Jennings (novels)

Dust jacket from the 1951 Collins hardback edition of Jennings Follows a Clue

The Jennings series is a collection of humorous novels of children's literature. There are 25 in total, all written by Anthony Buckeridge (1912–2004). The first, Jennings Goes to School (ISBN 0-333-65523-0) appeared in 1950 and new titles were published regularly until the mid-1970s (the last for fourteen years was Jennings at Large in 1977, the only book to feature Jennings during the school holidays), with two more in the 1990s (Jennings Again in 1991 and That's Jennings in 1994). When published in France the name of "Jennings" was changed to "Bennett" while in Norway he is known as "Stompa".

[edit] Style

Much of the humour rests on misunderstandings attributable to Jennings's literal-mindedness and impetuosity. In the earliest novels in the series there are some Latin puns, but Buckeridge discontinued these, apparently to maximise their appeal. The earlier novels present an idealised version of rural or small-town, middle class English life in the years between the Second World War and the social revolution of the 1960s; the later ones are still rooted in this era (as Buckeridge admitted) but reflect the changing times surprisingly well.

The stories invented some vernacular language for the boys to use. In particular they coined the word "ozard". The post-war slang "wizard" generally meant "good" or "very good". "Ozard" derives from "Wizard of Oz" and was used to describe anything the boys disliked or dreaded. It was also used to describe the anger of Mr. Wilkins, which could be "ozard", "ozard squared" and occasionally "ozard cubed".

[edit] Characters

• J C T (John Christopher Timothy) Jennings — son of a businessman whose home is at Haywards Heath in the stockbroker belt. He is good-natured and well-meaning, but his tendency to act on impulse results in him getting in to trouble frequently. Buckeridge told BBC reporter Michael Crick that the fictional Jennings had been modelled on a schoolfriend, Diarmaid Jennings (1913–2009).^[1]
• C E J (Charles Edwin Jeremy) Darbishire — mild-mannered and short-sighted, the son of a clergyman, the Reverend Percival Darbishire, from whom he has inherited a habit of sententiously citing proverbs (generally prefixed with "My father says..."). Darbishire is Jennings's right hand man. Inherently more cautious than his best friend, he usually finds himself drawn into situations in which he would rather not be involved.
• Venables, Atkinson, Temple, Bromwich (Major) — classmates of Jennings in form 3 and fellow boarders in dormitory 4. Temple's nickname was Bod, from a tortuous schoolboy logic involving his initials, CAT (Charles A Temple), becoming Dog, then Dogsbody, and finally Bod.
• Pettigrew, Marshall — day pupils whose privileges Jennings "borrows" in order to assist him in bending school rules.
• Binns Minor, Blotwell — shrill-voiced first-formers who are treated with condescension appropriate to their years by Jennings and his contemporaries
• Mr L P (Lancelot Phineas) Wilkins (Old Wilkie) — Jennings's form master, a man of little patience and a volcanic temperament very occasionally redeemed by a heart of gold.
• Mr Michael Carter — Jennings's housemaster, a man of great imperturbability and patience, with a phenomenal ability to detect dissembling and violations of school rules. Nicknamed "Benedick", from his use of the Latin phrase "benedicto, benedicata" (the second word sounding like "Benedick Carter"). This character was said by Buckeridge to be based on himself.
• Mr M W B (Martin Winthrop Barlow) Pemberton-Oakes (The Archbeako) — the headmaster, a classical scholar with a capacity to command immediate discipline.
• Mr Hind — Music master, mild of manner, trailing clouds of smoke from his cherrywood pipe — also teaches art to Form I.
• Mr Topliss — teaches shooting once a week in shooting range behind gymnasium.
• Matron — the school matron: she is sympathetic and understanding, but with a keen ability to spot malingerers.
• Miss Angela Birkenshaw (Aunt Angela) — Jennings's absent-minded aunt.

Most of the first names of characters have been revealed (John Christopher Timothy Jennings; Charles Edwin Jeremy Darbishire; Robin Atkinson; Charles Temple, etc), but true to the form of British boarding schools, they generally are known exclusively by their surnames.

Minor recurring characters:

• Hawkins (Old Nightie) — the night watchman.
• Robinson (Old Pyjams) — the oddjob man. His nickname is obviously a pun on the nightwatchman's nickname of Old Nightie.
• Lieutenant General Sir Melville Merridew DSO MC Bart — retired general, the school's most distinguished alumnus, and frequent bestower of half-holidays.
• Miss Thorpe — tireless voluntary charitable worker within the Linbury community.
• PC Honeyball — Linbury's village policeman.
• Farmer Arrowsmith — owner of a farm adjoining the school grounds.
• Dr Basil Featherstonehaugh Hipkin — an absent-minded zoologist who meets Jennings and Darbishire when they accidentally push him into the river while they are on an illicit boating expedition.
• George the Third — matron's cat, a large ginger tom.
• Mrs Caffey — Linbury Court's housekeeper, "Mother Snackbar".

The novels usually followed a format of three major subplots per 16-chapter novel. This practice in turn facilitated a popular BBC radio version on Children's Hour.

[edit] List of novels

1. Jennings Goes to School 1950
2. Jennings Follows a Clue 1951
3. Jennings' Little Hut 1951
4. Jennings and Darbishire 1952
5. Jennings' Diary 1953
6. According to Jennings 1954
7. Our Friend Jennings 1955
8. Thanks to Jennings 1957
9. Take Jennings, for Instance 1958
10. Jennings, as Usual 1959
11. The Trouble With Jennings 1960
12. Just Like Jennings 1961
13. Leave it to Jennings 1963
14. Jennings, Of Course! 1964
15. Especially Jennings! 1965
16. A Bookful of Jennings 1966 (also titled 'The Best of Jennings')
17. Jennings Abounding 1967 (also titled 'Jennings Unlimited')
18. Jennings in Particular 1968
19. Trust Jennings! 1969
20. The Jennings Report 1970
21. Typically Jennings! 1971
22. Speaking of Jennings! 1973
23. Jennings at Large 1977
24. Jennings Again! 1991
25. That's Jennings 1994

[edit] Radio Adaptations

"Jennings Goes to School" and "Jennings Again!" were adapted for radio by Anthony Buckeridge, and read by Stephen Fry. The adaptions were released on audio cassette in 1991^[2], and are currently being rebroadcast on BBC Radio 7.

[edit] References

• ANTHONY BUCKERIDGE and Jennings
• Author/Publisher, Jennings enthusiast
• Article discussing the appeal of Jennings stories

[edit] External links

• Diarmaid Jennings - Daily Telegraph obituary