What happened to the characters of Decline & Fall & Vile Bodies when the war broke out? Put Out More Flags" shows them adjusting to the changing social pattern of the times. Some of them play a valorous part; others like the scapegrace Basil Sea disclose their incorrigible habit of self-preservation in all circumstances. Basils contribution to the war effort involves the use of his peculiar talents in such spheres of opportunity as the Ministry of Information & an obscure section of Military Security
- adventures which incite Evelyn Waugh to another pungent satire upon the coteries of Mayfair."