Roderick Spode

[close] Roderick Spode of Totleigh Towers, head of the Black Shorts in The Code of the Woosters, secretly designs ladies' underclothing under the trade name of Eulalie Soeurs, of Bond Street—knowledge of which renders him harmless to Bertie, whom he despises, distrusts, and often threatens with violence. Cf. Sir Oswald Mosley, 1930's leader of the British Union of Fascists. An eloquent public speaker, Spode is founder and head of the Saviours of Britain, a mob of underlings wearing black shorts who shout "Heil, Spode!" or words along those general lines. His idea, if he doesn't get knocked on the head with a bottle in one of the frequent brawls in which his followers indulge, is to make himself Dictator. A club acquaintance of Tom Travers, he becomes seventh Earl of Sidcup on the death of his uncle in Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit, exits Eulalie Soeurs, and some time thereafter disbands the Black Shorts. About eight feet high with a small moustache and the sort of eye that can open an oyster at sixty paces. His aunt, Mrs. Wintergreen, is engaged to Sir Watkyn Bassett in Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves. He himself is engaged to Madeline Bassett in Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves and Much Obliged, Jeeves, where he suspects Bertie of trying to alienate her affections.