# Harold Bodkin — Short Fiction character guide

> Harold Bodkin in Short Fiction by P. G. Wodehouse.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Dear old Harold Bodkin, Harold, Good old Harold, dear old Harold, poor old Harold, old Harold

**First appearance:** 0000-when-papa-swore-in-hindustani

## Snapshot

A gentle, super-chump of a widower who cherishes his late wife Amelia's portrait while cheerfully married to the longsuffering Hilda.

## Who they are

Harold lives in a large house with Hilda and the indispensable butler Ponsonby, and he is so simple-minded and grateful for sympathy that Reggie finds him clay in his hands. Every evening at seven he retires to his old studio to gaze at his own amateur portrait of Amelia and think — briefly, since cocktails and Ponsonby's dinner schedule intervene. His innocent devotion to a dead wife, and his blindness to how it strains the living one, is the soft absurdity Reggie has come to exploit.

## In the story

### [The Tuppenny Millionaire](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_42_se/chapters/the-tuppenny-millionaire)

Mentioned as Harold Flower, a messenger at the Planet Insurance Company who calls George a 'tuppenny millionaire' and prompts his journey.

### [The Test Case](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_42_se/chapters/the-test-case)

Sentimental widower whose devotion to his first wife Amelia causes marital strife with Hilda.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_42_se/characters/harold_bodkin
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_42_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_42_se/characters