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Pollution/White
Wensleydale is a member of Adam Young’s gang, the Them. He (like his playmates Adam, Pepper, and Brian) is 11 years old, and he wears thick glasses. Wensleydale was born with the demeanor of someone in middle age—the narrator notes that it’s just a matter of time before Wensleydale becomes an accountant. Because of his mature personality, Wensleydale often acts as the voice of reason within the gang. He reads his father’s newspapers religiously and so often tries to fact-check Adam’s wild claims, usually without success. Wensleydale corresponds to Famine, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse—an ironic pairing, given that Wensleydale is the name of a type of cheese. When Adam leads the Them to vanquish the Horsemen, Wensleydale does away with Famine with a makeshift set of scales.
Wensleydale Quotes in Good Omens
The Good Omens quotes below are all either spoken by Wensleydale or refer to Wensleydale. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Wednesday Quotes
“I’ll call him Dog,” said his master, positively. “It saves a lot of trouble, a name like that.”
The hell-hound paused. Deep in its diabolical canine brain it knew that something was wrong, but it was nothing if not obedient and its great sudden love of its master overcame all misgivings. Who was to say what size it should be, anyway?
It trotted down the slope to meet its destiny.
Strange, though. It had always wanted to jump up at people but, now, it realized that against all expectation it wanted to wag its tail at the same time.
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Saturday Quotes
“You don’t have to be so lit’ral about everything,” he said. “That’s the trouble these days. Grass materialism. ‘S people like you who go round choppin’ down rain forests and makin’ holes in the ozone layer. There’s a great big hole in the ozone layer ‘cos of grass materialism people like you.”
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Dog slunk along with his tail between his legs, whining.
This wasn’t right, he was thinking. Just when I was getting the hang of rats. Just when I’d nearly sorted out that bloody German Shepherd across the road. Now He’s going to end it all and I’ll back with the ole glowin’ eyes and chasin’ lost souls. What’s the sense in that? They don’t fight back, and there’s no taste to ‘em...
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“Oh, if that’s all that’s worryin’ you, don’t you worry,” said Adam airily, “’cos I could make you all just do whatever I wanted—”
He stopped, his ears listening in horror to the words his mouth was speaking. The Them were backing away.
[...]
“No,” he said hoarsely. “No. Come back! I command you!”
They froze in mid-dash.
Adam stared.
“No, I dint mean it—” he began. “You’re my friends—”
[...]
Adam opened his mouth and screamed. It was a sound that a merely mortal throat should not have been able to utter [...]
Whatever had been standing in the old quarry before, Adam Young was standing there now. A more knowledgeable Adam Young, but Adam Young nevertheless. Possibly more of Adam Young than there had ever been before.
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“What you’re all sayin’,” he summed up, [...] “is that it wouldn’t be any good at all if the Greasy Johnsonites beat the Them or the other way round?”
“That’s right,” said Pepper. [...] “Everyone needs a Greasy Johnson.”
“Yeah,” said Adam. “That’s what I thought. It’s no good anyone winning.”
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Get the entire Good Omens LitChart as a printable PDF.
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Wensleydale Character Timeline in Good Omens
The timeline below shows where the character Wensleydale appears in Good Omens. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Thursday
...gets a witch’s newspaper in addition to other papers, and she moved into Jasmine Cottage. Wensleydale, the most mature member of the gang, insists that there’s no such thing as witches,...
(full context)
...of witches in England who worship Nature, eat health food, and dance naked on Stonehenge. Wensleydale maintains that his aunt isn’t a witch, even if she does try to talk to...
(full context)
...lunch. Adam is the Chief Inquisitor, while Pepper will be the Head Torturer. Brian and Wensleydale are guards because they don’t speak any Spanish. They decide to fetch the first practice...
(full context)
Friday
...away, so he sailed away in the Mary Celeste and founded the Bermuda Triangle. When Wensleydale points out that there was no one on the Mary Celeste when they found the...
(full context)
...power stations blow up all the time, but the Government keeps people from finding out. Wensleydale objects to this; his dad says that nuclear power is safe and means they don’t...
(full context)
...The Them debate what they would’ve done had they been on Atlantis when it sank. Wensleydale insists that he would’ve stayed and worn a diver’s helmet. Brian is thrilled that in...
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The Them sit in the quarry, arguing about the Hollow Earth Theory. Wensleydale doesn’t buy it, since the holes in the Earth that Adam describes don’t appear in...
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Saturday
...people like her who buy into “grass materialism” and put holes in the ozone layer. Wensleydale adds that they also need to save the whales.
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...armies of Adam’s making. He points to Pepper and says that she can have Russia, Wensleydale can have America, and Brian can have Africa and Europe. Dog will get Australia, since...
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...of rats, and now he’ll have to go back to chasing souls, which seems pointless. Wensleydale, Brian, and Pepper feel helpless to resist Adam, while Adam isn’t thinking at all. He...
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...sits deep in thought. Finally, she asks what bit of the world Adam gets, and Wensleydale notes that there’s not much world left now that Adam has divided it up. Suddenly,...
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...wouldn’t be any fun if either the Greasy Johnsonites or the Them beat the other. Wensleydale says that this seems awfully simple to have taken thousands of years to sort out....
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...Dog runs excitedly behind. Pepper joins Adam on her own noisy bike, and Brian and Wensleydale soon follow. Wensleydale’s bike is black and sensible, while Brian’s white bike is covered in...
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...that War was sucked up into the sword. Suddenly, the air begins to vibrate as Wensleydale raises something that, with imagination, might be scales. He whirls it around, and Famine disappears,...
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Wensleydale asks where War, Pollution, and Famine went, and Death says that they’ve gone where they...
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...be like having to tidy up everyone’s bedroom, and he has enough work keeping Pepper, Wensleydale, and Brian entertained. Confused, the Metatron says that Adam can’t refuse to be who he...
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Sunday (The first day of the rest of their lives.)
...but Mr. Young is certain Adam is guilty of something. Adam looks up when Pepper, Wensleydale, and Brian call his name. There’s a circus over in Norton, and they want to...
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...are treating him like he killed someone. His parents won’t let him out for years. Wensleydale asks if they might let him out tomorrow, and Adam says that they’ll have forgotten...
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