{{Short description|Journalist and author (1910–2006)}} {{Use British English|date=August 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}} {{Infobox person | name = Richard Usborne | image =Richard-usborne-wodehouse-expert.png | image_size = | caption = | alt = | birth_name =Richard Alexander Usborne | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1910|5|16}} | birth_place= Simla, India | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2006|3|21|1910|5|16}} | death_place= London | known_for = Scholar of P. G. Wodehouse | education = | alma_mater = Balliol College, Oxford | occupation = Advertising executive, journalist, schoolmaster editor, author | children = 2 | spouse = {{plainlist | * Monica Stuart MacArthur * (1938–1986, her death)}} }}
'''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 of P. G. Wodehouse. He published or contributed to nine more books on the subject. He adapted eight Wodehouse novels and several other of the author's works for broadcast on BBC radio between 1979 and 1996.
== Biography == ===Early years=== Richard Usborne was born on 16 May 1910 at Simla, in British India, the son of Charles Frederick Usborne, a member of the Indian Civil Service, and his wife Janet Muriel, ''née'' Lefroy.<ref name=who>[https://doi.org/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U38397 "Usborne, Richard Alexander"], ''Who's Who''. Retrieved 28 January 2021 {{subscription required}}</ref> He was educated in England at Summer Fields Preparatory school, Charterhouse School and then Balliol College, Oxford, where he was a prominent sportsman, competing in association football and squash rackets.<ref name=who/><ref>"Association Football", ''The Times'', 17 February 1930, p. 7; and "Squash rackets", ''The Times'', 9 December 1931, p. 5</ref> He graduated BA (Literae humaniores) in 1932.<ref>"University News", ''The Times'', 21 November 1932, p. 19</ref>
Usborne failed to enter the Indian Civil Service because of a heart murmur,<ref name=dt>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1513616/Richard-Usborne.html Richard Usborne], ''The Daily Telegraph'', 22 March 2006. Retrieved 28 January 2021. {{subscription required}}</ref> and became a schoolmaster for a while.<ref name=indy>[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/richard-usborne-6097983.html Richard Usborne: Champion of P. G. Wodehouse], ''The Independent'', 1 April 2006. Retrieved 29 January 2021</ref> From 1933 to 1936 he worked in advertising agencies, and in 1936, together with three friends, he invested in a listings magazine, ''London Week'', later called ''What's On''. As part-owner and editor, Usborne came up with the novel idea of a restaurant column. When he described a West End restaurant, the Dieu Donné, as the sort of place where you would say nothing if you saw your wife because she would want to know why you were there too, the owner of the restaurant successful sued for libel.<ref name=dt/> Usborne abandoned publishing and moved back into advertising, working for the large London Press Exchange.<ref name=dt/> In 1938 he married Monica, daughter of Archibald Stuart MacArthur of Wagon Mound, New Mexico; they had one son and one daughter.<ref name=who/>
=== Second World War and later life === From the outbreak of war in 1939 until 1941 Usborne worked for the BBC Monitoring Service.<ref name=who/> In 1941 he was recruited by the Special Operations Executive and began work in Beirut, spreading pro-Allied propaganda. He was later recalled home and spent the remainder of the war working for the Political Warfare Executive. He left the army with the rank of major.<ref name=who/> In 1946–1948 he had a regular slot as a broadcaster on BBC radio, reviewing books, mostly fiction.<ref name=genome>[https://web.archive.org/web/20210203104318/https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/search/0/20?order=asc&q=%22Richard+Usborne%22#search "Richard Usborne"], BBC Genome. Retrieved 30 January 2021</ref>
In 1948 Usborne became assistant editor of the ''Strand Magazine'', then edited by Macdonald Hastings. The ''Strand'' was known for first publishing the Sherlock Holmes stories of Arthur Conan Doyle and later the stories of P. G. Wodehouse. Usborne was remembered for giving "warm, cheerful and avuncular encouragement to young and inexperienced budding writers".<ref>May, Douglas. "Richard Usborne: Lives Remembered", ''The Times'', 29 March 2006, p. 60</ref> By the late 1940s the magazine was suffering from falling circulation and rising costs; the final issue was published in March 1950. Usborne then worked on the ''Leader Magazine'' before returning to teaching as a master at St Paul's School, where, one pupil recalled, he "taught my youthful generation how to read poetry, to learn to love it and even to write it".<ref>Baker, Robert. "Richard Usborne: Lives Remembered", ''The Times'', 17 April 2006, p. 43</ref> His final career move took him back to advertising; he became a director of the advertising company Graham and Gillies, where he remained until he retired in 1970.<ref name=dt/> From 1974 to 1981 he was a Custodian for the National Trust.<ref name=who/>
After the death of his wife in 1986 Usborne became a Brother (a resident pensioner) at the London Charterhouse.<ref name=times>"Richard Usborne", ''The Times'', 22 March 2006, p. 72</ref> He died in London on 21 March 2006, aged 95.<ref name=times/>
== Literary career== ===''Punch''=== In addition to his day-jobs, Usborne wrote verse and prose for various publications, including ''Punch'', ''The Guardian'', ''The Times'' and ''The Times Literary Supplement''. In a 1941 ''Punch'' article, "Not in the South", he propounded what later became known as the "Canterbury Block", a ploy for upstaging experts. This was subsequently incorporated by Stephen Potter in ''Lifemanship'' (1950).{{refn|In Usborne's original: "She said, if I remember, that the Russian people were fine peasant stock, gradually receiving the mass education of a new and exciting world experiment. To which I answered, 'Would you say that of the South of Russia, Freda?' That gravelled her, and she only shoved her oar in with circumspection after that."<ref>Usborne, Richard, "Not in the South", ''Punch'', 28 May 1941, p. 530; and Index, ''Punch'' 25 June 1941, p. iv</ref> Potter's example of the ploy was against a self-regarding "expert", who has just returned from a visit to Florence and remarks, "And I was glad to see with my own eyes that this Left-wing Catholicism is definitely on the increase in Tuscany"; to which the "lifeman" replies with the offputting interjection, "Yes, but not in the South."<ref>Potter, p. 27</ref>|group=n}} Usborne continued to write for ''Punch'' during the succeeding decades; his final contribution was a 90th-birthday tribute to P. G. Wodehouse, published in October 1971.<ref>Usborne, Richard. "Books", ''Punch'', 13 October 1971, p. 504</ref>
===''Clubland Heroes''=== In 1952 Usborne wrote his first book ''Clubland Heroes'', published in 1953 with revised editions in 1975 and 1983. This work sought to reappraise the adventure stories of the British authors Dornford Yates, Sapper, and John Buchan. Usborne had first read the stories during childhood illnesses, but had retained an affection for them into adulthood. Despite this, he was not blind to the flaws in these authors' works, describing female characters as "cardboard" and noting that McNeile was "wonderfully forgetful", with characters dead in one book, but being alive in the next.<ref>Usborne (1983), p. 148</ref> ''Clubland Heroes'' was well received. E. V. Knox praised "the delightfully satirical way" in which Usborne summed up the characters and exploits of the heroes,<ref>Knox, E. V., "Book Reviews", ''The Tatler'', 23 September 1953, p. 592</ref> Philip Toynbee called the book "a ''jeu d'esprit'' that will give great pleasure … a fine piece of gentle but sustained irony",<ref>Toynbee, Philip. "Success Stories", ''The Observer'', 27 September 1953, p. 10</ref> and ''Punch'' found it "enjoyable and absorbing to read besides being penetrating criticism".<ref>Mallett, Richard. "Booking Office", ''Punch'', 7 October 1953, p. 443</ref>
===Wodehouse=== [[File:P.G. Wodehouse, 1930.jpg|thumb|upright|P. G. Wodehouse]] ''Clubland Heroes'' brought Usborne to the attention of P. G. Wodehouse, who liked the book so much that he approved the suggestion that Usborne should write a study of his books, in time for his 80th birthday in 1961.<ref>Wodehouse, dustjacket</ref> Work began in 1958.<ref>Donaldson, p. xiv</ref> The result was ''Wodehouse at Work'' (1961). Wodehouse cooperated with Usborne in the preparation of the book, although their contact was almost entirely by correspondence – rather more correspondence than Wodehouse found congenial.<ref name=m399>McCrum, pp. 399–400</ref> They met only once, when Usborne visited Wodehouse and his wife Ethel at their home on Long Island, New York, in 1971 (the year in which Wodehouse reached the age of ninety).<ref name=u11>Usborne (1978), p. 11</ref>
Although Wodehouse praised the book when it was published, he found its author – whom he called "a certain learned Usborne"<ref>Usborne (1978), p. 14</ref> – too inclined to bring in biographical details rather than concentrating on the works as agreed.<ref name=m399/> He was horrified at a proposed chapter dealing with his broadcasts from Berlin in 1941, and it did not appear in the finished book.<ref>Usborne (1978), p. 12</ref> When he received Usborne's draft he removed and destroyed a 20,000-word chapter on the subject.<ref name=m399/><ref>Ratcliffe, pp. 499–500</ref> Even so far as study of his books was concerned, he found it unsettling to have his fiction subjected to extensive critical analysis.<ref>Usborne (1978), pp. 14–15</ref> He thought Usborne paid too much attention to the school stories from Wodehouse's very early career, when, in his words, "I was hardly articulate".<ref>Usborne (1978), p. 15</ref><ref>Ratcliffe, p. 444</ref>
In 1973 Usborne contributed to ''Homage to P. G. Wodehouse'', a tribute edited by Thelma Cazalet-Keir, sister-in-law of Wodehouse's late stepdaughter Leonora.{{refn|Other contributors included John Betjeman, Guy Bolton, Basil Boothroyd, Lord David Cecil, Claude Cockburn, William Douglas-Home, Richard Ingrams, Henry Longhurst, Compton Mackenzie and Auberon Waugh.<ref>[https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/623367256 "Homage to P.G. Wodehouse"], WorldCat. Retrieved 30 January 2021</ref>|group=n}} After Wodehouse's death in 1975 Usborne revised ''Wodehouse at Work'' to take account of the twelve new Wodehouse books that had appeared since 1961.<ref name=u11/> ''Wodehouse at Work to the End'' was published in 1976. It consists, like its predecessor, of ten main sections – an introductory biographical chapter setting Wodehouse and his works in context, and chapters on the school stories; Psmith; Ukridge; Lord Emsworth and Blandings; Uncle Fred; the light novels; the short stories; Bertie Wooster; and Jeeves. Between the chapters are pages of "Images" – Usborne's favourite comic images from Wodehouse's stories.{{refn|Examples include: "The stationmaster's whiskers are of a Victorian bushiness and give the impression of having been grown under glass"; "He felt like a man who, chasing rainbows, had had one of them suddenly turn round and bite him in the leg"; "Breakfast had been prepared by the kitchen maid, an indifferent performer who had used the scorched earth policy on the bacon again"; "It is never difficult to distinguish between a Scotsman with a grievance and a ray of sunshine", "Bingo swayed like a jelly in a high wind … His whole aspect was that of a man who has unexpectedly been struck by lightning".<ref>Usborne, pp. 84, 122, 189 and 221</ref>|group=n}} As with the 1961 edition, reviews were excellent. ''The Guardian'' called it a classic, and commented: {{blockindent|No one has surveyed the Wodehouse universe more rewardingly than Richard Usborne … He has the right appreciative voice, neither heavily light-hearted nor briskly solemn. ''Wodehouse at Work to the End'' is so full of Wodehouse people and simple, sensible speculation that it's almost as delightful to read as a Wodehouse novel.<ref>Trevor, William. "Ageing children", ''The Guardian'', 24 February 1977, p. 7</ref>|}}
Usborne published five more books focusing on Wodehouse. ''Vintage Wodehouse'' (1977) is an anthology which, among many other items, includes extracts from some of the Berlin broadcasts. ''Wodehouse Nuggets'' (1983) is a collection of Wodehouse quotations and vignettes, with illustrations from the ''Strand Magazine''. ''The Penguin Wodehouse Companion'' (1988) includes a biography, synopses of all the novels and pen-portraits of the major characters. ''After Hours with P. G. Wodehouse'' (1991) is another anthology of the author's writings. ''Plum Sauce'' (2002) is an illustrated companion that draws on much of Usborne's earlier material. Reviewing it, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' called Usborne "the world's leading Wodehouse expert" and recommended readers to "grab" the book.<ref>"Books", ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', 7 December 2003, p. H18</ref>
Usborne annotated Wodehouse's final, unfinished novel, which was published as ''Sunset at Blandings'' in 1977, noting that "if the going had remained good ''Sunset at Blandings'' might, under another title, have been ready for Christmas 1976".<ref>Wodehouse, p. 168</ref>{{refn|Usborne's invitation to the cartographer and ''Bradshaw'' expert Michael Cobb to produce an appendix for ''Sunset at Blandings'' on what the information about train timetables in Wodehouse's novels suggested about the location of Blandings Castle led to Cobb's study of Britain's railways that culminated in ''The Railways of Great Britain: A Historical Atlas'' (2004).<ref>"Colonel Michael Cobb", ''The Times'', 14 August 2010, p. 86</ref>|group=n}} The text of an address given by Usborne at the opening of the P. G. Wodehouse Corner in the library of Dulwich College in October 1977 was published as ''Dr Sir Pelham Wodehouse, Old Boy'' in 1978.<ref>[http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do?tabs=moreTab&ct=display&fn=search&doc=BLL01011273581&indx=2&recIds=BLL01011273581&recIdxs=1&elementId=1&renderMode=poppedOut&displayMode=full&frbrVersion=&frbg=&&dscnt=0&scp.scps=scope%3A%28BLCONTENT%29&vl(2084770704UI0)=any&tb=t&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&srt=rank&tab=local_tab&dum=true&vl(freeText0)=Richard%20Usborne&dstmp=1612003932031 "Dr Sir Pelham Wodehouse, Old Boy"], British Library. Retrieved 30 January 2021</ref> In 1983 Usborne was one of the contributors to ''Three Talks and a Few Words at a Festive Occasion'', which contains the texts of talks on Wodehouse given by Usborne, Malcolm Muggeridge and William Douglas-Home in April 1982.<ref>[https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/17329378 "Three Talks and a Few Words at a Festive Occasion"]. WorldCat. Retrieved 30 January 2021</ref> ''Wodehouse at Work to the End'' and ''Plum Sauce'' contain appendices about translations of Wodehouse into French. Examples of such vocabulary included ''pourvu de galette'' ("oofy"), ''déchiqueter'' ("to tear limb from limb"), and ''l'horrible drame de Steeple Bumpleigh'' ("the Steeple Bumpleigh horror").<ref>Usborne (1978), pp. 241–242</ref>
Between 1979 and 1996 Usborne adapted some of Wodehouse's stories for broadcast on BBC Radio, beginning with a serialisation of ''Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit'' (1979), starring Michael Hordern as Jeeves and Richard Briers as Bertie Wooster; in 1985 Usborne's adaptations of seven Blandings short stories were broadcast and in 1987 he adapted the novel ''Summer Lightning'', followed by ''Heavy Weather'' (1988), ''Pigs Have Wings'' (1989) and ''Galahad at Blandings'' starring Richard Vernon as Lord Emsworth and Ian Carmichael as Galahad Threepwood.<ref name=genome/> Usborne's last radio dramatisation was ''Uncle Dynamite'' (1996) starring Briers as Lord Ickenham.<ref name=genome/> Usborne also prepared abridgements for single narrator of ''The Luck of the Bodkins'' (1981), ''Bring On the Girls!'' (1981) and ''Quick Service'' (1994).<ref name=genome/>
===Other=== Usborne's only non-Wodehouse book after the publication of ''Wodehouse at Work'' was ''A Century of Summer Fields'' (1964), "a collection of tributes, reminiscences and other items, by old boys, masters, friends and critics" (including a poem by C. Day Lewis) edited by Usborne at the request of the governors of the school.<ref>[https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/30238479 "A Century of Summer Fields"], WorldCat. Retrieved 29 January 2021</ref> ''The Times'' called it "a model for prep school memoirs".<ref name=times/> Usborne contributed introductions to new editions of works by Dornford Yates (1984) and Sapper (2001).<ref>[http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?fn=search&ct=search&initialSearch=true&mode=Basic&tab=local_tab&indx=31&dum=true&srt=rank&vid=BLVU1&frbg=&tb=t&vl%28freeText0%29=%22Richard+Usborne%22&scp.scps=scope%3A%28BLCONTENT%29&vl%282084770704UI0%29=any&vl%282084770704UI0%29=title&vl%282084770704UI0%29=any "Richard Usborne"], British Library. Retrieved 30 January 2021</ref>
==Notes, references and sources== ===Notes=== {{Reflist|group=n}}
===References=== {{Reflist}}
===Sources=== * {{cite book | last=McCrum | first=Robert | title=Wodehouse: A Life | year=2004 | location= London| publisher=Viking | isbn=978-0-670-89692-9 }} * {{cite book | last=Potter | first=Stephen | title= Some Notes on Lifemanship | year=1957 | location=London | publisher= Rupert Hart-Davis| oclc= 174892562 }} * {{cite book | last= Ratcliffe| first=Sophie | title=Wodehouse: A Life in Letters | year= 2011| location= London| publisher=Hutchinson | isbn= 978-0-09-179634-1}} * {{cite book | last=Usborne | first=Richard | title=Wodehouse at Work to the End | year= 1978|orig-date=1976| location=London | publisher= Penguin| isbn=978-0-14-004564-2 }} * {{cite book | last= Usborne | first= Richard | title= Clubland Heroes: A Nostalgic Study of Some Recurrent Characters in the Romantic Fiction of Dornford Yates, John Buchan and Sapper| year= 1983| orig-date=1953|location= London | publisher =Hutchinson | isbn= 978-0-09-152821-8}} * {{cite book | last=Wodehouse | first=P. G. | title=Sunset at Blandings | year= 1977| location=London | publisher= Hutchinson| isbn=978-0-09-173882-2 }}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Usborne, Richard}} Category:1910 births Category:2006 deaths Category:Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Category:People educated at Charterhouse School Category:People educated at Summer Fields School Category:British people in British India Category:British Army personnel of World War II Category:Military personnel of British India Category:British Army officers Category:British Special Operations Executive personnel Category:20th-century British male journalists