Preliminary notes on Uncle Fred in the Springtime

• My first introduction to one of Wodehouse's favorite characters, Frederick Altamont Cornwallis, fifth Earl of Ickenham, a.k.a. Uncle Fred. 
• In the Blandings stories, which almost always follow the precepts of classical New Comedy, Uncle Fred and Galahad usually serve as champion of the distressed couple, although they never appear together.
• There is a moment in Uncle Fred in the Springtime, when almost everyone in the house knows that Uncle Fred is not, as he claims, Sir Roderick Glossop, the eminent brain specialist, and that the young man and woman who accompany him are likewise impostors.  But for various reasons, no one intervenes as he pursues various schemes to secure two hundred and fifty pounds needed to finance an onion soup bar in Picadilly to facilitate the marriage of Polly Pott to Ricky Gilpin:
• Lord Emsworth, the master of the house, knows because Uncle Fred is ostensibly there to remove his prized pig and offer it asylum at Ickenham until the threat of the Duke of Dunstable (described below) abates.
• The Duke of Dunstable's secretary, Baxter, knows, but cannot do much because Uncle Fred saw Baxter at a party in London, knowledge of which would lead to his immediate termination by the Duke.
• Lady Constance Keeble knows (Baxter told her), but has promised she will say nothing to protect Baxter's position.
• George Threepwood (Lord Bosham), Emsworth's eldest son, has been told by Lady Constance.  Unable to act, he summons a detective to watch the impostor and his accomplices.
• The Detective, Claude "Mustard" Pott, knows Uncle Fred as an old gambling crony, and knows Uncle Fred's female companion well, because she is his daughter.
• Uncle Fred is chaotic good, willing to do almost anything to advance a cause he thinks worthwhile, e.g., the happiness of a girl he likes.  
• I know what you are thinking.  To that highly trained legal mind of yours it is instantly clear that the act will constitute a tort or misdemeanour, if not actual barratry or socage in fief.  But it has got to be done...  I am not going to allow any far-fetched scruples to stand in my way.
• Introduces the Duke of Dunstable, one of my favorite Wodehouse villains...
• He wrecks his nephew's sitting room with a fire poker for no apparent reason.
• He shouts abuse at every person he encounters.
• He demands Emsworth's prize pig, and when refused, has his secretary steal it and hide it in the bathroom of his apartment.
• He flings eggs at people who sing "Loch Lomond" outside his window.
• Thinks everyone else is crazy.
• Is the only person who does not know that Uncle Fred is an impostor.
• Hates poetry.
• He won't return money he won gambling, even when told that it would make a young girl happy.
• It began to be borne in upon Lord Ickenham that in planning to appeal to the Duke's better feelings he had omitted to take into his calculations  the fact that he might not have any.

 The first appearance of Uncle Fred is in the story Uncle Fred Flits By (recently the subject of a one-man show by John Lithgow).  Uncle Dynamite is the next in the series...