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Jennings #22
Jennings at Large
Term is over and, after a short camping expedition that leaves poor Mr Wilkins determined never to go through such an horrific experience again, Jennings is off to stay with his Aunt Angela. There, he meets Emma Sparrow who needs to hide her collection of stray animals from the exasperated caretaker. When Jennings comes up with a seemingly flawless plan, he congratulates himself on his quick thinking. But with Jennings at large, things can always be expected to go disastrously wrong!
208 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1977
About the author
Anthony Buckeridge
111 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 - 8 of 8 reviews
May 19, 2022
I read this many years ago, though I couldn't really remember much about it. It's not dreadful, but neither is it very funny or clever. Jennings occasionally feels like an incidental character in this story with other characters and plots not involving him taking greater prominence. Some things are very predictable, other things appear to be predictable but then don't turn out as you expect, and it doesn't always feel like an improvement that you have this element of surprise. More often it feels like an anticlimax and waste of a potentially great opportunity for humour.
April 19, 2018
One of my favourite series, who knew I could be so enthralled by 11 year olds in a boarding school! Laugh out loud funny, easy to read, and inspiring and has all the magic of youth!
October 15, 2016
Sweet and charming. Fantastic reading by Simon Vance, as usual.
April 22, 2020
Taking Jennings outside Linbury Court for 95% of the book was never going to be a very good idea. The school camping trip at the beginning is fine, but Jennings' extended visit to Aunt Angela is rather poorly realised. None of the new characters is very believable or interesting. Anthony Buckeridge should really have stuck to writing about what he knew - life in a boys' boarding school!
Jennings started at Linbury Court in 1950 and has had little contact with the outside world since, so it's very strange now to see him emerging onto a south London housing estate in the world of the late '70s. The "traditional end-of-term song" that is apparently sung en-masse on the last night of each term is a terrible idea, and perhaps is indicative of Buckeridge's burning desire to turn Jennings into a stage musical, which also turned out to be a terrible idea. All in all, it is no surprise that this was the last Jennings book for fourteen years.
Highlight: Mr Wilkins is annoyed to find himself driving away from camp in the minibus and dragging the newly erected tent after him, thanks to Jennings.
Jennings started at Linbury Court in 1950 and has had little contact with the outside world since, so it's very strange now to see him emerging onto a south London housing estate in the world of the late '70s. The "traditional end-of-term song" that is apparently sung en-masse on the last night of each term is a terrible idea, and perhaps is indicative of Buckeridge's burning desire to turn Jennings into a stage musical, which also turned out to be a terrible idea. All in all, it is no surprise that this was the last Jennings book for fourteen years.
Highlight: Mr Wilkins is annoyed to find himself driving away from camp in the minibus and dragging the newly erected tent after him, thanks to Jennings.
November 8, 2025
For me, taking Jennings outside school really doesn't work; the inhabitants of Aunt Angela's block of flats are over-written and irritating, and when Emma's friends turns up, there are long passages in which Jennings says and does nothing! Still, it's readable, and at least the lacklustre effort means Buckeridge was not often inspired to use his distracting, over-the-top figurative language in this one. Some moments featuring the regular, school-based characters are decent; others are contrived and unbelievable. I wonder, was the boring old fundraise-for-the-animal-sanctuary plot still fresh in those days...?
Highlight: Jennings is like his old self when he's genuinely distressed at, and does everything possible to remedy, the events of the following:
Lowlight: Emma is subjected to the most harrowing guilt trip by her mother, for something which is clearly the mother's fault, though the author asserts otherwise (he even has Emma ask permission from said mother, who then claims to have known nothing about it!).
Highlight: Jennings is like his old self when he's genuinely distressed at, and does everything possible to remedy, the events of the following:
Lowlight: Emma is subjected to the most harrowing guilt trip by her mother, for something which is clearly the mother's fault, though the author asserts otherwise (he even has Emma ask permission from said mother, who then claims to have known nothing about it!).
April 24, 2020
A later Jennings book. It is like it is not even the same author. Also like it doesn't know what age it should be set in. Is this still the 1950s? Or is it now the late 1970s? Decimal money and reference to lunar landings suggests the latter, but it is not quite clear (and Jennings is *still* only 12).
This story is mostly not set in school, and takes land owners to task over blocked footpaths and what sounds like a council house system to task for being cruel to Aunt Angela. Jennings also *gasps* makes friends with a girl.
I would not be surprised if this was ghostwritten to capitalise on the success on the earlier books when Collins were reprinting them in the 1970s.
Not terrible, but definitely not Jennings.
This story is mostly not set in school, and takes land owners to task over blocked footpaths and what sounds like a council house system to task for being cruel to Aunt Angela. Jennings also *gasps* makes friends with a girl.
I would not be surprised if this was ghostwritten to capitalise on the success on the earlier books when Collins were reprinting them in the 1970s.
Not terrible, but definitely not Jennings.
November 3, 2016
I did so want this "PG Wodehouse for the younger set" to be a friendly new classic but I wasn't thrilled with the 70s sexism (mild but present) and the lack of character development. Oh well, worth the four hour audio.
January 18, 2014
Very very very beautiful story for children
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews