Charles Pooter

Charles (left) and Lupin Pooter, from Diary of a Nobody.

Charles Pooter is a fictional character, the supposed author and leading character of George and Weedon Grossmith's comic novel Diary of a Nobody.

Pooter is a middle aged and middle class City of London clerk with ideas above his station. Apart from taking himself very seriously indeed, he is also an extreme example of self-importance, with the unhappy result that he is much snubbed by those he considers beneath him.^[1]

He has a wife called Carrie and a son called Lupin, the latter unsuitably engaged to the distressingly inferior Daisy Mutlar.^[1]

The Pooters live at The Laurels, Brickfield Terrace, Holloway, London, in a nice six-roomed residence, not counting basement, with a front breakfast-parlour, a little front garden, and a flight of ten steps up to the front door. A nice little back garden runs down to the railway, which causes no nuisance, other than the cracking up of the garden wall.^[1]

Pooter's intimate friends Cummings and Gowing always let themselves in at the side entrance, thus saving the housemaid the trouble of going to the door.^[1] He sometimes drinks Madeira.^[2]

The character has spawned the word Pooterism (Pooterish, Pooteresque), which means taking oneself far too seriously:^[3] believing that one's importance^[4] or influence^[5] is far greater than it really is.

Portrayals

• Arthur Lowe: audio version
• Bryan Pringle: film by Ken Russell (1964)
• Terrence Hardiman: television adaptation (1979)
• Hugh Bonneville: BBC Four version (2007)

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d}
   • Diary of a Nobody at Project Gutenberg
2. ^ "Gowing produced a pint sample-bottle of Madeira, which had been given him, which he said would get rid of the blues. I dare say it would have done so if there had been more of it; but as Gowing helped himself to three glasses, it did not leave much for Carrie and me to get rid of the blues with." (Diary of a Nobody)
3. ^ Few knew I was in such a bad way - article by Allison Pearson in The Daily Telegraph, 19 September 2003
4. ^ It's uncut, leftwing and Pooterish - article by Mark Lawson in The Guardian, London, 23 April 2005
5. ^ Debt and inflation - article by Robert Peston on his BBC blog, 18 June 2008