Pelham Grenville Wodehouse was born in Guildford, Surrey, on 15 October 1881. He was the third of four sons of Henry Ernest Wodehouse and Eleanor Deane. His father was a British colonial official based in Hong Kong, and Wodehouse spent much of his childhood in England apart from his parents.

He attended Dulwich College before taking a job in the London office of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank. Banking did not last. After two years, he left to write full time, contributing to Punch, the Globe and other periodicals.

His early books included school stories, but he became best known for comic fiction set among idle young men, formidable relations and unflappable servants. His recurring characters included Bertie Wooster and his valet Jeeves, Psmith and Lord Emsworth of Blandings Castle. He also worked as a lyricist in the United States. Across his career, he produced more than 70 novels and 200 short stories.

Wodehouse was living in France when Germany invaded in 1940. He was interned as an enemy alien and later taken to Berlin, where he made five humorous broadcasts about his captivity. Their transmission on German radio caused anger in Britain and accusations of collaboration. A British intelligence investigation found no evidence that he had assisted the enemy.

He settled permanently in the United States in 1947 and became an American citizen in 1955 while retaining British nationality. Wodehouse was knighted in 1975. He died on Long Island on 14 February that year, a few weeks after the honour was announced.