George Alexander Pyke, Lord Tilbury
George Alexander Pyke, Lord Tilbury is a recurring fictional character in the stories of British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse. Pyke is a publishing magnate, the founder and owner of the Mammoth Publishing Company. Outside his business, he has a passion for pigs and is the owner of a prize pig named Buckinghamshire Big Boy. Pyke appears in several novels, including two set at Blandings Castle: Summer Lightning (1929) and Heavy Weather (1933).
Life
Wodehouse introduces Pyke in Bill the Conqueror as plain Sir George Pyke. Mammoth Publishing Company is already a mighty undertaking and Pyke is about to become a Lord – he selects the Tilbury title based on the address of his headquarters, at Tilbury House on Tilbury Street.
Pyke is not a tall man and runs somewhat to fat. His similarity to Napoleon, both in physique and character, is often remarked upon. He is a widower, his late wife Lucy having left him a son named Roderick. He also has a sister named Francie, who is married to an archaeologist, and he had an elder brother, named Edmond.
After school, where he knew both Lord Emsworth and his brother Galahad Threepwood and was given the nickname Stinker, he became a clerk in a solicitor's office, but soon broke into the media, founding his first magazine, Pyke's Weekly. With the success of this paper, thanks in no small part to the advice of his sister, Pyke's empire began to grow, accumulating such titles as Society Spice and Home Gossip.
Pyke's right-hand man at the Mammoth is Percy Pilbeam, an efficient young man who becomes editor of Society Spice when Pyke's son runs off, and later heads up a detective agency.
Stories
George Pyke appears in the following books:
- Bill the Conqueror (1924) – in which much of his family appear, and he becomes a Lord
- Sam the Sudden (1925) – (U.S. title: Sam in the Suburbs)
- Summer Lightning (1929) – in which he only appears off-stage, acting through Pilbeam (U.S. title: Fish Preferred)
- Heavy Weather (1933) – in which he must himself come to Blandings Castle
- Service With a Smile (1961) – in which he comes up against Uncle Fred
- Frozen Assets (1964) – in which he finally falls in love (U.S. title: Biffen's Millions)
The Mammoth Publishing Company crops up in many other stories, for example providing employment for Ashe Marson and Joan Valentine in Something Fresh.