Jennings (novel series)


The Jennings series is a collection of novels written by Anthony Buckeridge as children's literature which concern the humorous escapades of J.C.T. Jennings, a schoolboy at Linbury Court preparatory school in England. There are 24 novels in the series, excluding reprints and other material. The first of the series, Jennings Goes to School, appeared in 1950, and new titles were published regularly until the mid-1970s. The two final volumes were published in the 1990s: Jennings Again in 1991, and That's Jennings in 1994.
The first ten novels in the series were reprinted in the UK in paperback, by Armada Books, in the late 1960s; and many of the novels were translated from the original English into foreign languages. Quite often, the character's name was not retained: when published in France, Jennings' name was changed to "Bennett"; in Norway he was known as ":no:Stompa|Stompa"; and in Brazil, when published during the 1970s, the character's name became "Johnny".

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 but reflect the changing times surprisingly well. Unlike many of his fans, Buckeridge tended to prefer his later books to his earlier ones, possibly because he was a man of the Left and had more positive political memories of the post-1964 period; when the books were reprinted in paperback in the late 1980s, he chose some of the later books for early publication ahead of those originally written in the 1950s.
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". An alternative possibility is that "Ozard" was simply short for "The Opposite of Wizard" i.e., bad.

Characters

Most of the first names of characters have been revealed, but true to the form of British boarding schools, they generally are known exclusively by their surnames. Similarly, the masters too generally address one another by their surnames.
Minor recurring characters:

Stage adaptation

In 1980, there was a stage play called Jennings Abounding! aimed at the schools market. Described as a comedy with music, with book and lyrics by Anthony Buckeridge, music by Hector Cortes and William Gomez, and additional music and arrangement by Nigel Carver.

Radio adaptations

Many of the early stories were adapted as radio drama for Children's Hour on the BBC Home Service in the 50s and 60s. The signature tune was The Old Clockmaker by Charles Williams. Notably, Jeremy Clarkson provided the voice of Atkinson in these adaptations.
"Jennings Goes to School" and "Jennings Again!" were adapted for radio by Anthony Buckeridge, and read by Stephen Fry. The adaptations were released on audio cassette in 1991. "Jennings' Little Hut" was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2010, narrated by Mark Williams.

Television

There have been two BBC TV series based on the books, Jennings at School, which ran for ten thirty-minute episodes between 6 September and 8 November 1958, and Jennings, which ran for six episodes between 5 September and 10 October 1966. Jennings was played by John Mitchell in the first series, and by David Schulten in the second. No episodes of either series are known to have survived in the BBC archives or elsewhere.
John Mitchell later found fame as Mitch Mitchell, drummer in The Jimi Hendrix Experience. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/nov/14/obituary-mitch-mitchell-hendrix-drummer

Foreign versions

The novels proved popular in other countries; in Germany Jennings is Fredy, and in France he became Bennett. Jennings was especially popular in Norway, where the main character became Stompa and the novels were rewritten with Norwegian locations. There was also a series of Norwegian film adaptations directed by Nils Reinhardt Christensen.