Jennings (novels)

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Jennings Goes to School dustcover from the 1959 hardback edition, printed by WM Collins Ltd of London and Glasgow (later HarperCollins)

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). These stories are set mainly in Linbury Court School. They continue to be loved by boys and girls (of all ages) throughout the world. When published in France we find that Jennings has been given the name of Bennett, in Norway he is known as Stompa.

1 Style
2 List of Characters
3 List of novels
4 External link

[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, upper 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.

[edit] List of Characters

J C T 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.
C E J 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. 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' house master, a man of great imperturbability and patience, with a phenomenal ability to detect dissembling and violations of school rules. This character was said by Buckeridge to be based on himself.
Mr M W B 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
Matron — the school matron: she is sympathetic and understanding, but with a keen ability to spot malingerers.
Miss Angela Berkinshaw (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 Pyjamas) — 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.

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.