Although I’ve read both The Importance of Being Earnest, and Stephen Potter’s One-Upmanship books, many times over the years, it has only just struck me that, in one particular chapter, Potter may have been influenced by Wilde.

In the play, a character called Algernon has invented a character called Bunbury. Bunbury is a very useful (non-) person to know. Why? Because whenever Algernon wants to get out of a social engagement, Bunbury falls ill, requiring Algernon to rush to see him and drop everything else!

So what’s the connection with the One-Upmanship books? Well, in the section on Weekendmanship, Potter describes a gambit called Important Person Play. This was exemplified by Geoffrey Field, who would be completely tired when he arrived at his hosts’ house on the Friday evening, thereby ensuring that people allowed him to rest, and presumably didn’t expect him to lift a finger to help out in any way. Potter writes:

Isn’t ‘Bales’ a great invention? As well giving everyone the impression that you’re a very important person, you could arrange for ‘Bales’ to phone you and tell you that an urgent issue has come up and requires your urgent attention. I’ve been to a few events where that would have come in handy!

Could Wilde have borrowed the idea of Bales from Wilde’s Bunbury? It’s quite possible: Potter was a lecturer in English Lit at Oxford University, so he would almost certainly have been well-acquainted with Bunbury.