimsey, 15th Duke of Denver , and Honoria Lucasta Delagardie, who lives on throughout

4582-403: The leisurely pace and the insulated academic setting in post–WWII Britain," and that "Walsh's ... respectful attempt to keep the franchise going will invite the scrutiny of Wimsey purists, and newcomers may find the Duke affected. Even so, many fans will eagerly welcome back their beloved sleuth and enjoy seeing Harriet hold her own in a thoughtfully constructed mystery." This article about

4661-404: The loyal Bunter know that he remains alive. Emerging victorious after more than a year masquerading as "the disgruntled sacked servant Rogers", Wimsey remarks that "We shall have an awful time with the lawyers, proving that I am me." In fact, he returns smoothly to his old life, and the interlude is never referred to in later books. During the 1920s, Wimsey has affairs with various women, which are

4740-519: The men under his command—an affection still retained by Wimsey's former soldiers many years after the war, as is evident from a short passage in Clouds of Witness and an extensive reminiscence in Gaudy Night . In particular, while in the army he met Sergeant Mervyn Bunter , who had previously been in domestic service . In 1918, Wimsey was wounded by artillery fire near Caudry in France. He suffered

4819-556: The neighbour's tree. Peter and the accused set off to investigate and, of course, prove Bredon's innocence. Lord Peter has a noted collection of early editions of Dante : it includes, besides the famous Aldine octavo of 1502, the Naples incunabulum of 1477 sine typographo and the Florence incunabulum of 1481 printed by Niccolò di Lorenzo , which in Whose Body? Bunter bought for him at Sir Ralph Brocklebury's auction sale. Wimsey

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4898-450: The novel Trent's Last Case , a book which Sayers greatly admired. Many episodes in the Wimsey books express a mild satire on the British class system , in particular in depicting the relationship between Wimsey and Bunter. The two of them seem to be the best and closest of friends, yet Sayers states in the narration of The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club that Charles Parker is "in some ways [Peter's] only intimate friend." Bunter

4977-413: The novels as the Dowager Duchess of Denver. She is witty and intelligent, and strongly supports her younger son, whom she plainly prefers over her less intelligent, more conventional older son Gerald , the 16th Duke. Gerald's snobbish wife, Helen, detests Peter. Gerald's son and heir is the devil-may-care Viscount St George. Lady Mary, the younger sister of the 16th Duke, and of Lord Peter, leans strongly to

5056-435: The opening collection of letters and diary entries in Busman's Honeymoon . The Wimseys honeymoon at Talboys, a house in east Hertfordshire near Harriet's childhood home, which Peter has bought for her as a wedding present. There they find the body of the previous owner, and spend their honeymoon solving the case, thus having the aphoristic "Busman's Honeymoon". Over the next five years, according to Sayers' short stories,

5135-482: The political left. At one time she planned to elope with a radical left agitator, and though this did not come about she did scandalise Helen by marrying a policeman of working-class origins. Lord Peter Wimsey is called "Lord" as he is the younger son of a duke . This is a courtesy title ; he is not a peer and has no right to sit in the House of Lords, nor does the courtesy title pass on to any offspring he may have. As

5214-559: The position of Visitor of an Oxford college , St Severin's. The college is in financial difficulties, and is in the midst of an acrimonious dispute between the Fellows over whether or not to sell a valuable codex (a copy of The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius , with glosses which may be by Alfred the Great ) to finance the purchase of a piece of land which might be worth much money if planning permission can be obtained on it. The two sides are evenly balanced in numbers, and two of

5293-641: The real Denver in Norfolk, on the A10 near Downham Market . Wimsey was for a time unable to give servants any orders whatsoever, since his wartime experience made him associate the giving of an order with causing the death of the person to whom the order was given. Bunter arrived and, with the approval of the Dowager Duchess, took up his post as valet. Bunter moved Wimsey to a London flat at 110A Piccadilly , W1 , while Wimsey recovered. Even much later, however, Wimsey would have relapses—especially when his actions caused

5372-409: The sad ghost of a wartime lover(...). Oxford, as everywhere in the country, was filled with bereaved women, but it may have been more noticeable in university towns where a whole year's intake could be wiped out in France in less than an hour." There is, however, no verifiable evidence of any such World War I lover of Sayers on whom the character of Wimsey might be based. Another theory is that Wimsey

5451-422: The solution; the grateful Sugg cannot go on with his hostility to Wimsey. In later books, Sugg fades away and Wimsey's relations with the police become dominated by his amicable partnership with Parker, who eventually rises to the rank of Commander (and becomes Wimsey's brother-in-law). Bunter, a man of many talents himself, not least photography, often proves instrumental in Wimsey's investigations. However, Wimsey

5530-541: The subject of much gossip in Britain and Europe. This part of his life remains hazy: it is hardly ever mentioned in the books set in the same period; most of the scant information on the subject is given in flashbacks from later times, after he meets Harriet Vane and relations with other women become a closed chapter. In Busman's Honeymoon Wimsey facetiously refers to a gentleman's duty "to remember whom he had taken to bed" so as not to embarrass his bedmate by calling her by

5609-408: The subsequent The Late Scholar , Roger is not mentioned at all. It may be presumed that Paul is named after Lord Peter's maternal uncle Paul Delagardie. "Roger" is an ancestral Wimsey name. In Sayers's final Wimsey story, the 1942 short story "Talboys", Peter and Harriet are enjoying rural domestic bliss with their three sons when Bredon, their first-born, is accused of the theft of prize peaches from

5688-430: The tournament. Many amateurs make valuable contributions in the field of computer programming through the open source movement. Amateur dramatics is the performance of plays or musical theater , often to high standards, but lacking the budgets of professional West End or Broadway performances. Astronomy , chemistry, history, linguistics, and the natural sciences are among the fields that have benefited from

5767-405: The water from the bedroom jug." George Orwell was highly critical of this aspect of the Wimsey books: "... Even she [Sayers] is not so far removed from Peg's Paper as might appear at a casual glance. It is, after all, a very ancient trick to write novels with a lord for a hero. Where Miss Sayers has shown more astuteness than most is in perceiving that you can carry that kind of thing off

5846-492: The wrong name. There are several references to a relationship with a famous Viennese opera singer, and Bunter—who evidently was involved with this, as with other parts of his master's life—recalls Wimsey being very angry with a French mistress who mistreated her own servant. The only one of Wimsey's earlier women to appear in person is the artist Marjorie Phelps, who plays an important role in The Unpleasantness at

5925-501: Was a phenomenon among the gentry of Great Britain from the 17th century until the 20th century. With the start of the Age of Reason , with people thinking more about how the world works around them, (see science in the Age of Enlightenment ), things like the cabinets of curiosities , and the writing of the book The Christian Virtuoso , started to shape the idea of the gentleman amateur. He

6004-457: Was based, at least in part, on Eric Whelpton , who was a close friend of Sayers at Oxford. Ian Carmichael , who played the part of Wimsey in the first BBC television adaptation and studied the character and the books thoroughly, said that the character was Sayers' conception of the 'ideal man', based in part on her earlier romantic misfortunes. Another theory is that Wimsey was based, at least in part, on Philip Trent, created by E. C. Bentley in

6083-475: Was instituted. Günther Sabetzki became president of the IIHF in 1975 and helped to resolve the dispute with the CAHA. In 1976, the IIHF agreed to allow "open competition" between all players in the World Championships. However, NHL players were still not allowed to play in the Olympics, because of the unwillingness of the NHL to take a break mid-season and the IOC's amateur-only policy. Before

6162-462: Was strictly enforced, Jim Thorpe was stripped of track and field medals for having taken expense money for playing baseball in 1912. Later on, the nations of the Communist Bloc entered teams of Olympians who were all nominally students , soldiers , or working in a profession, but many of whom were in reality paid by the state to train on a full-time basis. Near the end of the 1960s,

6241-512: Was vastly interested in a particular topic, and studied, observed, and collected things and information on his topic of choice. The Royal Society in Great Britain was generally composed of these "gentleman amateurs", and is one of the reasons science today exists the way it does. A few examples of these gentleman amateurs are Francis Bacon , Isaac Newton , and Sir Robert Cotton, 1st Baronet, of Connington . Amateurism can be seen in both

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