Anthony Buckeridge

Anthony Malcolm Buckeridge

Anthony Buckeridge
Born 20 June 1912(1912-06-20)
London, England
Died 28 June 2004(2004-06-28) (aged 92)
Occupation Novelist
Language English
Nationality British
Period 1948–1994
Notable work(s) Jennings series

Anthony Malcolm Buckeridge OBE (20 June 1912 – 28 June 2004) was an English author, best known for his Jennings and Rex Milligan series of children's books. He also wrote the 1953 children's book A Funny Thing Happened which was serialised more than once on Children's Hour.

He was awarded the OBE in 2003.

Contents

Personal life

Buckeridge was born in London but following the death of his banker father in World War I he moved with his mother to Ross-on-Wye to live with his grandparents. Following the end of the war they returned to London where the young Buckeridge developed a taste for theatre and writing. A scholarship from the Bank Clerks' Orphanage fund permitted his mother to send him to Seaford College boarding school in Sussex. His experiences as a schoolboy there were instrumental in his later work.

Following the death of Buckeridge's grandfather, the family moved to Welwyn Garden City where his mother worked in promoting the new suburban utopia to Londoners. In 1930 Buckeridge began work at his late father's bank but soon tired of it. Instead he took to acting including an uncredited part in Anthony Asquith's 1931 film Tell England.

After marrying his first wife, Sylvia Brown, he enrolled at University College London where he involved himself in Socialist and anti-war groups (he later became an active member of CND) but did not take a degree after failing Latin. With a young family to support, Buckeridge found himself teaching in Suffolk and Northamptonshire which provided further experiences to inform his later work. During World War II Buckeridge was called up as a fireman and wrote several plays for the stage before returning to teaching in Ramsgate.

He used to tell his pupils stories about the fictional Jennings (based however on an old schoolfellow Diarmid Jennings), a prep schoolboy boarding at Linbury Court Preparatory School, under headmaster Mr Pemberton-Oakes.

In 1962 he met his second wife, Eileen Selby. They settled near Lewes where Buckeridge continued to write and also appeared in small (non-singing) roles at Glyndebourne.

Buckeridge died on 28 June 2004 after a spell of ill health. He is survived by his second wife Eileen and three children, two from his first marriage.

Works

After World War II Buckeridge wrote a series of radio plays for the BBC's Children's Hour chronicling the exploits of Jennings and his rather more staid friend, Darbishire; the first, Jennings Learns the Ropes, was first broadcast on 16 October 1948. In 1950, the first of more than twenty novels, Jennings Goes to School, appeared. The tales make liberal use of Buckeridge's inventive schoolboy slang ("fossilised fish hooks!", "crystallised cheesecakes!", and others). These books, as well known as Frank Richards' Billy Bunter books in their day, were translated into a number of other languages. The stories of middle class English schoolboys were especially popular in Norway where several were filmed.

The Norwegian books and films were rewritten completely for a Norwegian setting with Norwegian names; Jennings is called "Stompa" in the Norwegian books.

Reception

Buckeridge made no small contribution to postwar British humour, a fact acknowledged by such comedians as Stephen Fry. The deftly worded farce and delightful understatement of his narratives has been compared to the work of P. G. Wodehouse, Ben Hecht and Ben Travers.

Jennings novels

Main article: Jennings (novels)

The "Jennings" series is a collection of humorous novels of children's literature. There are 25 in total. 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.

The novels usually followed a format of three major subplots per 16-chapter novel, the early books being derived from the popular BBC radio series on Children's Hour. All 62 of the original radio play scripts have been published in 10 volumes by David Schutte: Jennings Sounds the Alarm 1999; Jennings Breaks the Record 2000; Jennings Joins the Search Party 2001; Jennings to the Rescue 2002; Jennings and the Tricky Predicament 2003; Jennings and the Organised Outing 2004; Jennings and the Christmas Spirit 2004; Jennings and the Key to the Mystery 2004; and Jennings and the Unconsidered Trifles 2004.

Characters

The stories are all set in a boarding school, Linbury Court Preparatory School. The main characters are the pupils of the school, principally those in Form 3. J C T (John Christopher Timothy) Jennings is the 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. His best friend is C E J (Charles Edwin Jeremy) Darbishire, a mild-mannered and short-sighted son of a clergyman, the Reverend Percival Darbishire, from whom he has inherited a habit of sententiously citing proverbs and giving the appearance of speaking in capital letters. Inherently more cautious than Jennings, he usually finds himself drawn into situations in which he would rather not be involved.

(Graham) Venables, (Robin) Atkinson, Temple and Bromwich (Major) are 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 and Marshall are day pupils whose privileges Jennings "borrows" in order to assist him in bending school rules. Binns Minor and Blotwell are the youngest boys in the school, shrill-voiced first-formers who are treated with condescension appropriate to their years by Jennings and his contemporaries. The older boys are rarely mentioned. R G Stoddington is captain of Drake House.

The teaching staff include Mr L P (Lancelot Phineas) Wilkins, Jennings's form master. "Old Wilkie" is a man of little patience and a volcanic temperament, though very occasionally redeemed by a heart of gold. Mr Michael Carter is Jennings' housemaster, 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 (Martin Winthrop Barlow) Pemberton-Oakes M.A.(Oxon.) is the firm but fair headmaster; "The Archbeako" is a classical scholar, usually reserved and softly-spoken, yet also with a capacity to command immediate discipline. Mr Hind is the Music master; mild of manner, (though occasionally acerbic), trailing clouds of smoke from his cherrywood pipe – he also teaches art to Form 3 and general subjects to Form 1. Mr Topliss teaches shooting once a week in a shooting range behind the gymnasium. Matron is the school matron; she is sympathetic and understanding, but with a keen ability to spot malingerers. Another two teachers who make occasional appearances (albeit not Linbury teachers) are Mr Parkinson (aka 'Pinky Parkinson'), the mild-mannered headmaster of the nearby Bracebridge School, and Mr Fox (aka 'Foxy Type'), a notoriously strict and hatchet-faced teacher, who is also at Bracebridge. Linbury quite often play Bracebridge in sports fixtures.

Miss Angela Birkenshaw is Jennings's absent-minded Aunt Angela. His Uncle Arthur also makes an appearance.

Minor recurring characters:

List of novels

  1. Jennings Goes to School 1950 The first novel. Jennings's first term at Linbury Court. He befriends Darbishire, foxes into town in disguise, displays too much (or not enough) initiative during fire practice and has a hair-raising incident with a poisonous spider. This has been recorded by Stephen Fry, for BBC7 as five 15 minute readings. It is available as an MP3 download.
  2. Jennings Follows a Clue 1951. Jennings founds the Linbury Court Detective Agency, tracks a suspected burglar to his thieves' kitchen, sees mysterious lights in the San., and solves the burglary of the trophies from the library on Sports Day.
  3. Jennings' Little Hut 1951. Jennings and Darbishire build a hut by the pond in the grounds (as do all their friends), take a goldfish for a walk in the swimming pool and have a trying afternoon with a pane of glass. Jennings falls into the pond while he, Darbishire, Temple and Venables are sailing their home-made yacht 'The Revenge' on an illicit Sunday visit to said pond - and this, together with the small matter of Jennings and Darbishire's hut collapsing on the visiting Archbeako, leads to a temporary ban on hut-building. Darbishire makes his one and only appearance in an inter-house match and makes a memorable last wicket stand. This has been recorded by Mark Williams for Radio 4.
  4. Jennings and Darbishire 1952. Jennings and Darbishire set up the Form Three Times, have a confusing chat with some French natives, and get lost in the environs of Pottlewhistle Halt. Old Wilkie's sister comes to their rescue when Venables makes a ghastly bish, and gives them a scoop about Old Wilkie's sporting past.
  5. Jennings' Diary 1953. Jennings records his attempts to start a museum, finds the missing link and uncovers a genuine Roman fake which doesn't go down too well with the curator of the Dunhambury Museum or Old Wilkie.
  6. According to Jennings 1954. The space craze hits Linbury Court leading to an unfortunate incident with a glass dome, an even more unfortunate incident with General Sir Melville Merridew, and a memorable visit to Dunhambury Cricket Ground. Rumours that Old Wilkie is leaving lead to the ringing out of a wild bell.
  7. Our Friend Jennings 1955. Jennings and Darbishire go for a cross country run on a bus and spend an afternoon trying the patience of the patrons of the local cinema. Attempts to stage their masterpiece The Miser's Secret (starring Venables as Mr 'Hem Hem' Brown) are doomed to failure but instead they perform part of Henry V with an unexpected guest.
  8. Thanks to Jennings 1957. Darbishire patents his method of removing heads from railings with the aid of Jack Carr's car jack. Jennings finds and loses FJ Saunders the guinea pig, uncovers a case of suspected furtive feasting amongst the masters, and saves the day when a Ministry Inspector visits Old Wilkie's history class.
  9. Take Jennings, for Instance 1958. Aunt Angela gives Jennings a bicycle, which leads to a chain of events involving a runaway boat, PC Honeyball and the Spanish Armada. The Form 3 Natural History Club (Jennings, JCT, Chief Spotter, Frog and Tadpole Dept) threatens to disrupt the smooth running of Linbury Court but its activities are saved by the intervention of a scientific frogman on prizegiving day.
  10. Jennings, as Usual 1959. In the Christmas term, Jennings has a short-lived and disastrous promotion to dorm monitor and improves his piano playing with the aid of a gramophone record before exchanging gifts and the comps of the season with Old Wilkie at the end of term party.
  11. The Trouble With Jennings 1960. Jennings's resolution to be decent to old people like the masters goes awry when he floods the bathroom with a syphon, impersonates Lady Macbeth sleepwalking and inadvertently causes a fire drill after lights out. But all is resolved at a triumphant Old Peoples At Home (RIP) in the tuck box room, with some help from Mr Carter and old Wilkie.
  12. Just Like Jennings 1961. Jennings finds a suspected spy in Miller's Wood and an abominable snowcat on the slopes of Mount Everest. Aunt Angela's cake-baking prowess comes in handy when Jennings breaks a vase belonging to Old Wilkie.
  13. Leave it to Jennings 1963. Madame Olivera from the Inscrutable East (AKA Miss Tubbs of the Linbury Post Office bacon counter) tells Jennings's fortune and predicts a journey over land and sea, an unexpected legacy and that he will succeed in an ambition close to his heart. But no one foresees the chaos during the term as the three predictions come true.
  14. Jennings, Of Course! 1964. Jennings proves more of a hindrance than a help to Old Wilkie's campaign to empty the lost property cupboard but all is forgiven when it leads to the appointment of a new cook. And Old Wilkie saves the day when Jennings conjures up a potential disaster at the end of term concert.
  15. Especially Jennings! 1965. The Jennings Membership Club is launched with mysterious objectives. Jennings gets mistaken for a burglar (again), accidentally gets Old Wilkie accused of stealing his own car and goes to great efforts to win la plume de sa tante before Mr Carter suggests a worthy cause for the JMC's outstanding funds.
  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. A daring rescue mission is needed when Jennings and Darbishire get trapped in the attic fielding at the first ever inter-planetary cricket match, and it becomes clear that even the best regulated of boarding schools cannot cope when a certain member of Form 3 accidentally wins a pig. Later, the pig is exchanged for a jar of bath salts, which Jennings gives to Matron - only to discover, to his horror, that the jar may also contain a drawing pin. Meanwhile Darbishire discovers a link between Pythagoras and travelling arrangements for fat and thin native American women - much to Old Wilkie's despair!
  19. Trust Jennings! 1969. At Linbury Court, it's certainly a case of remember, remember the fifth of November when Jennings copyrights his famous plan for members of Form 3 to act as Public Relations Officer to G Fawkes esq (deceased) to raise funds for Famine Relief, undergoing an emergency haircut, an accidental mis-use of Old Wilkie's sports coat and a day out in Dunhambury with a honky tonk piano in tow on the way.
  20. The Jennings Report 1970. Jennings plans to report on a mathematical comparison of TV aerials in rural (Linbury) and urban (Dunhambury) locations - but gets distracted with the care of Old Sleepy, the top secret hedgehog.
  21. Typically Jennings! 1971. Two broken tennis rackets lead to Jennings becoming a potholer and Darbishire a prehistoric cave painter, not to mention an explosive attempt to make a cup of tea for Old Wilkie on the school picnic. Meanwhile, Jennings's plan to listen to the test match in class lead to trouble for Bromwich, who resorts to giving an Old Master to a not quite so old master to get his portable transistor back.
  22. Speaking of Jennings! 1973
  23. Jennings at Large 1977. In which Jennings, Darbishire and their friends go on a camping trip with Mr Carter and Mr Wilkins - needless to say that chaos soon ensues! Jennings then goes to stay with his Aunt Angela in her London flat, where he soon befriends Emma, a girl who lives in the same block - cue yet more chaos, especially for Aunt Angela and for the block's caretaker, Herbert Fagg!
  24. Jennings Again! 1991 This has been recorded by Stephen Fry, for BBC7 as five 15 minute readings.
  25. That's Jennings 1994

Rex Milligan

Rex Milligan is a fictional character created by children's author Anthony Buckeridge, famed for his Jennings series of books.

Rex is the eponymous schoolboy hero of a series of five books set in the mid twentieth century. The school that he attends is a grammar school in north London. The stories are presented in first person narrative, in contrast to the Jennings series. The final book is a compilation of 16 stories first published in the Eagle comic.

Characters

List of books

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links