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Jennings #23
Jennings Again
‘Dear Miss Thorpe, We hope you are quite well. We are very sorry we did not do your leaflets very well owing to strong winds. Darbishire has some new laces so we will give you your elastic band back when we come, but it has got stretched a bit owing to Darbishire’s shoe?’ When Linbury goes green, Jennings and Darbishire offer to do their bit for the environment and are given the task of distributing leaflets. Unfortunately, Darbishire’s shoelace refuses to stay tied and, using his initiative, Jennings removes the rubber band holding the leaflets together and performs an emergency shoelace repair. All seems fine, until a gust of wind hurls the leaflets over Marina Gardens. The residents are none too pleased, and it’s poor Mr Wilkins who’s going to get the blame? ‘Addle-pated eyewash!’
160 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1991
42 people want to read
About the author
Anthony Buckeridge
110 books45 followersAnthony Malcolm Buckeridge was born in London but following the death of his banker father in the First World War he moved with his mother to Ross-on-Wye to live with his grandparents.
At the end of the war they returned to London where he 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, particularly in his famous Jennings series of novels.
Following the death of his 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 and he was later to become an active member of CND. Unfortunately at university he did not take a degree after failing Latin.
By then the couple had two children and, with a young family to support, he found himself teaching in Suffolk and Northamptonshire, which again provided further experiences for his later work. During the Second World War, he 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 character Jennings, who was based on an old school chum of his, Diarmid Jennings. Diarmid was a prep schoolboy boarding at Linbury Court Preparatory School, where the headmaster was Mr Pemberton-Oakes.
After World War II, he 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. 'Jennings Learns the Ropes', the first of his radio plays, was broadcast on 16 October 1948. And then in 1950, the first of 26 Jennings novels, 'Jennings Goes to School' was published.
'Jennings Follows a Clue' appeared in 1951 and then Jennings novels were published regularly through to 1977 before he reappeared in the 1990s with three books that ended with 'That's Jennings' in 1994. The books were as well known and as popular as Frank Richards' Billy Bunter books in their day and 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 and Jennings is called "Stompa". And in France Jennings was, rather oddly, known as Bennett!
He also wrote five novels featuring a north London Grammar School boy, Rex Milligan, one other novel, 'A Funny Thing Happened: The First [and only] Adventure of the Blighs' (1953), wrote a collection of short stories, 'Stories for Boys' (1957), his autobiography, 'While I Remember' (1999) and edited an anthology, 'In and Out of School' (1958).
In 1962 he met his second wife, Eileen Selby. They settled near Lewes where he continued to write and from where he also appeared in small (non-singing) roles at Glyndebourne.
He was awarded the OBE in 2003.
He died on 28 June 2004 after a spell of ill health with his second wife Eileen and three children, two from his first marriage, surviving him.
Gerry Wolstenholme
September 2010
At the end of the war they returned to London where he 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, particularly in his famous Jennings series of novels.
Following the death of his 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 and he was later to become an active member of CND. Unfortunately at university he did not take a degree after failing Latin.
By then the couple had two children and, with a young family to support, he found himself teaching in Suffolk and Northamptonshire, which again provided further experiences for his later work. During the Second World War, he 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 character Jennings, who was based on an old school chum of his, Diarmid Jennings. Diarmid was a prep schoolboy boarding at Linbury Court Preparatory School, where the headmaster was Mr Pemberton-Oakes.
After World War II, he 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. 'Jennings Learns the Ropes', the first of his radio plays, was broadcast on 16 October 1948. And then in 1950, the first of 26 Jennings novels, 'Jennings Goes to School' was published.
'Jennings Follows a Clue' appeared in 1951 and then Jennings novels were published regularly through to 1977 before he reappeared in the 1990s with three books that ended with 'That's Jennings' in 1994. The books were as well known and as popular as Frank Richards' Billy Bunter books in their day and 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 and Jennings is called "Stompa". And in France Jennings was, rather oddly, known as Bennett!
He also wrote five novels featuring a north London Grammar School boy, Rex Milligan, one other novel, 'A Funny Thing Happened: The First [and only] Adventure of the Blighs' (1953), wrote a collection of short stories, 'Stories for Boys' (1957), his autobiography, 'While I Remember' (1999) and edited an anthology, 'In and Out of School' (1958).
In 1962 he met his second wife, Eileen Selby. They settled near Lewes where he continued to write and from where he also appeared in small (non-singing) roles at Glyndebourne.
He was awarded the OBE in 2003.
He died on 28 June 2004 after a spell of ill health with his second wife Eileen and three children, two from his first marriage, surviving him.
Gerry Wolstenholme
September 2010
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 28, 2020
This book is clearly the result of Anthony Buckeridge being overwhelmed by nostalgia as he chose the new reading order for the "orange" release of the Jennings books in the late '80s and early '90s. (They should never actually be read in this order, by the way - despite what the "Author's Note" says, there is plenty of continuity between the books and they should always be read in the original publication order!)
The fourteen-year break has certainly done the series no harm, and Buckeridge makes a decent stab here at recapturing some of the old Jennings magic in a series of new (yet essentially familiar) situations. The book gets a little self-referential at times, but this only adds to the sense of humorous nostalgia. I could have done without Miss Thorpe making a reappearance but she doesn't do too much harm to the story as a whole.
Highlight: Having set the boys in Form Three the task of writing a letter to some person in authority who has something to do with environmental studies, Mr Pemberton-Oaks is disappointed (but not surprised) to receive a polite but clearly irked letter of reply from the single person in authority to whom they have all chosen to write.
The fourteen-year break has certainly done the series no harm, and Buckeridge makes a decent stab here at recapturing some of the old Jennings magic in a series of new (yet essentially familiar) situations. The book gets a little self-referential at times, but this only adds to the sense of humorous nostalgia. I could have done without Miss Thorpe making a reappearance but she doesn't do too much harm to the story as a whole.
Highlight: Having set the boys in Form Three the task of writing a letter to some person in authority who has something to do with environmental studies, Mr Pemberton-Oaks is disappointed (but not surprised) to receive a polite but clearly irked letter of reply from the single person in authority to whom they have all chosen to write.
February 24, 2018
This book puzzles me. Many parts of the story seemed very familiar to me as I read it, but I have no recollection of ever having owned it in the past. If I once found a copy in the school library, it must be over twenty years since I last read it. Maybe some parts of the plot were recycled from earlier books, such as Darbishire musing on a squirrel travelling through the trees from Sherwood Forest to Land's End. Anyhow, the book didn't disappoint, in spite of proving not to be entirely new to me.
Though one of the last in the Jennings series, written over forty years after Jennings Goes to School was first published, there was nothing jarringly modern incorporated into it to try to bring it up to date to reach a new generation. It recaptured the same spirit and atmosphere of the early books and I could find nothing to grumble about. It is shorter than many of the earlier books, but maybe that is a good thing to prevent established Jennings readers from getting bored of the very familiar and predictable scenarios which Jennings keeps getting himself into. Another perfectly satisfactory volume of Jennings.
Though one of the last in the Jennings series, written over forty years after Jennings Goes to School was first published, there was nothing jarringly modern incorporated into it to try to bring it up to date to reach a new generation. It recaptured the same spirit and atmosphere of the early books and I could find nothing to grumble about. It is shorter than many of the earlier books, but maybe that is a good thing to prevent established Jennings readers from getting bored of the very familiar and predictable scenarios which Jennings keeps getting himself into. Another perfectly satisfactory volume of Jennings.
February 5, 2019
Never thought I would see space invaders and environmental topics in a Jennings book. Not as good as earlier books, but still of interest to me.
A sort of bitter-sweet irony towards the end when one of the masters refers to what Jennings will be like 'in ten years time when he's grown up.' Yet, of course, Jennings is a Peter Pan, always an 11 year old boy. As this was one of the last books, perhaps Buckeridge shed a quiet tear at the thought of finally letting him grow up.
A sort of bitter-sweet irony towards the end when one of the masters refers to what Jennings will be like 'in ten years time when he's grown up.' Yet, of course, Jennings is a Peter Pan, always an 11 year old boy. As this was one of the last books, perhaps Buckeridge shed a quiet tear at the thought of finally letting him grow up.
August 21, 2023
Jennings' appearance in the 90s with an eco-friendly plot takes some getting used to, and the style of the writing remains firmly 'old school' and slightly quaint in this more modern setting but it's still entertaining.
October 4, 2025
As funny as ever!
January 7, 2026
After some time away, Buckeridge has successfully managed to recapture the qualities of a middle-standard Jennings book, in my opinion. Some ideas are repackaged material from older books; some are actually quite original, and often entertaining.
Highlight: Mr Pemberton-Oakes reads a letter from the disgruntled recipient of sixteen letters from Form 3 on the subject of conservation.
Lowlight: Blotwell, who suddenly (and, I presume, comically) considers himself his slightly younger friend's superior, gives Binns a lesson on photosynthesis.
Highlight: Mr Pemberton-Oakes reads a letter from the disgruntled recipient of sixteen letters from Form 3 on the subject of conservation.
Lowlight: Blotwell, who suddenly (and, I presume, comically) considers himself his slightly younger friend's superior, gives Binns a lesson on photosynthesis.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews