Leave It To Jennings

Today I'm writing about another of my Jennings books.

Leave it To Jennings is the thirteenth book in the Jennings series and was written in 1963.

The plot revolves around Madame Olivera from the Inscrutable East (otherwise known as Miss Tubbs of the Linbury Post Office bacon counter) telling Jennings's fortune and predicting a journey over land and sea, an unexpected legacy and that he will succeed in an ambition close to his heart. 

However no one foresees the chaos during the term as the three predictions come true.

My copy is from 1964 with the original dust jacket in good condition.

Jennings follows a clue

The second story in this series came out in 1951 where Jennings feels inspired to take up the career as a detective with Darbishire as his assistant, trouble needless to say is just around the corner.

The twosome first of all detect the lights being on in the sanitarium when nobody is supposed to be in there which is the catalyst for them investigating it and the laundry room before noticing the school sports cups, to which competitions are due have disappeared!

They see a main of whom they believe to be a piano tuner leave the building with them and follow him, breaking school rules into the village going into a silversmith and jewellers oblivious to this being his occupation and that he was to engrave them for the school by permission!

In the meantime all this detective stuff is becoming something of a distraction  not just to Jennings and Darbishire but within their form leading to a number of mishaps not least being caught having defaced a textbook and not paying proper attention in class which results as did for many of our generation in a lecture and a caning from the Head.

While exploring the sanatorium they get caught by a mysterious person who locks them in a room and after escaping, investigate laundry as they lose a clue to only end up being driven  away as the school sports is taking place. In the end they found out who really stole the cups in time for presenting them.

It's a hilarious account of schoolboy life that could only exist pre internet and cellphone that I loved as a boy at boarding school.

My edition my edition is the 1967 Collins hardback which keeps this dust jacket

Jennings goes to school

It's getting toward the end of August and almost by magic my mind starts slipping back to what this time in the past meant for me as a schoolboy.

Part of it meant getting ones equipment and uniform ready to return to school with a  mad dash to the stores and this leads really on to this which I do so miss all of that and one of things I did was read books.

Anthony Buckeridge's creation Jennings and his side kick, Darbishire was the boys series I read  cover to cover in the dorm as I liked about the series was they did feature memorable characters in situations I could relate to although I did read some of Enid Blyton's girls centred school series too.

This was the first published story although Jennings was inflicted on the Britishers in nineteen forty-eight  on the BBC Children's Hour program, garnering a following.

In the first story we are introduced to the two new boys of Linbury Court School for boys, Jennings and Darbishire, their initial meeting with Mr. Carter just seeing a very average boy in his blazer and shorts  but it is not long before her realizes his well meant but impetuous nature coupled with an overdeveloped sense of initiative soon leads trouble despite his more erudite mild mannered companion  attempts at moderating him as they both start to learn the ropes  in their first term.

My copy is a nineteen sixty-two Collins hardback where I'm sure the one I had at school would of been  from the mid seventies edition.

Jennings

I went for part of my childhood to a boarding school where of necessity all your relationships with teachers, care staff and class mates  are very different plus to a very large extent you're living by someones rules wearing a uniform all day with no chance of a change.

While there I read the Jennings series of book based upon the adventures  of two friends at prep boarding school called Jennings and Darbishire which made sense as  was in similar situation and we too had our adventures that seemed incomprehensible to those who were responsible for our welfare on the grounds. 

To me Buckeridge understood as a Form Master himself just what the prep school boy was really like and although I wasn't at prep school I too was endowed with the same spirit for good and ill.

There remains a very large part of my that would enjoy a return to boarding school and I was fortunate to spend six months in a residential college where I could go back to being the boarding school kid with informal dorm parties and all the little intrigues.