Knighthood for Wodehouse was ruled out

Plans to award the author P G Wodehouse a knighthood were blocked by a senior diplomat because his portrayal of the British elite as well meaning but incompetent was felt to be derogatory.

Documents released at the Public Record Office reveal that attempts to rehabilitate his wartime reputation led to a stand-off between civil servants in London and opposition from the ambassador to Washington.

Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, best known as the creator of the Jeeves and Wooster novels, was widely condemnedin 1941 for making a series of humorous broadcasts on Nazi radio after being captured in France. He also received favourable treatment while being held in Berlin.

The reaction led Wodehouse, who had tried to ridicule his captors, to spurn Britain after the war and settle in America. But when he reached his 90th birthday in 1971, he was put forward for an honorary knighthood for services to English literature.

Making the recommendation, a Cabinet Office official wrote: "My own view would be that it is time to bury any remaining wartime hatchets. I would expect there to be a general consensus that he is in the forefront of British writers."

The proposal was panned by Lord Cromer, the British ambassador to Washington. A Foreign Office memo said: "Wodehouse had done nothing in the United States for British interests which would qualify him for an award.

"HM Ambassador's view was that a knighthood would revive the controversy of his wartime behaviour and would also give currency to a Bertie Wooster image of the British character which the British embassy were doing their best to eradicate." Another official noted drily: "That Mr Wodehouse writes in English can scarcely be seen to constitute services to this country."

The opposition was not enough to stop the honours bandwagon. The author was knighted in 1975, a month before his death.