In 1886 he began attending a dame school run by Flossie and Cissie Prince; there he wrote his first story, about a thrush, at age seven. He then attended Elizabeth College in Guernsey and Malvern House, a navy preparatory school, in Kearnsey. Wodehouse's most important educational experience began on 2 May 1894, when at age twelve he first attended Dulwich College, where he stayed for six years. During his last year there Wodehouse received his first payment for writing
"Some Aspects of Game Captaincy," an essay published in the
Public School Magazine.
The enormous influence of Dulwich in Wodehouse's work has long been recognized. J. B. Priestley voiced the common sentiment that Wodehouse remained "a brilliant super-de-luxe schoolboy" throughout his life, a belief that explains the sexless young women, terrifying aunts, and eccentric aristocrats who fill his pages. It also explains his success, as Priestley added: "Most of us who enjoy him still have a schoolboy somewhere in us, and to reach that schoolboy (aged about fifteen or sixteen), to let himself enjoy himself, is a perfect escape from our adult problems and trials." That Wodehouse remained a schoolboy is absurd, but his work does reflect a schoolboy sensibility.
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