Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge

Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge (Featherstonehaugh being pronounced "Fanshaw"), is the protagonist of the Ukridge series - the longest-lived series ever written by P. G. Wodehouse. A bounder, a schemer, and frequently an outright criminal, Ukridge proceeds through life with confidence, charisma and unfailing optimism, persuading countless souls - particularly his best friend, the cynical James "Corky" Corcoran - to participate in his questionable, usually ill-fated endeavors to gain uncountable wealth.

Fictional biography
Ukridge is Corky's best friend in the whole wide world.

Appearances
Ukridge appears in one novel, and nineteen short stories.

1906 - Love Among the Chickens, the only novel in the series, and the only work not to feature Corky. Substantially rewritten for its republication in 1920.

1924 - Ukridge, an anthology of ten stories:

Physical description
Ukridge is a tall, broad man, described by Lickford as being “quite six foot two, and tremendously filled out” and described by Jeremy Garnet as being a "stout fellow in both the physical and moral sense of the words". Corky calls his nose “masterful”, suggesting prominence, and frequently refers to his “flapping” ears (though once in “Ukridge and the Home from Home” he describes them as “outstanding”), which he asserts stick out at right angles. His hair is usually unruly, and in "A Bit of Luck for Mabel", Ukridge states that his own head is shaped like a “mangel-wurzel”. His voice is a loud tenor, and he is apparently a poor singer.

He is first seen in “Dog College” wearing a silk hat and patent-leather boots, but Corky is quick to note that it is so rare to see him “beautifully dressed” that he is almost unrecognizable. Later in the story, Ukridge changes to his “distinctively individual” outfit that speaks more to his normal sense of dress: grey flannel trousers, a golf coat, a brown sweater, and his ever-present yellow mackintosh. Ukridge wears his mackintosh even in hot weather, to Corky’s continued confusion. Equally characteristic is the pair of pince-nez on his nose, attached to his ears by ginger-beer wire, and his collar rarely remains on its stud for long. Both pince-nez and collar alike are prone to flying off in moments of dramatic emotion. Notably, he does not seem to have the same trouble when he is wearing clothes stolen from Corky, suggesting the problem may simply come down to the fact that he has trouble finding clothes big enough to fit. In Love Among the Chickens, Ukridge also has the unfortunate tendency to knock things off of tables.

Personality
Cheerful, emotionally open, loudly talkative, and eternally optimistic, Ukridge has a blithe disregard for anything resembling societal norms and moral standards. Rejecting the idea of steady work in favor of elaborate get-rich-quick schemes, he drifts constantly between jobs, and thinks nothing of applying theft, coercion, fraud, and deceit in order to achieve his monetary ends. If extended friendship, or the occasional familial olive branch by his largely-and-understandably-resentful Aunt Julia, he has a tendency to swipe, pawn, and/or sell everything that isn't nailed down. He has an inflated sense of his own intelligence and skill, which, while frequently enabling him to enact clever feats, just as often gets him into sticky situations he and Corky are barely able to extricate themselves from. Whenever his schemes fail, he has a tendency to blame everyone involved that isn't himself. Jeremy Garnet mentions that Ukridge has a habit of ruining old friendships, and indeed the same people never seem to stay in his life for long. Corky, fed-up with Ukridge though he often is, is the foremost exception to this rule, as he spends a great deal of time with him, often of his own free will; and Ukridge's delight at encountering Corky by chance on the street in "Bank Account" when he has no schemes to field his way suggests that he genuinely cares about Corky in turn.

Ukridge is also relentlessly casual, having little to no regard for decorum or societal standing, and his manner is often insulting, though his friendly, clueless reaction to Garnet pointing out that Professor Derrick would take offense to being called a "fat little buffer" suggests that he never intends to be intentionally hurtful. His promises to pay his friends back for the money or clothing he's "borrowed" are, though seemingly made with genuine intent, rarely-to-never fulfilled, though he does occasionally repay his friends in positive ways (such as sending ten pounds to Corky by mail in "Home from Home", and surprising both Corky and George Tupper with meals at different times). Despite Ukridge's bad behavior, he is nonetheless capable of selflessness and guilt, seen most clearly in his repeated aid of his aunt's secretary Dora Mason after she gets fired due to his actions.

According to Corky, Ukridge never showed any evidence that he was interested in women for the great majority of their friendship; and indeed, even in the two stories where Corky expresses surprise about what he believes to be evidence to the contrary - "Accident Syndicate" and "First Aid for Dora" - the evidence ends up being false, as Ukridge's interest in the wedding of Teddy Weeks has nothing to do with the bride, and Ukridge's interest in helping Dora Mason does not appear to have any undercurrent of romance. His sudden announcement of his engagement to Millie, of course, becomes the first point running contrary to that preconception, and he reveals in "Mabel" and "Old Stepper" that he's had romances that ended poorly in the past. In the latter two stories, Corky does not seem surprised by the idea of Ukridge having old flames, so it can be safely presumed that he has more still which go undescribed.

There are some notable differences between Ukridge as presented in Love Among the Chickens and Ukridge as presented in the short stories - most significantly, his interactions with dogs. In Chickens, Ukridge is highly antagonistic toward Mr. Beale's dog, Bob - the two get off to a rather poor start, and Ukridge actually threatens to kill him. The Ukridge of the short stories, however, is both fond of dogs and possessed of a sort of dog magnetism, which once allowed him to rescue Corky from a dog belonging to Teddy Weeks's landlady. Corky goes so far as to describe Ukridge as someone "to whom all dogs were as brothers". This is further supported by the events of "The Level Business Head", in which Ukridge is able to blackmail a corrupt bookie by befriending an otherwise-hostile dog, getting so distracted by playing with it that he forgets what he meant to do, and and then placing and refusing to remove said dog from the bookie's car until he gets what he wants.