Like Bertie, Spode had been educated at Oxford; during his time there, he once stole a policeman's helmet. While the leader of the Black Shorts, he is also secretly a designer of ladies' underclothing, being the proprietor of Eulalie Soeurs of Bond Street. Bertie's Aunt Dahlia is a customer at Eulalie Soeurs and remarks that the shop is very popular and successful. Spode later inherits a title on the death of his uncle, becoming the seventh Earl of Sidcup. After being elevated to the peerage, he sells Eulalie Soeurs. At some point, he leaves the Black Shorts. Bertie says in "Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves" that before Spode succeeded to his title, he had been "one of those Dictators who were fairly common at one time in the metropolis", but "he gave it up when he became Lord Sidcup". Despite Spode becoming Lord Sidcup, Bertie usually thinks of him as Spode, at one point addressing him as "Lord Spodecup".