91Èȱ¬

The litter of eight at Baylham

The Empress was a Berkshire sow that obsessed her owner Lord Emsworth in the novels of PG Wodehouse.Ìý The dotty peer is determined that his animal should eventually win the Shropshire County Show's Fattest Pig prize, but suspects his opponents are out to nobble her.

ÌýJeeves and Wooster are the author's most famous creations, but whether they're Wodehouse's best creations would be disputed by many.Ìý Don't get involved in a debate with serious fans unless you've got a week to spare, simply start with the Blandings omnibus and take it from there.

Patience

The Empress of Blandings was a Berkshire, which is one of the many endangered breeds of British pig which has declined in numbers as the farming industry has concentrated on producing other larger, breeds.Ìý As a result of this trend, the PG Wodehouse Society has decided to sponsor Patience.Ìý She lives at Baylham House Rare Breeds Farm near Ipswich, Suffolk.Ìý Gifts of sponsorship were given to a group of celebrities who performed at the Society's dinner.Ìý They include Stephen Fry ( who played Jeeves in the ITV series), Anton Rodgers ( from the 91Èȱ¬ sitcom May To December), PG Wodehouse's step-great-grandson Hal Cazalet (the US Broadway singer) and Tony Ring (who's written several books on Wodehouse).Ìý

Visitors at Baylham House Rare Breeds

Endangered

ÌýThe Society's chairman Hilary Bruce has launched the Back The Berkshire campaign "We're confident that in a hundred years' time, Wodehouse's work will continue to be read and enjoyed. New generations will be captivated by the Empress and will want, in their turn, to pay respects to members of her breed.Ìý But there are only three or four hundred Berkshires in the UK today. Only by increasing the numbers very substantially, perhaps fourfold, will the Berkshire get off the danger list."Ìý Patience gave birth to eight piglets in August 2005 - three of them sows.

Baylham Rare Breeds Farm

Patience is the first Berkshire to be given a home at the farm which is between Ipswich and Needham Market in the pig-heavy English county of Suffolk.Ìý The Farm's owner Richard Storer is trying to help the Berkshire become a viable commercial meat product again "A 100 years ago a lot of Chinese Neapolitan pigs were introduced to this country to cross with native pigs.Ìý The Berkshire was a result of this, but it's the only one of the crossings that has survived.Ìý It's a lot smaller than the usual British pig.ÌýÌý At the moment British agriculture is restricted to a few breeds.ÌýÌý For example, milk comes from black and white cows because that's the sort of milk we want at the moment.Ìý But if these things change, then the rarer breeds all have an enormous gene-bank which could be used.Ìý That's what we're trying to preserve here.Ìý The Berkshire won't be raised as quickly as a modern pig but it will survive without the usual additives, it's a good mother, docile and produces tasty meat."

Meat production

Richard Storer says there's no room for sentiment.Ìý The breed will only survive if people buy its meat "The piglets were born in August 2005 and will be sold for meat or to other breeders.ÌýÌý In fact we've already sold the three females in the litter to other breeders, but they're still here at the moment.Ìý ÌýWe'll be eating Berkshire meat soon ourselves and if we can't sell it it'll go in the freezer, no nonsense.Ìý However, I haven't read any of the Blandings novels yet!" Since the photographs were taken one of the sow piglets has died.Ìý

The sponsorship sign at Baylham

In the meantime, you can look at the pictures of the litter and say "Aah" or "Pig-Hoo-o-o-o-ey" (which is the traditional call of the pig-man to his charges).Ìý The surviving piglets will be off to market soon.....