Jennings and Darbishire

Product Information

That shepherd’s pie we’ve just had was supersonic muck so it’s wizard, but this school jam’s ghastly so it’s ozard.

Alarmed at the thought of his most private thoughts being made public, Jennings decides to invent a secret language. Then go fishing down Old Wilkie’s chimney for a parcel of unsolicited fish you’ve bunged up there in panic.The plot focusses on the chaos that ensues after Jennings receives a printing kit for his birthday and starts his own newspaper. Jennings and Darbishire's summer term at Linbury gets off to a ropey start even before their arrival at the school. But when their dreadful French ends in the unwelcome gift of a parcel of raw fish, the worse place they could hide it is in Mr Wilkins’ chimney! Jennings Goes to School is rather episodic in nature, lacking the overall theme and plot of the other three books, but contains some very funny set-pieces.

E. Johns; there’s no need for the silent surgery I have seen in one 1912 children’s classic in which a black horse that once had a six-letter name starting with “N” has now been renamed “Ebony. She doesn’t seem to have a sense of humour, but Jennings author Anthony Buckeridge intentionally wrote his school tales as comedy. As is usual, things go insane fast: Jennings and Darbishire wandering the moors, stuffing a packet of fish up Old Wilkie's chimney, fighting algebra and losing, and having a very awkward meal with Mr. Following a period with the Saturday Review, he joined The Times newspaper and between 1863 and 1868 was its special correspondent, first in India and, from 1865, the US, where he was successful in mending the paper's relations with the US Government following its support for the South during the Civil War.Of course, nothing is ever simple in Jennings and Darbishire’s world, and they manage to lose Bromwich major’s goldfish during an epidemic of mumps, and Darbishire – who is not good at sport – is picked of desperation for the cricket Second Eleven.

Although some modern reviews wrongly accuse them of being too gentle, by contrast they really are quite dark, biting satire of the boarding school experience. Enlisting faithful Darbi as his assistant hack, Jennings sets off to the cove, where a French fishing vessel is moored, for their first story.Miss Margaret Wilkins – Old Wilkie's pleasant and attractive younger sister, a London-based nurse, who occasionally visits her brother and nearly always has him wrapped round her little finger, especially when she needs him to look after her Siamese kitten, Pyewacket. Unfortunately, in general, the build-up to the pay-off is rather too long to quote in this review, but the cricket match description of poor Darbishire’s struggles has to be one of my favourites.

Like Blyton’s school stories, the Jennings books are not adventures in the sense of the Famous Five or Adventure series, although very occasionally in both there are adventurous episodes.The character subsequently appeared in several books, and on at least two occasions was transferred to television. The later books tend to contain more of a continuing narrative, though Jennings Goes to School still feels well structured, and any loose ends are nicely tied up. The language and humour of Jennings Goes to School is highly popular with children, but also with adults. The site carries no advertising, and I rely on donations to help with running costs and to keep the site running for your entertainment and education.